SSI has been developing very popular AD&D role-playing titles for quite some time now. Building on their considerable experience in this area, the company has created its own role-playing universe called The World Of Aden. Their second World of Aden title to be released is Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall, an action/role playing game which has no involvement with Thunderscape, the first World of Aden title, other than being set in the same world. The World of Aden is suffering through an evil period called the Darkfall, named after a black cloud which settled on the once peaceful world. Evil creatures poured forth from this cloud and Aden began the fight for its very survival. It's a world involving magic, monsters and what SSI hopes becomes a large following for its future titles.
The player is Squire Warrick, a character who wakes up on an island one day to find that his memory is gone. All he can remember is that he was looking for his sister somewhere on the island which, as he eventually finds out, is being invaded by hordes of insects and other gruesome monsters which feast on the blood of the living. Through interaction with characters and events in Entomorph, Warrick becomes involved in a complex storyline in which he must stop the source of the evil plague which is turning the peaceful inhabitants into horrible insect-like creatures. What's worse is that as Warrick travels along, he realizes that he has contracted this plague and is slowly turning into an insect himself. This actually isn't all that bad, since Warrick soon discovers that can't really compete with all of the monstrosities without gaining the attributes of the horrible creatures he's fighting.
Entomorph isn't your normal role-playing game. The game is viewed from an isometric standpoint and all of the action is in real time. It's not quite a shooter, where you blast from one room to the next, but there is a healthy dose of fighting your way through insect hordes. Entomorph still manages to incorporate a lot of role-playing and adventure attributes through an engaging branching storyline, character development, puzzles to solve and mini-missions to complete along the way.
The game is played through a mouse or joystick which is used to control our hero Warrick. At the beginning of the game Warrick begins with only his own two hands to fight the evil creatures, but he's able to gain different spells as he travels throughout the world, providing powerful weapons and armor. Fighting is accomplished by positioning Warrick directly in front of whatever he wants to destroy, and pressing the button. When spells are acquired, they go into Warrick's spell book, which can be accessed whenever he needs it. Up to three spells can be in readied at any one time, each spell being activated by a corresponding key on the keyboard. Warrick's hit points are shown by a bar on the left side of the screen while his mana, the points used for casting spells, are shown by a bar on the right side. The strength of the spell can be adjusted on a scale from one to ten, but the more powerful a spell the more mana is used. When all of Warrick's mana is gone, no more spells can be cast until he gains more mana. It's a very easy game to play, with all of the complexity being reserved for the storyline and adventuring.
I'm not a big fan of bugs --, in fact, I can't stand bugs at all. Indiana Jones had snakes, I have bugs. So I was especially freaked out when I saw the hideously exquisite look of Entomorph. The detailed SVGA graphics bring a really creepy feel to the bugs and different insect environments. It's one of those things where I just wanted to take a shower after seeing all of the ants, bees and other creepy-crawly things. Ugh. But that's not to say the graphics are bad. That's not even close to being the case. The graphics are gorgeous, with everything smoothly scrolling, and rendered in exacting detail. That's why it's so icky seeing these creatures come crawling and flying at you with such clarity and realism.
SSI seems to be attempting to make Entomorph a role-playing game for the action gamer while also making it an action game for the role player. There are a ton of things to squash and kill, but there's also lots of puzzles along the way with an involved storyline. Warrick will have to travel through many horrid, oozing levels and meet (and kill, kill all the big bugs) lots of horrid, oozing creatures to complete his mission. With incredible graphics and an original soundtrack to match, Entomorph should be crawling its way into stores by late September or early October.
