The Crystal Key is a graphic 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,...

 video game published by DreamCatcher Interactive in 2000.

Story

The storyline is set in the future, where the protagonist is sent to another planet to investigate the source of a cryptic message from an evil alien race. The player begins the game having crash-landed on the planet and must explore the world, find a crystal key and portal which would help the player defeat the race and bring peace to the galaxy.

Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to other games in the genre, such as Myst

Myst

Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...

or Zork

Zork

Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...

in that the player clicks around the environment to walk, pick up items, and manipulate tools.

Reception

The game received mediocre reviews, most of which were criticizing how much it mimicked other games of the same genre without introducing new gameplay. The game was released in a period when other adventure games, such as the new Myst sequels were being panned by critics for the same reasons.

The title did not sell very well, primarily because adventure games at the time were being phased out in favor of more graphically intensive first person shooter and role playing games.

External links

• The Crystal Key at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...