The text adventure game ''Spellcasting 301: Spring Break'' is the third and last installment of the ''Spellcasting'' series created by
Steve Meretzky
Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) ''Infocom''. Retrieved July 11, 2011. is an American
Legend Entertainment
Legend Entertainment Company was an American developer and publisher of computer games, best known for creating adventure titles throughout the 1990s. The company was founded by Bob Bates and Mike Verdu, both veterans of the interactive fic ...
. All three games in the series tell the story of young Ernie Eaglebeak, a student at the prestigious Sorcerer University, progressing through his studies, learning the arcanes of magic, taking part in student life, occasionally saving the world as he knows it, and having his way with any beautiful women he can get his hands on.
Technical notes
This is the first, and as it has turned out the only, Spellcasting game to use the 256-colour
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the Personal computer, PC industry within three years ...
version of the
Legend
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
interface, as well as capable of utilizing the sound card to play both sound effects and music.
Unlike the previous two parts, whose title pages resembled their box covers, the title page of ''Spellcasting 301'' shows only the game's title on plain-blue background, whereas the box cover showed a girl in a bikini reclining on a floating tiger-striped air mattress.
Reception
''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...
''s
Charles Ardai
Charles Ardai (born 1969) is an American entrepreneur, businessperson, and writer of award winning crime fiction and mysteries. He is founder and editor of Hard Case Crime, a line of pulp-style paperback crime novels. He is also an early employee ...
stated that "''Spellcasting 301'' is vintage Meretzky, up there with his earlier classics ... Everyone else who writes interactive fiction should take a good, hard look at what Meretzky is doing, because he is doing it right". In addition to praising the game's "devious and inimitable wordplay", Ardai approved of the graphics depicting "specimens of female pulchritude ...
ome
Ome may refer to:
Places
* Ome (Bora Bora), a public island in the lagoon of Bora Bora
* Ome, Lombardy, Italy, a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia
* Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo
* Ome (crater), a crater on Mars
Tran ...
would do credit to any edition of the ''Sports Illustrated'' swimsuit issue". He concluded that "when you are playing this game, you are constantly aware that you are in the hands of a master". In ''
Computer Games Strategy Plus
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'', Gregg Ellsworth highlighted the game's "ingenious puzzles" and "humorous writing", noting that Meretzky "shows the player no mercy in the humor department." He believed that it was a major advancement from Legend's earlier games and praised its audiovisual presentation and interface, ultimately summarizing ''Spellcasting 301'' as "a winner."
In the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'', Dennis Lynch wrote that ''Spellcasting 301'' "is at times sexist and sophomoric, but it's also a clever challenge" Gary Meredith called the game "eminently enjoyable" despite its issues.