Coming in, I expected Gotzendiener to deliver an isometric blend of Brandish and Prince of Persia. That was probably unfair of me, considering that most players don't like the game very much. High expectations aside, Gotzendiener's gameplay is slow and horrible and gives the player hardly anything to do--hardly any fighting and hardly any puzzle solving. You simply stumble around ugly mazelike environments, and before you know it, the whole thing is over. The music and sound effects are horrendous, so the game falters even where many other mediocre Turbo CDs shine (though I will say that the few cinemas do look somewhat nice). Whether Gotzendiener was released unfinished or merely unpolished, it comes off as an incomplete effort, an empty, glitch-plagued husk of a puzzle-based adventure.

It starts off in a cool and unusual way. A good guy and a bad guy fight it out for a girl; the two idiots end up killing each other, leaving the princess to find her way on her own.

The game does have its moments of intrigue as well as a few areas that actually don't let us down graphically. Most of the decent material is presented early in the quest.

Later levels have you wander around dull, empty, ugly environments.

Half of the interesting objects you come across end up serving no purpose whatsoever. It makes you wonder if the designers intended to do more with these "red herrings" but weren't granted enough time to complete their project.

Combat unfolds as slowly and choppily as you might expect, but defeating the lumbering monsters isn't difficult at all.