The Genie's Curse is an interesting spin on the myriad of Dungeons & Dragons-based RPGs released over the years, and in many ways it's unique among them. For one thing, it's the only game to be based on the Al-Qadim campaign setting, a 2nd Edition gameworld based on Arabian mythology, especially that of A Thousand and One Nights. Endless deserts, magic carpets, exotic weapons, towers with teardrop-shaped tops and, of course, genies, are all important elements in the Al-Qadim world.
The game casts you as the youngest son of the al-Hazrad family from Sorcerer's Isle. As it opens, you are completing your training to be a Corsair, a kind of mercenary/warrior type class. After passing the final test, a maze-like area which effectively serves as the game's tutorial, you are whisked back to your home town, where you get to meet the rest of your family, and piece together some of the back story. The Al-Hazrads are a powerful noble family, who some years ago (before your birth) were given a genie by a Sha'ir. Since you weren't born at the time, you cannot control the genie, only your parents and siblings can. Your family has a rivalry with another noble family across town, the Wassabs, which has led the town's ruler to worry that your relatives may order the genie to use its powers against them, which could spell disaster for the town.
You negotiate a truce between the Al-Hazrads and the Wassabs, but it's not long before something goes wrong: The family genie is accused of attacking a Wassab, and he (the genie) claims he was acting under orders from your father. Your family is imprisoned, but you are allowed to remain free, since you couldn't control him. Your punishment is to be banished from the oasis instead. And so you begin your quest to find out what really happened, clear your family name, and quite possibly save the world for good measure.
The most noticeable thing about TGC is that it doesn't play at all like you'd expect a D&D game to. For one thing, there's next to no character customisation. You get to choose your hero's first name, but that's it; his appearance, class and statistics are all preset. This is mainly because the game is far more reminiscent of an Action RPG than your traditional D&D fare. Think Legend of Zelda or Seiken Densetsu (also known as the 'Something of Mana' series) and you should get the idea. You can control the action using either the keyboard - in which case it really does feel just like playing Secret of Mana in an emulator - or with the mouse, which is a rather strange precursor to the Aurora Engine controls. You move your cursor around the screen with the mouse, and left click to attack with your currently equipped weapon or interact with whatever is in front of you. Hold down the right mouse button and your character will walk towards the cursor; move it around and he'll follow it. Both methods of control are nice and smooth, although you'll probably end up switching between the two several times over the course of the game. Mouse control is more useful in towns, where you'll be doing lots of walking, but in dungeons and combat areas the keyboard offers more precise control.
Over the course of the game, you'll obtain lots of different weapons. Your trusty Scimitar will always be equipped, and can be powered up through the use of moonstones (which function a little like FFVII's materia). By equipping them, attacks can be made more powerful, or have other abilities added to them. You will also obtain numerous secondary weapons, such as the sling (which throws bullets that seek out enemies), which can be assigned to the space bar.
One annoying thing about The Genie's Curse is that, even when your character is walking diagonally, he can only face in four directions. Because of the way the scimitar functions - only actually hitting straight ahead - this means it's often very difficult to get into a good attacking position relative to the enemy. This in turn means that the game can be very frustrating in places. Not exactly difficult, just annoying.
If you can get used to the awkward combat, then The Genie's Curse is a highly enjoyable adventure, and an interesting chapter in the evolution of D&D adaptations.
Part of the Dungeons & Dragons games Series
Whole Arabia lived happily under protection of a good Genie which was under control of our hero's family. One day Genie mysteriously turns against the family and takes them away as prisoners. The hero (You name him) leaves his master and begins search for his family... This game could have easily been considered as RPG, but it still had more elements of an adventure. You get many quests on Your way to the end and slowly improve Your skills. Magic also takes big part of the game, as well as character interaction. One of my personal favorites (used to be).
Al Qadim is another roleplay game from Strategic Simulations Inc. and it's based a lot on the same game engine as seen in the Darksun series. Not much of a surprise since the game was developed only a little time after Darksun 2 was published. Although the same game engine might have been used there are still several aspects of the game that are new including the real time combat sequences and the way you gain experience.
You start the game by proving that you are "worthy" to return home to your home village at your parent's home. Quite fast you find out that something is wrong and you are the only one that can solve this. You have to collect different info from several places and on your way fight many different monsters. I will not go much further into the actual story in the game as it's best described after you get to the home village but I can mention that it is one of the interesting things in the game. You can also obtain a lot of information and items by talking with all people that you meet. Note that this is the exact same interface you use as seen in the Darksun series so it's easy to get used to.
Even though you are a fan of the Darksun series or just a general roleplay fan you might still find the new combat system annoying since it's not only real time but also similar to many arcade games where you just move around and press the button a lot swinging the hard around you. At least I prefer the other way instead of this way but Al Qadim is still a good game with an interesting story and tons of gameplay. There are quite a few bugs, which is a bit sad, but by having the latest patches installed it's still possible to play through the entire game without experiencing any major problems. A good choice if you are looking for a new game.
A fun action-oriented RPG, Al-Qadim puts you in a role of a hapless Arab merchant returning home to wed his beloved, only to find that not all is well in his hometown. Although arcade reflexes are a must, RPG statistics are still present and can be increased when your character gains a level. Colorful graphics, interesting plot, and cool magic spells make up for the frustratingly difficult combat and trap sequences.
People who downloaded Al Qadim: The Genie's Curse have also downloaded:
Alone in the Dark, Airball, Adventures of Robin Hood, BioForge, Asterix: Operation Getafix, Alone in the Dark 2, Alone in the Dark 3, Ace Ventura
©2012 San Pedro Software Inc. Contact: 
, done in 0.004 seconds.