COMPUTE's Adventure Game Player's Handbook Science Fiction and Fantasy

The book contains an introduction, and a chapter for each of eighteen computer adventure games, all of which have graphics. Each game's chapter contains hints, walkthroughs, and other spoilers for that game.

Each game is prefaced with a four star rating system in each of the following categories: Graphics, Arcade, Dialogue, Animation, Story line, Interface, Audio, Length, and Overall Rating.

The Games

The games spoiled in this book are:

The Throne of Chaos: Lands of Lore (creator: Westwood Games; distributor: Virgin Games).
Might and Magic: Darkside of Zeen (New World Computing).
Curse of Enchantia (Core for Virgin).
Gateway II: Homeworld (Legend Entertainment).
Day of the Tentacle (LucasArts).
Return to Zork (Activision, using the Infocom label).
Return of the Phantom (MicroProse).
Betrayal at Krondor (Dynamix).
Lost in Time (distributor: Sierra On-Line).
Dracula Unleashed (Viacom).
Simon the Sorcerer (Activision, using the Infocom label).
Iron Helix (Spectrum Holobyte).
The Journeyman Project (Presto Studios and Quadra Interactive).
The Hand of Fate (creator: Westwood Games; distributor: Virgin Games).
The Labyrinth of Time (Electronic Arts).
Companions of Xanth (creator: Legend Entertainment; distributor: Accolade).
Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness (Sierra On-Line).
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (Sierra On-Line).

Anti-Text Adventure Bias

The author apparently didn't like text adventures very much. On page 54:

Unfortunately, Gateway II: Homeworld by Legend Entertainment offers only sparse full-screen graphics and animation. That's because of a nightmarish interface that makes this game a "text adventure."

And on page 246:

[...] Companions of Xanth—created by Legend Entertainment and distributed by Accolade—represents a huge step forward from the days of Spring Break. Legend finally decided to bury its nightmarish text interface and create a fine point-and-click interface like game players have become accustomed to.