In Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse, the player assumes the role of a young corsair of noble blood. The tale begins as the protagonist learns he must return home, as his family is in danger. As nobility, his family has had the control of genies for generations. When witnesses report seeing one of their genies attacking a ship at sea, it is a grave shock indeed to the entire family. To make matters worse, the Caliph (king) of their land was on board! Although the Caliph survived the attack, he quickly orders the young pirate's family taken prisoner.
In Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse, the player assumes the role of a young corsair of noble blood. The tale begins as the protagonist learns he must return home, as his family is in danger. As nobility, his family has had the control of genies for generations. When witnesses report seeing one of their genies attacking a ship at sea, it is a grave shock indeed to the entire family. To make matters worse, the Caliph (king) of their land was on board! Although the Caliph survived the attack, he quickly orders the young pirate's family taken prisoner. In order to save his family from dishonor (and possibly death), the pirate protagonist must prove his family's innocence in the time allotted to him by the understandably perturbed Caliph. Easier
said than done.
In his journey to free the corsair's family, you must guide him through a wide variety of both intellectually challenging puzzles and intense skirmishes. You will visit many different locations, each of which has own distinct feel and numerous quests to perform, items to discover, and weapons to wield. Along the way, the protagonist discovers that his family is the victim of the Genie's Curse, a powerful hex which can strip a family of its power to control its genies and deliver it to an undeserving villain. In order to discover who invoked the Genie's Curse, the corsair must solve each puzzle and defeat each villain he encounters until he can finally come face to face with the man responsible for his family's disgrace and the murder of the Caliph's men.
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse is a quite entertaining game on many fronts. The first thing I loved about it was the fact that the game draws you in almost immediately; the first sequence in the game is a maze which you must master to complete your corsair training. From the opening screen, the fast-paced action never lets up. Unlike many role-playing or adventure games of its time, Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse seamlessly integrates combat and the main adventure screen, which contributes to the fast pace of the game. This integration does not come at the price of involved combat, however, as you can wield melee weapons, ranged weapons, and magic (and will often require the use of all three) to defeat your opponents.
Any good adventure game will contain a good mix of combat and puzzles, and Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse certainly lives up to the requirement. I especially loved how each puzzle I encountered felt nothing like the previous puzzles; this speaks volumes to the game's designers, who obviously succeeded in making the player appreciate the depth of the game and avoided giving the game a repetitive feeling.
I highly recommend Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse to any fan of either RPGs OR adventure games. Although the game is a bit short, you won't regret spending some time investigating this gorgeously developed world.
