Eric the Unready

In contrast to the heady Time Quest, Bob Bates lets loose his lighter side in this side-splitting medieval adventure starring the incredibly accident-prone knight Eric the Unready.

Just about every famous person, things, or fiction is at the mercy of his razor-sharp parody pen in this game, from Star Trek to the The Monty Pythons. One of the (many) great things that make playing Eric The Unready a blast is the tremendous variety the game offers, both in locations and types of puzzles.

The game is loosely divided into "day," each of which is marked by hilarious cut-scenes and parody newspaper that recaps Eric's misadventures in the previous day and pokes fun at more people and objects than you can shake a stick at. The objects, locations, and puzzles in each day are self-contained, and as a mark of superior game design similar to LucasArts games, you can neither die in this game nor find yourself at a dead end where restoring is necessary.

Puzzles are devious but fair, with some taking on a different gameplay interface (e.g. the raft navigation screen in Star Trek spoof section) that are anything but boring. You'll be laughing from the start to the finish as you help Eric along one misadventure after another. Two thumbs up!

Review By HOTUD