Gobliiins
Encyclopedia
The Gobliiins series consists of four puzzle
adventure
games developed and released by Coktel Vision
(and later Sierra On-Line
) in the early 1990s for the Amiga
, Atari ST
, PC
and Mac
platforms. The fourth title was released in 2009. The unique visual look of the series and its characters was contributed by Pierre Gilhodes, a French artist who gave his famous signature style to many of Coktel Vision's other games. The original is slated for an upcoming iOS debut, brought by publisher Bulkypix.
), consisting of one or more screens, in order to progress to the next.
An original aspect of the series is that the player usually controls multiple goblin
s as player characters, each of whom has a unique set of abilities (the number of letter i's in the word "Goblin" of the title indicates the number of characters that the player may control). The player may only control one character at a time but, depending on the specific scene, may switch characters at will. The original Gobliiins features a shared health system for all three characters, which meant that leaving characters in the wrong place could be detrimental, though this feature is not implemented in the sequels.
All games are available in CD
format. The first three include voices instead of the "goblinish" talk that featured on the floppy disk
versions.
who can 'zap' things with magic with a wide variety of usually unexpected effects, which include objects moving, growing, or becoming alive. The third, Oups (US: Dwayne), is a technician
and is the only one of the three that can pick up and use items.
The game is linear and consists of 22 levels, each of which occupies a single screen. The puzzles on each level must be successfully solved in order to progress to the next.
Several actions may harm the goblin involved, including leaving them in an unsafe place, using incorrect items, or interacting with items with the wrong characters, thus reducing their shared life meter. When the meter runs out, the game ends in defeat (though all levels can be completed without loss of life).
Reception
German magazine Powerplay gave the game a rating of 70% for the PC version and 69% for the Amiga and Atari ST versions.
The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon
#190 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
An easter egg
is that Fingus, if left idle, will eventually whistle a short tune, and the tune is different in each room.
Reception
The game received generally good reviews, with most game magazines giving it a rating of between 70% and 90%, though CU Amiga
scored it at just 40%.
suffix in an attempt to align the game with their other Quest series (see King's Quest
, Police Quest
and Space Quest
).
In this game the player controls originally only one Goblin called Blount, but gets assistance from a number of sidekicks throughout the game including Chump the parrot, Ooya the magician, and Fulbert the snake. Blount is also bitten by a wolf early in the game and, after escaping from the afterlife, must contend with semi-frequent changes into a super-strong but uncouth werewolf alter ego. Most areas in Goblins 3 are larger than the screen and therefore scroll. The game features 18 different levels, and like Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon, some are interconnected to each other - e.g. walking from the countryside to the inn - whilst others can't be exited until the player has finished that specific level. Later in the game, the player discovers that the main protagonist, Blount, was in fact the little prince that was kidnapped in Gobliins 2: The Prince Bufoon.
Reception
The gaming press awarded broadly positive reviews, with scores ranging from around 75% to 85%, though - as it did with its predecessor Gobliins 2 - CU Amiga awarded a lower score of just 53%.
Computer puzzle game
Puzzle video games are a genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles to be solved can test many problem solving skills including logic, strategy, pattern recognition, sequence solving, and word completion....
adventure
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
games developed and released by Coktel Vision
Coktel Vision
Coktel Vision is a French computer game developer.The company developed adventure and action games in the mid-1980s. It was especially known as a computer game publisher of its subsidiary Tomahawk. None of Tomahawk's games were sold outside Europe...
(and later Sierra On-Line
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
) in the early 1990s for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, PC
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Mac
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
platforms. The fourth title was released in 2009. The unique visual look of the series and its characters was contributed by Pierre Gilhodes, a French artist who gave his famous signature style to many of Coktel Vision's other games. The original is slated for an upcoming iOS debut, brought by publisher Bulkypix.
Gameplay
The games mix elements of adventure and puzzle gaming. In essence, the player must find the solution to each area (or levelLevel (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
), consisting of one or more screens, in order to progress to the next.
An original aspect of the series is that the player usually controls multiple goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
s as player characters, each of whom has a unique set of abilities (the number of letter i's in the word "Goblin" of the title indicates the number of characters that the player may control). The player may only control one character at a time but, depending on the specific scene, may switch characters at will. The original Gobliiins features a shared health system for all three characters, which meant that leaving characters in the wrong place could be detrimental, though this feature is not implemented in the sequels.
All games are available in CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
format. The first three include voices instead of the "goblinish" talk that featured on the floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
versions.
Gobliiins
In Gobliiins the player controls a team of three different goblins, each with a unique skill. The first goblin, Asgard (BoBo in the US release), is a warrior who is more brawn than brain, and whose skill is punching, causing various things to break or fall over. He is also the only one who can climb other objects than stairs and ladders. The second, Ignatius (US: Hooter), is a magicianMagic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
who can 'zap' things with magic with a wide variety of usually unexpected effects, which include objects moving, growing, or becoming alive. The third, Oups (US: Dwayne), is a technician
Technician
A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skills and techniques, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Experienced technicians in a specific tool domain typically have intermediate understanding of theory and expert...
and is the only one of the three that can pick up and use items.
The game is linear and consists of 22 levels, each of which occupies a single screen. The puzzles on each level must be successfully solved in order to progress to the next.
Several actions may harm the goblin involved, including leaving them in an unsafe place, using incorrect items, or interacting with items with the wrong characters, thus reducing their shared life meter. When the meter runs out, the game ends in defeat (though all levels can be completed without loss of life).
Reception
German magazine Powerplay gave the game a rating of 70% for the PC version and 69% for the Amiga and Atari ST versions.
The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#190 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon
In 1992's Gobliins 2 the player controls two characters: Fingus (who is well-mannered, intelligent and shy) and Winkle (who is dumb enough to not know how to push a button in the first screen, but who is almost terminally brave). They've been sent to rescue the King's son, the Prince Buffoon, who has been kidnapped by the evil Amoniak. Both goblins can pick up and use items, and both generally use an item in different ways. Unlike its predecessor, Gobliins 2 allows (and requires) the player to travel back and forth between rooms. Also, both goblins can be given an order simultaneously, allowing for the inclusion of timing puzzles. A significant difference between this game and its predecessor is that in Gobliins 2 neither playable character can die.An easter egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
is that Fingus, if left idle, will eventually whistle a short tune, and the tune is different in each room.
Reception
The game received generally good reviews, with most game magazines giving it a rating of between 70% and 90%, though CU Amiga
Commodore User
Commodore User, known to the readers as the abbreviated CU, was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. A publishing history spanning over 15 years, mixing content with technical and games features...
scored it at just 40%.
Goblins Quest 3
1993's Goblins Quest 3 was originally known as just Goblins 3, but after Sierra got involved they decided to add the -QuestQuest (gaming)
A quest in role-playing video games — including massively multiplayer online role-playing games and their predecessors, MUDs — is a task that a player-controlled character or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward...
suffix in an attempt to align the game with their other Quest series (see King's Quest
King's Quest
King's Quest is an adventure game series created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following the success of its first installment, the series was primarily responsible for building the reputation...
, Police Quest
Police Quest
Police Quest is a series of computer games produced and published by Sierra On-Line between 1987 and 1993. The original series was composed of four adventure games, the first three of which were designed by former policeman Jim Walls, with the fourth title designed by former LAPD Chief Daryl F....
and Space Quest
Space Quest
Space Quest is a series of six comedic science fiction computer games that follow the adventures of a hapless janitor named Roger Wilco, as he campaigns through the galaxy for "truth, justice and really clean floors"....
).
In this game the player controls originally only one Goblin called Blount, but gets assistance from a number of sidekicks throughout the game including Chump the parrot, Ooya the magician, and Fulbert the snake. Blount is also bitten by a wolf early in the game and, after escaping from the afterlife, must contend with semi-frequent changes into a super-strong but uncouth werewolf alter ego. Most areas in Goblins 3 are larger than the screen and therefore scroll. The game features 18 different levels, and like Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon, some are interconnected to each other - e.g. walking from the countryside to the inn - whilst others can't be exited until the player has finished that specific level. Later in the game, the player discovers that the main protagonist, Blount, was in fact the little prince that was kidnapped in Gobliins 2: The Prince Bufoon.
Reception
The gaming press awarded broadly positive reviews, with scores ranging from around 75% to 85%, though - as it did with its predecessor Gobliins 2 - CU Amiga awarded a lower score of just 53%.
Gobliiins 4
Gobliiins 4 was released in March 2009. The game was designed by Pierre Gilhodes and developed by Societe Pollene. Compared to the previous games it boasts 3D graphics but the game mechanics have not changed by much. The game received a slightly mixed reception, with an average of 60% on GameRankings. IT Reviews said it was entertaining, but “the puzzle solutions can be annoyingly strait-jacketed at times.” Adventure Gamers called it “one of the most likeable titles this year.”See also
- Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth
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- Trine (video game)Trine (video game)Trine is a side-scrolling action platform and puzzle video game, available for the Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and PlayStation Network. It was developed by the Finnish company Frozenbyte, who previously developed the Shadowgrounds series...