The Eye of the Beholder Trilogy - SSI RRP œ45.99
         (RPG compilation for PC floppy or CD-ROM)

                   Review by Roy Sims

It's not often I eat my own words, but the other day I was forced
to snack on Syntax issue 13 which contained my own review of the
Amiga version of 'Eye of the Beholder'. At the time I wasn't
overly impressed with EOB because it seemed to be far too close to
Dungeon Master. Well, two and a half years later I've had the
chance to re-evaluate the game as part of the 'Eye of the
Beholder' trilogy compilation which SSI have just released.

I never bought EOB 2 for the Amiga, and when I progressed onto the
PC I gave EOB 3 a miss as well. However, buying all three together
for the PC was an opportunity not to be missed, especially after
having recently played and finished 'Lands of Lore' which was
written by the same team who did EOB and EOB 2 (Westwood Studios,
formerly Westwood Associates).

The Trilogy comes in a large sturdy box with a montage of the
three games box artwork on the cover. You can buy it on floppies
(seven disks) or on CD-ROM (one CD). The CD versions are no
different to the floppy ones and still have to be installed to
hard disk, (in other words, the CD is just being used as a
different storage medium). Despite the fact that one CD costs a
lot less to manufacture than seven disks, you still have to pay
the same price for either version! That grumble aside, this is
very good value.

Inside the box you get one Rule book for each game (although
their contents are all very similar), a data card, various
adverts for other SSI and US Gold product and as a bonus, you
also get the EOB clue book. This will get you through the first
game in the series without any trouble. I'll come right out and
admit that I used the clue book to finish part I so that I had a
good party and some valuable experience for starting part 2. I
know it's no excuse, but I am very weak willed when it comes to
clue books!

I'm sure most people know what kind of games the EOB Trilogy
contains. They follow the official Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
(AD&D) 2nd edition rules and they are presented in Dungeon Master
fashion. The graphics in the original are a bit off in places, but
things improve considerably in part 2.

I've only just started part 3, but whilst the game system looks
the same on the surface it is nowhere near as smooth. I think this
is due to the introduction of some rough sampled sound for hits on
monsters etc. The playing of each sample creates the slight delay.
The menus (when choosing which spells to memorize etc.) have been
simplified to an ugly text list too.

Part 3 was written by a different programming team and it shows.
The graphics aren't as good and the game system is creaky.  The
start is also a bit tough if players play with a new party.
Fortunately I used my final team from the successful conclusion of
Part 2, but even then it is still a hard slog to get through the
early battles.

Personally I think that first person perspective RPGs days are
numbered. I prefer the isometric view myself mainly because it
looks more like real RPGs and because combat is a lot better to
control. However, a lot of people still like the DM approach with
its buttons, levers and pads style puzzles and that's exactly what
you get in this trilogy. A number of puzzles from part 1 felt very
familiar and it was only after I finished it that I realised that
Westwood Studios (who wrote it) liberated a few of their own
puzzles for 'Lands of Lore'!

One nice touch that exists across all three games is the ability
to transfer your party from one game to the next. I ended part I
with 6 characters and had to ditch two of them at the start of
part II.  Unfortunately, they were carrying some useful equipment
so I went back into part I and made sure that the good equipment
was in the hands of the four party members I was going to keep in
part II before I transferred them over again. You lose some items
(keys, the stone portal keys, and various other bits and pieces)
but you do get to keep scrolls, food, potions and weapons. All
spells are also retained (apart from stone skin and flame arrow)
as are each character's attributes (strength, charisma, dexterity,
experience levels etc). Some of the weapons change names en route
though (Halberds become Polearms for example), but rings that were
just referred to as 'rings' are given useful names in part 2 (ring
of feather falls, ring of adornment etc).

You can do the same thing when going between Part 2 and Part 3,
but you have to ensure that the first four party members you
finish Part 2 with are the four you wish to play Part 3 with
because you don't have any choice in the matter during the
transfer process!  Again, some items vanish and others change
names. Some shields physically changed appearance between games as
did some of the Cleric spells. A 7th level is added to the
Cleric's spell range and a staggering 3 new levels (making a total
of 9) are added to a Mage's.

I can see why so many people liked the first two parts of the
series, and I am just discovering why the final chapter failed
where its sequels had succeeded. The Part 3 also takes up over
three times the amount of hard disk space as its predecessors!
(over 9 and a half megs worth!) for a system which is inferior.
However, the three games together still make a well packaged
compilation and a worthy addition to any RPG players collection.
The only down side to all this is that after 'Lands of Lore' and
now these three games, I don't ever want to play another DM style
game as long as I live, but guess what's due for release this
year?  Dungeon Master II! Bad timing or what?

(As a bonus, the CD version of this compilation also contains self
running demos of two other SSI product - Dark Suns: Shattered
Lands, and Dungeon Hack. Both games are now available on floppies.
Amiga owners can now buy Part 1 on the Kixx budget range from U.S
Gold, so they don't miss out entirely either. Part 2 will probably
appear next year but don't waste any time waiting for Part 3, as
it wasn't converted to the Amiga range).




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