Sleeping Gods Lie - Empire RRP œ24.95 A long time ago, the world of Tessera was created by the gods. Having done that, they wandered off looking for greater challenges, leaving behind one of their number, the god N'Gnir who, taking a rest, slept on and on and ...... Though officially the lands were run by an Emperor, he was in fact merely a figurehead. The lands were really controlled by an evil Archmage who ruled by terrorising the populace with the aid of his minions - demons. There is only one chance to save the world. A brave adventurer (or, failing that, some poor bloke who can be roped in!) will have to find N'Gnir, wake him, and get him to sort out the mess. At the start of the adventure, you have just woken in your home in the city of Thurin in the Duchy of Caila, one of the few places relatively untouched by the hands of the Archmage - though even Caila has not escaped completely unscathed - when a noise outside your front door disturbs you. Could it be an agent of the Archmage? No, it's a kobold and he's injured! You offer to help him but he explains that several of them had been attempting to wake N'Gnir but had been attacked by demons. He is the only survivor. To wake the god, they needed a device from your kingdom and he gives it to you; it's a small bangle. Whispering the word "hermit...", the kobold dies. Naturally, you will take over his quest though all unauthorised travel is strictly against the Archmage's rules. One important fact you must sort out pretty quickly relates to the arrangement of the lands you will travel through. Tessera is made up of 8 Kingdoms, each of which have up to 6 landscapes and mapping is very important but confusing at first. Why? Because Tessera is not a normal shaped world - each Kingdom is a tesseract. I didn't know what tesseracts were either when I started playing but it's starting to make sense. Imagine each Kingdom as a cube. Now, unfasten enough of the side-joins so you can flatten the cube and that is the basic shape of your map eg: ________ | | | | _______|______|______________ | | | | | | A | | | B | |______|______|______|______| | | | | |______| You can move from one landscape to another through gates which are positioned in the middle of the dotted lines in the sketch above. But, due to the nature of the tesseract when contructed, you can sometimes also move from the right edge of landscape B to the left edge of landscape A. Similarly, there are occasional links between other areas which would normally touch in a complete cube. You can move relatively freely within each Kingdom (some gates are guarded and others need certain conditions in operation before you can pass through) but travel between Kingdoms is one-way. All you know is that N'Gnir is in the final Kingdom so, starting from Caila and Taira you must progress through the next 6 kingdoms, solving problems as you go and fighting off the more belligerent inhabitants until you reach the Coratinian State where the Sleeper lies. The adventure comes on 3 disks and luckily there is provision to use two drives (always a help with multi-disk games). There is a basic but adequate booklet provided in the box but, largely, you are on your own. The loading music isn't too bad and, as a nice touch, fades out rather than cutting off. Pretty soon, after choosing which language to play in, the credits and a brief history of Tessera are displayed in the form of a book, the pages of which turn over as you press a key. Luckily you can ESC out of this sequence on future plays. The screen display for the game is well thought out. The central section shows your forward view in 3D and you can use the mouse, joystick or cursor keys to move forward or backwards and also rotate. I found the cursor keys easiest for normal movement but changed to the mouse when combat started. The bottom of the screen shows your inventory, including ammunition, how much money you have (in gold, every adventurer's favourite currency) and experience. There are borders to left and right of the central section and these have several graphics on them. On the left are a compass to show which direction you are facing in, your stamina and a picture of your current weapon; on the right are a clock (Tessera has a 12 hour day of which 3 are dark), a representation of your magical presence which depends on how many magic artifacts you have, and a little picture of you which is updated every time you gain another article of armour or clothing eg hat, belt, leather tunic. You start off with just your bare hands as weapons and can find ammunition dotted about the landscape. A successful fight will also often gain you more ammo, plus (on occasions) better weapons. In this way, your fire-power will improve as you progress through the game. You will also have to explore each landscape fairly thoroughly as there are other objects to be found which will also be necessary to your quest and you must also search for food (berries, apples, carrots, mushrooms etc) to keep up your strength. In about a week of playing the adventure in order to review it, I got as far as the third kingdom with no great difficulties and will certainly return to the game - when I have time! The fights are definitely getting harder to win but the improved weapons (I am now up to a blowpipe with poison darts - which, incidentally, make a most spectacular explosion when you bump off an opponent) help a lot. Normally I would not enjoy the fights as they are a bit arcady in style but I found them pretty easy so nobody else should have any trouble with them! The graphics are excellent, especially those of the other characters in the game and move smoothly. The controls take a short time to get used to, as does the mapping but neither is any great problem. I hope that Empire will bring out another adventure in the same style. Sue