One of the big fads in entertainment software today is horror.  Companies seem to have it in their heads that folks want a game that'll scare them, not just give them something to shoot.  Just in the last few months we've seen Phantasmagoria, Dream Web, Prisoner of Ice, and Ecstatica released, just to name a few, all of them trying to scare, shock and horrify you. But video games, more often than not, fall short of their goal since, for some reason, it just seems to be an extremely difficult task to make a game that can gross someone out.  How appropriate it is, then, that SSI has found a very effective, very simple means for creepiness - bugs, and lots of them.
	
	SSI's Entomorph is the second release in the World of Aden gaming universe, following in the footsteps of the mediocre Thunderscape.  Thankfully, Entomorph is a totally different animal than its predecessor, which was a straight-ahead RPG adventure.  This bug-ridden game (and I mean that very literally) is set in the land of Kyan, where something very odd is going on.  For many years the inhabitants have relied on a variety of giant insects called Jagtera to support their way of life.  These giant insects were used as work animals and food for the residents of Kyan, and for many, many years all was well.  At least it was great until an evil event called the Darkfall.

	The Darkfall was appropriately named because it was at this time that the sun was eclipsed, all went dark, and evil creatures started roaming the land.  The Jagtera suddenly fled from Kyan, leaving everyone living there without a food source.  But now, ten years after the Darkfall, the giant insects are back, but things aren't like they used to be.  Before the Darkfall, these insects were eaten as food, but now these huge bugs are returning the favor, eating whoever gets in their way.  The game picks up as you, Squire Warrick, travel to your homeland to visit relatives. Unfortunately, your visit quickly turns sour as you discover that these giant insects are not only attacking the peaceful residents of Kyan, but the humans seem to be turning into monstrous bugs themselves!  So it's up to you to discover just what it is that's turning these people into insects and why.

	Entomorph isn't quite an RPG and it's not quite a shooter, but falls somewhere in-between.  If you played the muddled Ultima VII you know exactly what Entomorph plays like.  The game is seen from an overhead view and you control your character as he wanders around the land fighting bad guys, solving puzzles, talking to folks and finding all kinds of items. Everything can be controlled from the mouse, which seems to work great on this game.  You put the cursor on the screen and Warrick will walk, cast a spell, or throw a punch in that direction.  Unfortunately, the manual talks about using a gamepad or joystick with Entomorph, which I think would have been just fine, but a technical reference card that comes in the box states that the designers thought that the mouse controlled things better, so the ability to use other controllers was simply taken out of the game.  Can you believe that?  Instead of giving us, the gamers, the choice between controller types, they decided that we shouldn't use them at all.  I absolutely, completely, utterly hate it when designers do this to me.  It's one thing to just design a game to not use a piece of equipment through accidental oversight, but to come out and tell the public that the ability to choose between controller types was there and TAKEN OUT of the game, that's nuts.  But even though that revelation drove me through the roof, the mouse does work very well, so I'll step off my soapbox now.

	One of the more impressive features of Entomorph is the interface.  Everything is easy to read, understand and access.  A health bar on the left keeps track of your life, and a mana bar on the right shows your magic ability.  A backpack icon on the toolbar at the bottom can be clicked on or accessed through the keyboard to show the items you're carrying, and the spellbook icon can be chosen the same way to show spells that Warrick can cast.  In the spell book a gauge underneath each spell lets the user define how much mana is to be used in each spell, determining how powerful the spell will be.  

	Spellcasting is handled very neatly - just drag the icon of the spell from the spellbook and place it in one of three spell slots on the toolbar.  From there, casting that spell is as easy as pressing the corresponding key for that slot or clicking directly on it.  It would have been nice to be able to define which keys activate each slot, but Entomorph forces the player to use the Z, X and C keys.  That's not really a problem because this method of spellcasting proves very convenient and efficient in.  The only real problem with interaction in the game comes when you try to pick up an object.  It's not enough to just be by something when you want to interact with it, you have to be in just the right spot, which is a very tricky thing to do when swarms of bugs are coming at you.

	The real shining feature of Entormorph has to be the graphics.  Everything is done in SVGA and the results are, to put it plainly, icky - but that's a good thing.  This game has a lot to do with bugs and other things that make your skin crawl, and the designers don't let you forget that for a moment.  The bugs are drawn and animated almost too convincingly, and some of the environment, like the inside of a giant anthill, get downright gross.  But you have to give Entomorph an A for atmosphere, which it has in spades.

	As well done as Entomorph is, it can sometimes get to be a bit tedious when you walk from one area to the other or try to figure things out. Folks who like action will have to get into the game a bit before Warrick becomes strong enough to really start duking it out without becoming ant food in the first exchange.  But for folks looking for a solid adventure/RPG title with enough action to keep them from falling asleep, Entomorph may not be such a bad choice.  It looks really nice, the bugs are ugly looking and it has an absorbing storyline.  If you want something that you can sit down and work on for a while, and you can handle lots and lots of insects crawling around your screen, Entomorph is a worthwhile adventure.