Magic Carpet

Magic Carpet

MS-DOS - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Bullfrog Productions Publisher Electronic Arts Published 1994-??-?? Platforms DOS Genres Action, First-person shooter, Shooter, Vehicular combat Themes Middle Eastern Series Magic Carpet Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

Magic Carpet is a vehicular combat video game set in a fantasy Middle Eastern setting. It was developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts for MS-DOS in 1994.

You control a wizard who rides on a magic carpet and uses magical spells to destroy monsters and other violent wizards in an attempt to restore harmony to each world. Slain monsters leave behind mana which you can collect and bring to your castle to increase to power of your spells so you can defeat more powerful monsters. You compete with mana collection and castle building against the other wizards who inhabit the lands. There are many spells to learn and 50 worlds to save. A sequel was made called, Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	No.

I first saw Magic Carpet at a friend's house in middle school. I was very impressed by the game as I watched him play, but found it very difficult to control when I had a turn, however, I got better as time went on. We beat the first 25 worlds and then gave up when we found that the second half of the game strips you of all your spells at the beginning of each new world. Years later I made an effort to try and beat the game entirely, and beat the first 25 worlds, then went on to beat a large portion of the later worlds, but eventually got so frustrated on one of them that I gave up.

I have not beaten it, but I have beaten about 35 of the 50 worlds.

Review

8	7	8	7	8

Best Version: DOS

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game has great graphics, sound, music, and animation.
• The ability to use spells like crater and earthquake and see the 3D landscape being altered in real-time was amazing at the time.
• While few PCs could handle it at the time, the high-res mode was really impressive.
• I really liked the idea of battling other wizards for mana and having to protect, not just your castle, but your hot air balloons, and claimed mana.
• Stealing mana from your opponents, and trashing their castles to see their mana rain down is a very gratifying experience.
• The interface is well-made and descriptive. I like how each spell has an icon.
• The network multiplayer, though difficult to setup, is a really nice addition.

Bad

• It takes a while to become acclimated to flying the carpet. I don't think there is a way to fix this, it's just something you get a feel for over time.
• Like pretty much every game that tried before it, the 3D just doesn't work.
• The high-resolution mode, because it is rendered entirely with software, could never run at a usable speed, even with the best computers of the time. So, it was really more of a gimmick than a feature.

Ugly

• Some of the later levels are obnoxiously difficult. World 31 is filled with griffons and you have to avoid them for a very long time without a castle or lightning. World 33 is a large maze that has no room for a castle and is full of very dangerous monsters. Every time they kill you, you must start the world over from scratch! I didn't find either of these to be fun, just extremely tedious.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The North American box art has a magic-carpet-riding wizard shooting lightning at a wyvren with a Middle Eastern city off in the distant sandy hills. It obviously matches the game play, and I like the lettering, but the photo of the wizard is a bit cheesy looking. It would probably be better as a painting.

• 

  The European art has a dragon over a Middle Eastern city that appears to be burning. Without a wizard, this art doesn't depict the game as well, and the dragon is more of European style than Arabian. Disappointing.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - DOS - Digital.

• 

  Strategy Guide - Official Hint Guide to Magic Carpet 1 & 2.

Videos

Game play.

Play Online

MS-DOS, MS-DOS (Hidden Worlds), MS-DOS (Plus)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no women.
Strong person of color character?	Pass	Everyone in the game, including the hero, is Middle Eastern.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Expansion

An expansion called Magic Carpet: Hidden Worlds was created a year after the original was released which feature more worlds, spells, monsters. Later still Magic Carpet Plus was released which combined the original and the expansion. I haven't played the expansion.

Links