Curse of the Azure Bonds was one in a long series of gold box games from SSI. It was the second game in a smaller 4 game series that consisted of Pool of Radiance, Secret of the Silver Blades and Pools of Darkness. You played a party of up to 6 characters along with the occasional NPC in The Forgotten Realms. The game used the 2nd edition AD&D rules and was based on a novel by the same name. This allowed for a rich story to draw from. The gameplay was similar to other gold box games and had a mix of open ended and directed play. Parts of the game were driven in a linear fashion, like escaping from the city, yet once escaped you were able to choose one of many paths to reach the end of the game.
This was the first gold box game I played, and I played it extensively as I had not acquired any of the other gold box games at the time. It is an extremely detailed game and I easily played it 20 or 30 times to completion. It looks pretty old and haggard now when compared to something like Temple of Elemental Evil, but it was a quality game that is capable of holding your attention for a long time if you let it.
