Once in a great while does a game like Kings Quest 6 come around. A game that, when finished, will leave an emptiness inside of the player. Like a great movie, it immerses one in its plot so perfectly that one will begin believe that s/he is actually in the game. I, the reviewer, personally believe that Kings Quest 6 is the best adventure game Sierra has ever produced, and it would be one of my top candidates for the best adventure game of all time.

The story of Kings Quest 6: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow takes place several months after the ending of Kings Quest 5. The palace of Daventry has been restored and Princess Cassima has been sent home to her homeland of the Land of the Green Isles. Apparently, Prince Alexander was smitten with the fair Princess, and since he got back, he has been asking around to get to the Land of the Green Isles. Needless to say, he was not successful. While he is brooding in his palace, dreaming of Cassima, the magic mirror on his wall lights up and shows Alexander a picture of his princess, along with the stars outside her room. And so Alexander sets out to navigate the stars and find his fair maiden. As he sails to the Green Isles, there is a ferocious storm and he is shipwrecked on the main island of the Land of the Green Isles. Though the basic back-story seems fairly simple, the plot is much more complex. Alexander soon discovers himself in the middle of some strife between the four islands that make the Land of the Green Isles. There are many subplots throughout the game, but they all lead up to the climax. Overall, the plot is excellent, so I give the plot an A.

The puzzles in the game mainly consist of "pick up everything that isn't bolted down and click your inventory on everything," with the exception of a labyrinth and a write-protection puzzle. Most of the puzzles are logical and follow the standard Sierra format. However, there was one overly annoying puzzle. If you do not talk to the clown, Jollo, in the beginning of the game, Kings Quest 6 is impossible to win (and you don't discover this until the very end). I give the puzzles an A.

Kings Quest 6 is a big game, and there are three possible endings. The game was programmed in SCI so it is controlled by a graphical console, the commands being walk, look, take, talk, and inventory. It is very playable, so I give the gameplay an A.

Yes, Kings Quest 6 was released in 1992, but the graphics are still superb. The backgrounds are hand-drawn, and the characters use lip-synching technology. However, the game is sort of a pixel-fest in its glorious 256 VGA colors. It doesn't make a difference though--the backgrounds set quite an atmosphere. I give the graphics an A.

Kings Quest 6 has some of the best voice acting I've ever heard in a game. After the horrible voice acting in Kings Quest 5, Sierra finally got smart and hired professional voice actors. Prince Alexander is played by Robbie Benson, the same actor who voiced the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. And the music is great, even though it is mainly GMIDI. The MIDI music fits the atmosphere and the end theme, "Girl in the Tower" is CD quality music fit for the radio. I give the sound an A+.

Kings Quest 6 is a must-play. And if you haven't played it, you have no idea what you are missing ...

Final grade: A

System Requirements:
DOS 6.0+
386
2 MB VGA card
Supported Sound card
10 MB free space