home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Coming Soon 3
/
COM3A.ZIP
/
DRAGON.R
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-02-16
|
5KB
|
100 lines
REVIEW
DRAGON LORE from MINDSCAPE
FORMAT: PC/CD
DATE: DECEMBER
PRICE: N/A
Right from the start of the fabulous game, "Dragon Lore" projects you into
a world of adventure and mystery which is bound to captivate you.
You are Werner Von Wallenrod, an orphan living in a realm lost in time. You
leave to travel across these lands and meet fantastically surreal characters
who help you in your quest for truth. Your father was assassinated by the
Devil's Horseman, Haagen Von Kiakonov, has vowed to destroy everything you
know and love. Just before your father died, he was able to entrust you with
a farmer in the kingdom, but now the hour has arrived for you to take up
arms and defend your country.
Inexperienced in the art of combat, you must prove yourself all throughout
the voyage that awaits you.
The scenario of "Dragon Lore" is unquestionably of first choice and quite
original. However, certain aspects require a laps of time before acquiring
a taste for it! The character you control, Werner, is displaced by means of
the mouse which proves impractical. A small dragon appears on the screen
permitting you to observe the direction in which your character may move
(left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down), but he can only turn at 45
degrees with each movement. This slows down the action and renders the game
a little less realistic at times.
Moreover, as your point of view in the game is of the first person, good
orientation skills will help you keep track of position. Other actions that
can be accomplished are indicated in the mouth of the "dragon-cursor". A
ball in the dragon's mouth means you can pick up an object. For example, a
hammer in the dragon's mouth means that you can accomplish a designated
action. When the cursor transforms into a dragon's eye, this signifies that
you have stumbled upon a place of interest and may take a closer look in
more detail.
Up to now, even if the movements are a little slow, the interface remains
quite easy and simple. Things get a little more lively when you must place
objects in your inventory or take them out. In order to be in your
inventory, you must click on the right hand button of the mouse up in the
top left hand corner of the screen. If you click when you are not in the
top left hand corner, the action becomes "throw object" and you are forced
to try and find it again! The same goes for when you are in the inventory.
To place an object you must click on the right mouse button, because if you
click on the left mouse button, you will exit from the inventory and need to
do it all over again. In any case, the interface used in "Dragon Lore" is
frankly not one of the simplest.
Regarding the graphics and the animations that you will discover throughout
the game, there are no complaints and you easily enter into the atmosphere
of a role-playing game. The combats that you will have to carry out during
your quest resemble those of a role-playing game. For example, you role the
dice to see if you hit your adversary or not. Not too exciting... but let
us take a look at the better side of things to savor "Dragon Lore"
as an adventure game.
In this regard, you must pay attention at all times if you want to solve all
the puzzles you encounter (some of which can be very puzzling) in order to
continue your quest.
You will also have a spell book at your disposition, that is, if you manage
to find it. The different creatures that you meet will give you hints or
objects permitting you to advance. Generally you must help them in order for
them to help you!
The last critical remark about this game is that it lacks research concerning
the sound effects and music. Unfortunately, although this could have added
to the atmosphere of the game, they are not terrific.
Nevertheless, one does not come across such well constructed stories everyday
with this type of scenario. Role-playing game fans will quickly forget my
little remarks and joyfully embark into the land of fantastic beings for an
incredible adventure that never ends.
─────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: │
─────────────────────┘
486 DX-33 MHz or better,
Min 4 MB memory,
MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
Hard drive required with 8MB free,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
SVGA 256 color graphic card with 1 MB memory and monitor,
Microsoft Mouse or 100% compatible and joysticks supported,
Sound Blaster and compatibles.
───────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────┐ ┌─────┐ │Mindscape,
│GRAPHICS├─────────────────┤ 96% │ │Priority House, Charles Avenue,
│SOUND ├─────────────────┤ 90% │ │Maltings Park, Burgess Hill,
│MUSIC ├─────────────────┤ 92% │ │West Sussex RH15 9PQ, England.
│GAMEPLAY├─────────────────┤ 85% │ │Tel: +44-(0)444-246-333
│INTEREST├─────────────────┤ 89% │ │
└────────┘ └─────┘ │Mindscape,
┌────────┐ ┌─────┐ │60 Leveroni Court,
│OVERALL ├─────────────────┤ 90% │ │Novato, CA 94949.
└────────┘ └─────┘ │Tel: 415-883-3000
│
───────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────