Spellcasting 301: Spring Break

(Legend Entertainment, 1992)

The finale of this game asks you to be ready for Spellcasting 401, the alleged end of the pubescent Spellcasting saga. Don't hold your breath! This third installment of the trilogy was so uninspired, I'd say it single-handedly ruined text adventures' popularity for good. Imagine the dismay of expecting puzzles like the Isle of Lost Soles in Spellcasting101, only to be  given...what? One puzzle has you scaring away a jellyfish, simply by having an open jar of peanut butter in your possession, with the "problem" solved automatically; the jellyfish thinks you want to make a peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich (groan!), and it slips away. What a stupid puzzle! Jokes were equally insipid. In one scene (shown here), you meet a girl with --the horror!-- regular sized breasts. You correct this via a breast enlargement spell, complete with (hubba-hubba, nerdlings!) a full-screen cartoon caricature, of the girl with her new big'uns. The picture of this girl, with her now incredulous, juvenile-minded, obscenely-gigantic breasts, is worse than any 13 year old's "dirty drawing" on a forgotten Usenet newsgroup. Top all this stupidity with the game's finale; the exact same finale used in both prior Spellcasting games! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!

See also : Spellcasting 101 (review), Spellcasting 201 (review),

"The Current State of Adventure Games (Part 1)" (editorial) 

"The Current State of Adventure Games (Part 2)" (editorial)