/ Previews / Adventure / King's Quest: Mask of Eternity / Page 4
	The changes in the gameplay make for a sickening realness… or maybe they don't. I don't care. I spent five minutes writing this entire preview.

What may be surprising to many of you is that this will be the first King's Quest game with a pure action element -- in other words, you get to kill things this time around. Williams explains that she had to add this for the reason that a bit more "instant gratification" is needed in this era of gaming. I honestly think that it will be a stretch for the game, but I will be impressed with whatever I see coming out.

The other big problem that Excalibur had was a lack of ability to move the camera angles or move in any direction besides forwards and backwards. According to Williams, that element was completely kept in, including a free-moving camera (hopefully a smart one though). Since the world is 3D, a lot of other things were added, specifically a physics system (gravity, weight, etc.). Considering that the King's Quest series is usually controlled with a mouse and considering that the game is 3D, one of my primary concerns is whether or not the control is done correctly. This seems relatively strange, but the game is controlled with a mouse this time around as well -- I'm not sure whether or not it could be done better with a joystick like a Sidewinder pad or not. The camera itself can be changed with a simple right-click of the mouse. You also get either a first-person or third-person experience out of the game. Not too much ass-scratching here, I guess.

The story is a rather good one, with a nice plot. The quests in the series have focused on the Kingdom of Daventry, and this is no exception. This time around, everyone in the kingdom (including the royal family) has been turned into stone by an evil "tempest/magic". Everyone, that is, except for a poor resident with the name of Connor. The only reason he survived is because he found a piece of the Mask of Eternity as the disaster occurred. He is forced to find all of the pieces and return them to the realm of the sun and replace the restored mask upon its rightful altar. Hopefully, it will make all right again -- and get everyone out of their stone-cold state (which I hear is not a lot of fun).

Williams says that the game may not look the same at all, but the basic elements of the game still exist, albeit a bit different that you're used to. You can expect to find a lot of the same elements, especially the inventory system, great story of fantasy, and interesting dialog of the previous quests. There's a lot changed inside the story, but I honestly believe that Williams (and the rest of the team) can pull it off -- and I'll be sure to find out when it finally does come out.