A Charming and relaxing little adventure that can be easily played over a good cup of tea...
Based loosely on the classic ballet "Swan Lake", it tells the tale of a wizards adventure wherein he has to save the world from destruction by Chaos, whist at the same time discovering more about his own past.
In the world of Loom there are different guilds, such as sheepherders and crystal-makers, and our hero is of the Guild of Weavers, a magical guild that perform magic by using musical notes played on a distaff. Hit the right musical draft and a spell is cast, and the more you practice the better you get.
The Weavers Guild are an introverted lot, and usually keep to themselves on their own island, weaving their mysterious patterns of magic using the Great Loom. Strangely all children that are born within the guild die at birth but it's time for that to change.
Our hero goes by the name of Bobbin Threadbare, and his past is a murky one. His mother rescued him at birth by weaving her own spell on the loom, allowing you to live. The elders took exception to this and turned her into a swan, so you are raised by an old lady named Hetschel, who teaches you to sing some basic music drafts, and every year, on your birthday, she takes you to the mountain top to watch a beautiful swan fly past. HOwever she does not tell you who this swan is.
Our story actually begins on your 17th year, and you go to the top of the mountain alone. From this point in the game you must gain the distaff and follow your destiny...
Not a very complicated plot, and with a unique style of play, a couple of hours should see your way through to the end of this unusual adventure. There are three levels of play, which do not alter the game play in the traditional way. During play you have to play musical drafts on the distaff, and this means learning where each note is placed. Practice level gives you a picture of the full stave and note values, normal just gives you the stave with no note values. Expert removes both the stave and note values, AND will NOT colour the different parts of the distaff as you play, which means you have to memorise EXACTLY where to hit each note and choose the right spot from memory (not as difficult as it sounds...)
You can't actually get stuck in this game as you are never actually placed in any "timed" situations, however there are a couple of places where you have to think about your situation carefully.
There's not a lot more I can say without spoiling the game, but as stated, it is a thoroughly charming way to spend a couple of hours, especially if you have the FULL cd version with music AND speech.
If you can still find a copy then yeah, go for it. Good hunting tho coz it's now quite rare...
Note: I have given the graphics and sound a rating of 5, but bear in mind that when this game was originally relased they was considered to be quite innovative.
I am fortunate enough to own the cd upgrade version with the Roland Midi sound mod, so the sound is actually quite good when compared with general Midi. I also have the 256 colour vga graphics mod so again, not too bad. For these reasons I have tilted the ratings to 5 to balance out the lesser versions.