PC Answers 1995 September/DISK19.iso/games/csheet/u/ultima8.txt

Text File | 1995-04-30 | 7KB | 139 lines

~ULTIMA VIII:  PAGAN

RPG by ORIGIN

Review By Lu Richardson


If you are an Ultima fan like me, you'll be overjoyed to see this
game.  It has all the ingredients which made all previous games
so spellbinding, plus a few improvements - as you would expect.

Let's take it from the top.  If you've been following the series
(and, regretfully, I could not manage to get a copy of Ultima VII
Part II which I could afford, but otherwise I have), you'll know
all about the baddy to end all baddies, the Guardian.  Well, he's
been up to no good once more.  You know, I have a feeling this
guy won't be put down till Ultima 21 or thereabouts.

Anyway, pick up the box with trembling hands and proceed to
install the game.  Wot?  35 Mbytes or so?  Good grief!  I hope
you have enough space on your hard disk, a fast machine and 4
Mbytes of memory at least; but if you have more, all the better.
If not, pawn you cat and invest on some real equipment.

Of course, when you talk RPG, to me you mean Dungeon Master and
the miriads of games based on it, such as Eye of the Beholder;
but Ultima was always in a class of its own.

Watch the intro, which is very short, and experience the thrill
of being pitched, once more, into the strange world the so-called
Lord British created.  Don't rely on the manual; it purposely
tells you nothing to aid you.  You must discover what is going
on by yourself.

The thing is, you've been banished to a place called Pagan and,
apart from saving Britannia and the Earth from the Guardian, you
mainly want to go home.  Who doesn't?  Naturally, you haven't a
clue how to go about it, but that's just the point.  Here you
are, in a place you know nothing about, except that it is going
to be mighty dangerous, and you have to explore it, bend it to
your will and emerge triumphant.  How's that for a quest, huh?

But let's look at what you have to work with.  The sounds, I
cannot tell you about.  Although I have a sound card, my machine
cannot cope both with the complex graphics AND the sounds, but I
hope yours can.  You have to fork out 20 quit to get them on
separate disks, so I expect they are GOOD.  As to the graphics,
you cannot quarrel with them.  The view is from above and at an
angle, as in the last few games, but so contrived that you can
see everything in as great a detail as it was drawn.  And it was
drawn beautifully.

The whole thing is centered around the one and only character,
which you can name, but that's about it.  You cannot control his
attributes, unless you cheat - and if you are reading this mag,
then no doubt you will.

You'll notice at once how attractively drawn are all the
characters, particularly the main one.  Then, when you come to
take charge, you will see how many things he can do (rather like
Prince of Persia, you know?), so long as you are willing to try
complicated combinations of clicks on the right and left buttons
of your mouse.  But watch it, you could end up with your fingers
neatly tied up in knots.

This guy can walk, walk fast or run, and even take little,
cautious steps - he can jump, climb, bleed, blow up, get knocked
down, deal blows, fall down and die with remarkable ease.
Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have enough gumption to get out
of harm's way.  As well, it is not all that easy to control him.
Getting him to go through a door, for instance, can try your
patience more than somewhat.  Nevertheless, it also means that
there is no nook and cranny you cannot get at with a bit of
skill.

Never mind all that, what about the gameplay?  Well, you have an
enormous area to cover but, I am glad to say, it is full of
interest.  I hate games which force you to cover great distances,
with nothing happening, just to make it last.  Not this one.
From the moment you start, you know that, just out of range,
there is something interesting going on.  You force yourself to
go in one direction, wistfully wishing you will remember to
explore to the left or to the right - later on.  Only your
attention is captured in the direction you are going, so you say
to yourself, I'll come back later and see.  Will you?  I hope so.
Because you will be pulled this way and that way, and you will
get so immersed in your surroundings, you will lose track.

Of course, as the game progresses, it all goes rather over the
top.  I expect if you have a main character with such
versatility, you tend to exploit it in rather arcadey sequences.
For instance, in some cases you cannot progress unless you jump
from one place to another.  This has to be so finely judged that
you could be there all night.

When it comes to combat, it's a piece of cake.  Sort of.  All you
have to do is click on C, point in the right direction and bash
away.  Two difficulties - it's the devil to find really decent
weapons, and some nasties just won't stay down.  Fortunately, you
can always run like hell.  Apart from that, watching the fights
is very pleasing, what with everyone falling about and bleeding
all over the place.

One very annoying thing is that monsters moving about and things
like fireballs being thrown at you slow the movement of the
character.  You might try to run away, but you move at snail's
pace to allow all the other movements going on in the screen to
take place.  This can be very trying.

The puzzles are few and far between, and nothing you need worry
about.  The main obstacles are hordes of invincible nasties and,
as I said, the arcadey bits.  Not to mention the fact that the
ratio of locked doors to keys is decidedly unfavourable, i.e.,
not anywhere near enough keys and far, far too many locked doors.
To compound the felony, you might sweat blood to get to a place
and then find there is a locked door barring your way and you
don't have the key, nor do you have the remotest idea of where
to find it.  It really is a bit much.

Well, in case you are wondering, the object of the exercise is to
find out who can help you get home; but once you do, you will be
overwhelmed by all the tasks you have to perform before you can
achieve your aim.  It is all very open-ended, so you can always
take the odd diversion here and there by way of relief.

Have you got a couple of years to spare?  Then this is the
Adventure for you.  Yes, an Adventure, with a capital A, awaits
you and things will go, vaguely as in real life, entirely at
random.  I dare say you could play this game several times and,
although the main thread will be the same, the variations along
the way will be limitless.  It makes you feel insecure, doesn't
it.

Listen, you'll love it.  If you are into RPG, this one is an ace.
And it will take you ages to complete it.  The only way I know
how to tell you more is to write for you some starting tips, so
look for them in this fabulous magazine.  See you later!