Bane of the Cosmic Forge - Sir Tech RRP œ39.99-œ44.99
               (RPG for Amiga and PC)

              Reviewed by Ron Rainbird

@~This wasn't actually sent in as an official review; it is part
@~of a letter Ron wrote to me but as it gives a clear view of
@~Ron's impressions of the game, I thought I'd include it here.
@~Some of his earlier comments to me about it are in the Letters
@~section.

I think I'll rename this game "Bane of Ron Rainbird"! I find it
rather a difficult game to assess. For some reason, I just cannot
feel involved the way I do with the better SSI games. The
graphics insofar as the monsters are concerned are superb, but the
background locations are drab, being mostly a dull grey except for
the waterways which are a deep blue but there aren't many of them.

Lots of problems but the solutions are not of a logical nature but
more a question of talking with a character in order to elicit
information and, to be quite honest, half the time I didn't know
what to ask. The mapping is nightmarish - I have an antipathy
towards this aspect of adventuring - but with literally dozens of
staircases going up and down, trying to pinpoint your place of
arrival with little or no points of identification is my idea of
hell. You cover reams of paper on 2 levels alone and as the first
castle has several levels above ground floor and below, well, I
gave in after a while and sent to good old Strategy Plus for the
very expensive Hint Book.

If you haven't seen it, I would explain that it is a glossily
produced A4 size publication, with highly detailed and clear maps,
print that is a joy to read, 98 pages crammed with details - and
more inaccuracies than I have ever seen before in a Hint Book. I
started to correct in matching black ink some incorrect details in
the early maps, but I did it so well that now I cannot see the
alterations, which precludes me from writing a letter of complaint
to Sir Tech in the good old US of A. Perhaps the book was intended
for a different version of the game, such as for the PC, because a
couple of the answers to problems just do not work on the Amiga.

I've never resorted to a Hint Book so much - normally, outside of
the maps which is what I normally get a Hint Book for, my will
power is pretty strong and I rarely look up answers so perhaps
other Hint Books may have this failing.

Anyway, back to the game. Combat is very slow even when played on
the fastest level and after the first quarter of the adventure,
combat encounters are very numerous. Restoration of spell power is
very boring and is mainly obtained by "resting", during which time
you can be (and often are) attacked with devastating results.
After an undisturbed rest, you find that only a relatively small
portion of your spell points have been restored, so to get back to
full power you have to keep resting, with all the danger that
entails. There are a very few fountains where you can restore
spell points by drinking, but it usually means that you have to
travel miles to get to them and by the time you get back to your
place of departure, random encounters have normally reduced your
power. Very frustrating! And unlike the aforementioned SSI
adventures.  In such as the "Krynn" games, there are always "safe"
places to rest, such as Inns, and a full recuperation is always
ensured - but not in "Bane".

I feel that the creator went all out to make the game as near
impossible as he dared. The creation of a really good party could
not be more deliberately planned to make it as hard as possible.
Just try to create a top fighter such as a Ninja and you'll see
what I mean. I spent nearly an hour trying for just this one
character only to get fed up and settling for a Samurai, which is
second best. There are lots of smaller niggles which I won't
bother to mention, but I can only say that I'm glad, in view of
the exorbitant price, that it was a present - and I DO mean
exorbitant!