I got Laura Bow 2: The Dagger of Amon Ra several years ago when it was still fairly new and loved every minute of it. It was a fun and refreshing new change from the King's Quest games that I have played over so many times. However, I never got a chance to find or play the original Laura Bow game until I got the Roberta Williams Anthology in February of 1999. All I could say after playing this game can be summed up into one word -- INCREDIBLE! I did not think I would like Laura Bow 1 more than I would like Laura Bow 2, but I do! Even if it is just by a little bit.

Because Laura Bow 1 or The Colonel's Bequest was made in 1989, it has the same graphical look and feel of King's Quest 4. The graphics are not quite 256 color yet, and although there is MIDI background music, there is no speech. You can use the mouse to move around and have a set of prewritten commands, but you still have to manually type in a good handful of commands. So in a technical sense, Laura Bow 1 is not as advanced as Laura Bow 2. However, when it comes down to the intricate storyline and gameplay, Laura Bow 1 simply blew me away! I have never seen any game (then or now) that incorporated real time as well as this game does! It is that very aspect that kept me on the edge of my seat, thinking, "Am I too late? Did I miss anything here? I hope there's not a dead body in this room! Please no!"

In most other games, if you need to talk to a character or see an event, that character and event will linger around until you arrive. That way, if you are a little slow, you still do not miss anything. That is not true in this game. Lounge around too long in one place, you can miss a whole lot. People will stop talking and leave regardless if you have heard them or not. Events will occur behind your back if you are not careful. Clues and evidence will be cleaned up if you are not quick to investigate. In short, if you are not on your toes and fast, you will not become a super sleuth!

This game is also one that extremely emphasizes careful observation of everything! Clues are really small and hidden, making them hard to see unless you search the screens inch-by-inch sometimes! You have to know everything you can find about your environment, the people, and your items. EVERYTHING! It is a very intense and challenging game that took me (a somewhat seasoned adventure game player) several complete run throughs before I saw everything and got to be super sleuth. I highly recommend this game for everyone. Well, except maybe for really young kids due to the various dead bodies scattered here and there. It is a murder mystery after all. However, the bodies are nowhere near as graphic as some of today's games. By no means! Way to go Roberta Williams!! 6 out of 6 stars. -- Kimmie