Maddog Williams and the Dungeons of Duridian

Ages and ages ago, (probably around 1996) we got our very first "real" computer as a Christmas Present from a friend of my Father's.  As part of the gift, a CD containing nearly 1000 games were included...(It was a terrible, terrible product, as most of the games turned out to only be Demos, and/or didn't even work in the first place)

Among one of those games was a rather unusual sounding title:

 

"The Adventures of Maddog Williams".  I admit, I had no idea exactly what to expect...The cover wasn't included in the description, and name alone made my 11 year old mind come up with all kinds of scenarios...mostly involving Mad Dogs.

So I clicked on the game, and this popped up:

I was absolutely stoked.  THIS is MY kind of game.  The scenario is as follows: Long ago, a gentle King named Serak ruled his land with grace and nobility...then, the good King fell under the corruption of a Demonic Being named "Malthazar".  The King, steadily slipping into madness, threw his Kingdom into chaos and terror.  And he very much intended to spread his rule across all of creation, eventually conquering the entire world.  All who rebelled against him were tortured in the most barbaric of ways...until the mighty Thaylor rose to the challenge.  Thaylor succeeded in taking down Serak's armies, and eventually capturing Serak himself.  Instead of executing him, Thaylor instead ordered that he be locked away for the rest of his days, and so it was done.  The people rejoiced, and made Thaylor their new King...and he ruled with the same grace and nobility that had once been the ways of the fallen King.  Soon, Thaylor married and a Princess was born.  Princess Leoria grew into a beautiful young woman, and was beloved by all...

And then, one night, a shadow descended upon the Kingdom once more...Mysteriously, Princess Leoria, the King, and Serak disappeared in one night.  None of the three could be found, and widely whispered rumors began to spread that the followers of Malthazar had arisen once more, intending to bring their fallen King back to power...and without King Thaylor, their plan would surely succeed.

While all this has been happening, the title character, Maddog Williams (who, as it turns out, got the name "Maddog" after participating in a drinking contest that left his face covered in the foam of the Ale and was likened to a "mad dog"), lives a simple life in his small village as the caretaker of an antique shop.  The game begins as Maddog is rudely awakened by one of his clever inventions.  From that moment on, the game is within your control.

Basically, you find yourself getting more and more involved with the events previously explained, and

the goal is to save the missing members of the royal family, and stop Serak from his evil desires by venturing through treacherous caves, endless forests, even flying on the back of a Dragon!  I was delighted to find that this would be a Text-Graphic adventure.  I had already been well acquainted with the "King's Quest" series, and had a great fondness for them.  So you could imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon this new experience



Though the graphics are simple compared to today's standards, I found myself quite taken with the atmosphere.  For it's time, so much detail was put into every screen of this game...you can certainly tell with every aspect of this game, that this was most definitely a game made with love.  Objects that you must obtain are not impossible to find either, but not mind-numbingly obvious either.

The music can be heard in different forms which can be selected after the title screen...one mode presents a simple, but pleasant and rather impressive score for an independent project, and very enjoyable to listen to...the other rendition is...well...just bad....the score is still the same, but the instrumentation...well...it's practically as if some guy came and sat next to you with a megaphone and basically screeched every note as loudly and annoyingly as possible directly into your ear cavity while simultaneously beating you over the head with a shrieking possum.  In other words, make sure you pick the right mode.

The game contains witty dialogue, and even likes to break the 4th wall from time to time, talking directly to the player in a rather humorous fashion, sometimes giving smart-ass remarks to commands you may type in.

The controls are pretty simple, and you are allowed to adjust the speed that Maddog walks in, which can really come in handy when you are trying to carefully walk a narrow path on a high cliff....my ONE complaint about the controls would have to be with the sword-fighting system.  There is a mode that you can go into to practice, but when the actual battle arrives, it's still very clunky and awkward...sometimes Maddog will end up facing the wrong way, but will still end up hitting his opponent, which unintentionally comes off in a rather slapstick-like manner...but it's easily forgivable, as there are very few occasions where you must fight someone to the death using your sword.  The rest of the story's progression relies on your own wit and perceptiveness. 

All in all, it's a very well-made and enjoyable game that really deserves more attention.  If you are into side-scrolling, dungeon-crawling, text-adventuring fun, I DEFINITELY recommend this game.


And the best part?  IT'S FREE!  Gamecrafters generously offered the game in it's entirety to play with absolutely no cost whatsoever.  Just simply head over to the site, and take a look.  I guarantee a fun adventure!!!