~Thunderscape (MP) Review extracted from the Internet. Written by Matthew Peckham. Been playing it for 24 hours now--I promise to make it nice, long, accurate, and to the point. . . Category: Roleplaying Developer: SSI Special Projects Team Publisher: SSI, A Mindscape Company Required to play: 486/66 MHz IBM PC 8 MB Ram MS-DOS, DR-DOS 5.0 or greater An UNCOMPRESSED Hard Drive with 25 MB free VGA video adapter (contrary to multiple magazine screen shots footnotes, SVGA graphics are NOT supported) 100% Microsoft (or Logitech) compatible mouse MS Mouse 9.01+ or Logitech 6.3+ mouse driver Double-Speed CD-ROM, 350 ms access, 300 KB transfer rate 550,00 byters of free base ram 6,800,000 bytes of free XMS (Extended, NOT Expanded) Recommended: Pentium or DX4 system (anything below 486/66 will start showing slightly choppy frame rates--though it will still play roughly equivalent to speeds in games like Arena and prevous SSI first-person games). 12-16 MB Ram Medium Install: ~50 Hard Drive Quad-Speed CD-Rom Drive ~The New System: This is SSI's new role-playing world, called ADEN; it will extend from copmuter games into the realm of role-playing (pen-and-pencil) games, novels, and collectable card games. I suspect SSI is attempting to become the next TSR. They are rumored to have split with TSR for that very reason--wanting to reap ALL the profits from their fantasy role-playing games. What better way then to use TSR to boost them to the forefront of computer role-playing, then work backwards by building their own system. And what a system it is...(more on that later) Ten years have passed since Aden was at peace. It is a world of steam-powered technology called "mechamagic" combined with sorcery. Something called "The Darkfall" has engulfed the land. The sun is eclipsed (no daytime anymore, thus everything is always night) permanently. The creatures roaming the land are called Nocturnals. Your goal in Thunderscape is to turn back on a great magical shield at Skellon's Pass, the last barrier between the Nocturnals and the whole of the Northland. The shield extended across the gap from the Radiant Citadel to Vanguard Keep. This first game takes you on a seemingly massive journey through twenty levels including the Radiant Citadel, Vanguard Keep, and the ruins of Karegh-Konan, and ancient ruined city of the deep dwarves. ~Manual and Errata: * * * (three out of five stars) The manual is fairly detailed when it comes to the game system itself (in its preliminary stages of course). Nice sections on spells, creatures, and tons of interesting weapons from swords to steam powered guns and needlers. It only gets three stars for two glaring omissions: (1) A more detailed explanation of what's going on in Aden. They literally give you roughly five to six paragraphs (on on page) of what happened with the Darkfall, what you're doing there, and what needs to be done to complete the game. Considering the detail of the game system, I'd have expected more history (esp. with this being the first game in the series). (2) Certain undocumented commands (someone please tell me if you can find them) like the ability to look up and down. Contrary to some posts on internet, you CAN do it (Page up, Page Down) and the way it's implemented is very nice, but someone completely forgot to document this in any of the accompanying literature. Otherwise, 41 well-designed pages (including a tutorial to get you familiar with the system). ~Introduction, Voice Acting and Music throughout: * * * 1/2 (out of ~ five) The intro looks wonderful and the music/sound with the intro is downright eerie. Only problem is it _does_ looks a little grainy and could have been viewed in a bigger window (for all us quad-speed owners). The voice acting is very well done, as good as anything else out there so far. The music is very similar in style to Wake of the Ravager (i.e. plays directly off the CD, techno/rock style, several tracks, etc...) It's good if you like that kind of stuff in your CRPG (as opposed to crashing Beethoven-esque or Rachmaninov string stuff...) You can turn everything on and off, of course. ~Game System: * * * * 1/2 (out of five) Wow. It's really nice, and _really about time_ to get a good CRPG (in the presently stale market). This one more than makes up for the extra six months we're all waiting for Lords of Midnight and Daggerfall to come out. Graphics are the very best looking VGA I've ever seen in a role-playing game. They absolutely blow Arena/Ultima Underworld/previous SSI attempts/etc...out of the water. The viewscreen is nice and big (more like Arena than past SSI/TSR attempts). You have a compass overhead (of course), and your much simplified interface lined up below. Kudos to the interface. It's the easiest (while maintaining complexity) I've ever used. 8 races currently make up the character creation roster (dwarves, elves, faerkin, ferrans, goreaux, humans, juraks, and rapacians). You have 11 archetypes (professions) consisting of fighter, martial artist (yes!), healer, monk, knight, ranger, swashbuckler, rogue, thief, sorcerer, and wizard. NOTE: All character can use magic _and_ wear armor (thank god) in Aden: what makes a better or worse magician has to do with how many spell skill points you have (i.e. wizards start out with a lot). You stats consist of Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Health, and Willpower (a bit scaled back from AD&D). Other statistics are health points, mana points, experience, level, and gold. You then have a wide array of skills: acrobatics, axes/maces, bows, cast spells, fencing, firearms, knife, martial arts, pole arms, shield, stealth, swords, fast talk, lock picking, merchant, pick pockets, see secrets, xenology. There are 27 spells (the spell effects are incredible--best anyone's set up yet). 22 monsters make up the bestiary in Thunderscape (they're also the best looking--huge --you've ever seen. It looks likes they rendered them on an SGI or something, then scaled back the resolution a bit. The result--some really nightmarish stuff). Combat is handled beautifully. Instead of hack 'n' slash (via Arena, DOOM, previous SSI RPGs, UW1 and 2, etc...) combat is phased and somewhat strategic. Missiles and Spells are still real-time when you're far away from an enemy, but as soon as you get within reaching distance, the computer goes into phase-time combat. You can then select multiple attack modes for each character, choosing from: standard attack, berserk attack, attack for vitals, feint, mighty blow, shield bash, kick, close combat, defensive attack, stop thrust, dodge, flee, hife, backstab, shoot, aim missile weapon, confust foe, parlay, or bribe. You also have the option to "execute last orders for multiple rounds of combat to avoid reselecting everything for each character is you wish." Definite four and 1/2 stars for the combat system (IMHO). It's the nearest thing to perfect we've seen in a first person role-playing game. Automap: you either hate it or love it. It's right out of Cyclones--it's a complex series of isometric polygons either shaded or unfilled and built upon each other. You can zoom in, zoom out, and rotate the map any number of multiple ways. I love it myself--you'll find a lot of posts in Internet groups from people who hate it, then a few who like it. To each your own, I say. Movement: You have the standard fare 8 directions, plus the ability to look up and down, crouch, run, and jump. It's pretty much System Shock though the movement model isn't quite as advanced. Movement itself is VERY fluid--it "feel" right the way System Shock "felt" right. Sidebits: There are riddles similar to Arena (four lines with one word answer) that add spice to the game. One thing I'm struck by is the sheer SIZE of the playing world. The buildings are just huge, and the cliffs have roughly six-seven levels with multiple cave entrances that branch all over the insides of the cliffs. The thing that amazed me is all these levels are represented together (in other words, you don't go to a texture mapped staircase and then load the next level via. Ultima Underworld or Arena). Everything is represented in 3D (like System Shock) and so everything feels "virtual." ~Overall: * * * * 1/2 (out of five) BOTTOM LINE: If you're a true CRPG fan, you MUST have this game. It's not just a "tide-me-over" until Daggerfall or Lords of Midnight. It's its OWN revolution. . . Oh yeah, check out the neat SVGA demo of ENTOMORPH on the CD, SSI's next Aden game set in overhead perspective (ala Dark Sun, Wake of the Ravager). Mail me for questions, things you disagree with, or anything else. -Matthew Peckham, MSN