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eyeofthebeholder2
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1994-02-02
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Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: osiddi1@gl.umbc.edu (Omar Siddique)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: Eye of the Beholder 2: The Legend of Darkmoon
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games
Date: 3 Feb 1994 01:01:14 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 286
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <2ipicq$9dg@menudo.uh.edu>
Reply-To: osiddi1@gl.umbc.edu (Omar Siddique)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Keywords: game, dungeon, adventure, role-playing, commercial
PRODUCT NAME
Eye of the Beholder 2: The Legend of Darkmoon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Eye of the Beholder 2 (or "EOB2") is a first-person perspective,
multiple character, real-time, fantasy role-playing game with an intuitive,
mouse-based playing interface. It is part of Strategic Simulations Inc's
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ("AD&D") product line.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Strategic Simulations Inc.
Address: 675 Almanor Avenue, Suite 201
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
USA
Telephone: (408) 737-6800
LIST PRICE
EOB2 lists for $59.95 (US), but since SSI is no longer in the Amiga
software market, a number of mail-order retailers have discounted it. I
purchased it from Creative Computers (in California, USA) for $14.95 (US).
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
1 MB of RAM is required.
If installed on a hard drive, EOB2 requires 3.5 megabytes of
free drive space.
It seems to work fine with accelerated machines, at least
with the 68030. I did not test it on a stock 68000 machine.
SOFTWARE
It works beautifully with Workbench 2.1 and Kickstart 2.04.
EOB2 even multitasks, although it uses so much processor
power, it's unlikely that anything could be done in the
background (e.g., I couldn't do a 14400 baud download while
running EOB2). The game also exits cleanly.
COPY PROTECTION
The copy protection is of the "look up a word in the manual" type,
and is encountered only once during the game. I would rate the copy
protection as virtually invisible.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 3000/25, 4 MB Fast RAM, 1 MB Chip RAM.
1 internal 880K floppy, 1 external 880K floppy.
Maxtor 120MB internal hard drive.
Quantum 1.2GB external hard drive (EOB2 was installed here).
NEC 3FGx multisync monitor.
Workbench 2.1, Kickstart 2.04.
INSTALLATION
Eye of the Beholder 2 installs easily and quickly onto a hard drive.
Simply drag the "Install" icon from disk 1 onto the hard drive where the
game should be installed, and double-click on the icon. I had no problem
with this method of installation. EOB2 has no trouble with saving and
loading games in progress from the hard drive.
REVIEW
Well, to begin with, I will assume that the reader is somewhat
familiar with the world of AD&D gaming. There are many scenarios set in
this world, and EOB2 is one.
Parties of adventurers journey through this world on quests; some
for good causes, some for evil causes, and some for no particular reason.
In EOB2, You control one such party of four characters, and possibly one or
two non-player characters. The story begins with the party (which can
either be created from scratch or imported from the original "Eye of The
Beholder", or "EOB1") having been advised of new trouble to the north of
Waterdeep, the town that the intrepid adventurers saved in EOB1. The party
is transported by the mage Khelben, advisor to the Lords of Waterdeep, to
the troubled area, and the adventure begins.
The party arrives in a small forested region, and soon finds its way
into the Temple Darkmoon, which appears to be a peaceful sanctuary run by
divinely-inspired priests. Alas, as often happens, appearances are
deceiving, and the party must fight its way through the temple, the
catacombs that lie below, and three towers that rise above the temple in
search of the evil that has taken control of the temple. The party must face
giant ants, vicious basilisks, spirits of the dead, and many other minions of
evil along the way.
The screen is laid out in an attractive, functional manner. A large
viewing window takes up over 1/3 of the screen, displaying whatever your party
is facing at the moment. The right-hand side of the screen is occupied by a
display for each of the party's characters, showing their names, faces, and the
objects currently in their hands. In addition, the color of the border around
each display indicates if any characters are under the influence of magic.
Below the viewing window is a compass rose and an array of arrow gadgets
for movement. At the bottom of the screen is a narrow window in which
text messages are displayed.
The player interacts with the game primarily through the mouse,
although the keyboard can be used for moving the party (and is actually
better than the mouse for moving quickly). Various small objects can be
picked up, dropped, and thrown by simply clicking in the appropriate
location in the viewing window. Spells are cast and weapons swung by
clicking on the items in the characters' hands in the character display.
Clicking on a character's face replaces the character display with an
inventory or statistics for that character. Inventory is also managed by
using the mouse, by clicking on the object to be moved, and then clicking on
its destination. Overall, I found the player interface to be exceptionally
easy to use.
Creating the characters for your party is easy and also mouse-based.
Here, EOB2 does something that I particularly like, and many games of this type
(those not by SSI) don't do. The program allows the player to modify the
attributes of the newly created characters without having to go through the
rigmarole of rolling random characters hundreds of times, trying to get the
perfect combination of attributes. This saved me quite a bit of the setup
frustration usually encountered in this kind of game.
The number of monsters is just right -- not so many as to overwhelm
the player, but not so few as to make the game boring. Most of the monsters
are encountered only once, but some locations have randomly generate
monsters, such as the wolves in the forest. Some monsters can turn players
to stone or kill them with a single swipe -- however, I didn't find any that
were exceptionally difficult to defeat (although the beholders were fairly
tough).
The graphics are well done. They are smooth and aesthetically
pleasing. Most of the artistic talent was applied to the monsters: there's
only so much, after all, that one can do with hallways and tunnels! Most of
the creatures perform some kind of action when they attack the party; for
example, the beholder's eyes distend and its mouth opens. The one thing
missing, however, is true animation of monsters. Although they are animated
when attacking the party, monsters simply move from one spot to the next in
a single motion -- they don't actually use their legs to walk from one place
to the next. This is the only weakness in an otherwise visually pleasing
work.
The sound is acceptable for this type of game, and includes the
footsteps of monsters, the sound of doors opening and closing, the clicks of
switches and buttons, the growls of monsters, and the screams of your
characters as they die. Some faint, ominous background music might have been
appropriate, but its lack is never really felt when the party is busy trying
to hack a monster to pieces.
Finally, the plot is both acceptable and cohesive. It carries itself
forward through "story screens" which contain information, graphics, and often
choices for the party to make, as well as through occasional scrolls and
plaques found in the party's wanderings. The puzzles are relatively simple,
and often rely upon finding a particular secret door, pressing a certain
button, or finding a specific object. They key to playing this game well is
paying attention to all the details. There are things tucked away almost
everywhere.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation consists of a data card containing Amiga-specific
installation instructions, and a rule book. The data card contains all the
information I neede