DUNGEON LORD
                     SYNTAX P.D. DISK No. 504
            Reviewed by JAMES JILLIANS on an ATARI ST

Yes, readers, it's wander-round-stone-corridors-in-search-of-fame-
and-fortune time again with this new Role Playing Game from
Patrick Maidorn!  Here's a quick run-down of the surprisingly
original (for an R.P.G.) plot...

It's the beginning of the 7th Millennium and the humans, having
just invented the Dimensional Warp, can travel back in time. They
use their new invention to study ancient civilisations and
increase their store of historical knowledge.  It was when they
were studying the medieval planet of Thago that things started to
go dreadfully wrong...

The INTERSPACE agent who was in charge of the investigation of the
planet was attacked and killed by the evil native priest, Lord
Shrax.  Shrax soon found the agent's personal Dimensional Warp and
got a team of his evil minions to work out how to use it.
Undiscovered, he has been opening up dimensional gates into other
planes of existence and becoming steadily more powerful.  Now
INTERSPACE have learnt that Shrax intends to summon the evil
demonlord, known only as "The Evil One", from hell, to inflict
untold damage upon all his enemies.  This could have fearful
implications for the rest of the universe - Shrax could even
change the flow of history!

INTERSPACE have hand-picked their best agent and have sent him to
Thago to kill Shrax before it is too late.  That agent is YOU! You
must venture forth into Shrax's huge dungeon, gaining magical
powers and useful equipment as you go.  Finally you will confront
the great priest himself to put an end to his evil plans.

Let me tell you now that Dungeon Lord is Shareware.  This means
that you are given three levels which you can play as a trial to
see if you like the game.  To progress further you need to send a
registration fee of $10 to the programmer who lives in Canada.
This review is written from experience of the demo only.  The game
is still worth ordering just for the first three levels!

The game is played in a massive multi-storey dungeon.  Before it
starts you need to pick the character that you will control.  You
are presented with a screen showing numbers which represent skills
and attributes such as Strength, Agility, Magic Power and Hit
Points.  The higher the numbers, the more competent your character
is at that skill.  The computer randomly generates new characters
until you find one that you are happy with.

Once you have finished designing your character he/she is placed
in the dungeon.  You are presented with a screen with a large text
box at the bottom, a graphical display in the top left-hand corner
and several icons to the right.  You move your character by
clicking on the arrow icons and the 3D display, similar to that of
Bloodwych or Dungeon Master (but smaller), will show you what is
happening.

Basically, you need to explore, find equipment, solve puzzles,
kill monsters, and gain experience.  Apart from the dungeon walls
and other pieces of scenery, nothing appears in the graphical
display.  When you step onto a square that contains a monster, a
trap or a piece of equipment a message will come up in the text
box notifying you of your find. Any items or magical runes will be
transferred into your inventory which can be called up by clicking
on the appropriate icon.  If you meet a monster or a group of
monsters you will be presented with a Combat Screen.

The combat system is quite simple but is still fun to use.  The
monster's name appears in the centre of the screen.  You and the
monster(s) take it in turns to perform an action.  You can
advance, retreat, draw weapons, cast spells, use items and, of
course, attack.  The fairly straight-forward combat system
introduces a tactical warfare element into the game.

For those who enjoy them, the puzzles that need solving are a real
treat.  You find yourself answering general knowledge questions,
working out the best way to negotiate rooms full of traps,
deciding which objects should be used where ... and much more!
They steadily get more difficult as you progress through the first
three levels, but are all fairly straight-forward.  The puzzles
are fun rather than frustrating.  On later levels I would expect
the puzzles to be more challenging to cater for the more
experienced adventurer.  The game certainly isn't completely
combat-orientated!

The dungeon contains many sub-levels, such as Maltar's laboratory,
Moroc's Orc Dungeon and the Sewers.  Each of these has its own
variety of monster and its own puzzles and challenges.

The game's half-graphics, half-text approach works very well
indeed.  Graphics serve only to help you find your way about the
dungeon - you do not see graphical representations of monsters or
items.  If you are a text adventure fan like me, you shouldn't be
too worried by the lack of pictures!  The clever text creates a
great deal of atmosphere.  When you encounter a monster a message
appears telling how you met.  When you enter a new part of the
dungeon the scenery is described.  Personally, I think that this
type of system is as good (if not better!) than all-graphics - the
game lets your imagination do some of the the work!

Unlike some of the games that I have reviewed, Dungeon Lord's
sound is really good.  Although it isn't up to the standard of a
quality commercial game like Ishar, the sound does make the game
seem more realistic.  During combat you hear screams of pain
(various different sorts depending on how serious the enemy's
wound was) and the sound of clashing blades. Spells have their own
casting noises and the traps make trap-like sounds.  All in all,
the audio dimension makes this already very good R.P.G.  even more
recommendable.

The game is very user-friendly with a well thought-out and
manageable control system.  Clear instructions can be accessed
when the game has loaded in.  The game's only problem is that it
doesn't take long to complete the levels that you can access
without registering your copy - in fact it took me just under
three and a half hours.  If you do put yourself to the trouble and
expense of sending money off to Canada and finally receive the
codes to access the rest of the game then, judging by the
difficulty of the first three levels, I would expect the game to
provide a lasting challenge.
J.J. ROUND-UP

Dungeon Lord is very good example of an R.P.G.  Similar to Dungeon
Master, but with text as well as graphics, stonkingly good sound
and challenging puzzles, this game is thoroughly recommended.
Experienced adventurers may find the game's first three
demonstration levels a bit easy to complete and will wish to
register their copy and get the full game.  Apart from a few
spelling mistakes the game is extremely well presented.  Dungeon
Lord should run on all Atari STs with half a megabyte (or more!)
of memory and needs a mouse but not a joystick to run.

J.J. RATINGS:

GRAPHICS   :  4 out of 10
SOUND      :  7 out of 10
EASE OF USE:  9 out of 10
VALUE      :  5 out of 10  (without paying registration)
DIFFICULTY :  6 out of 10      "    "    "    "    "
FUN FACTOR :  9 out of 10