The Elder Scrolls Chapter One:Arena - Bethesda Software RRP œ45.99
                       (RPG for PC)

                     Reviewed by MerC

Imagine the latest Purrsche 1100 standing in your driveway.  It's
cost you a couple of limbs and a marriage or two, but it's here at
last. All the latest extras : ABS, 0-60 in 3.5secs, built in PC.
You insert the key and to the envy of the whole crescent, you zoom
off down the road for your first outing. Three hours later, you're
back, trundling in the wake of the very, very nice yellow and
black man. He got you home, but it's clear you're not going far
for quite some time. Are you happy, or what?

Arena is a bit like that. It doesn't matter how brilliant the
graphics, how interesting the game-play, or how up-to-date the
game engine, if it doesn't work it should not be on sale to an
unsuspecting public. Three of us were playing it recently, in
different parts of the country, on 486 machines. One (eventually)
finished it, one nearly did (the end sequence never appeared in
spite of repeated attempts) and one gave up after continually
locking up in the middle of a dungeon. I won't say which of these
I am, but my first problem arose when attempting to use the
potentially excellent spell system. A mouse click anywhere other
than in the dialogue box to accept a mixed spell caused a
comprehensive crash, with lists of register contents scrolling
down the screen in a peculiar resolution and at an alarming speed.
OK, I made sure I didn't do that again, and continued. Next (and I
still don't know if this is supposed to be a help) after resting
in a tavern in the King's Suite on a public holiday I found I had
535 million gold pieces. Apart from loading a previous game,
there's no way to get rid of this, except by spending it. Ever
tried to spend 535 million anything? Even Turkish lira would take
a lifetime. In any case, how was I to know that I wouldn't need it
later on?  Since this is a fairly run-of-the-mill RPG,
accumulating wealth is part of the game, and having such an
advantage reduced the difficulty level to zilch.

Ploughing on, I explored the numerous towns, the even more
numerous buildings and talked to the hoards of NPCs. Believe me,
this game is BIG - unfortunately, most of it is superfluous. Even
outside the dozens of cities there are interesting looking
locations, across lakes and over swamps, but they add little to
the game, since they do not come into any quest and can be
completely ignored. Eventually you discover the first major
location, and you're off to get the first part of your eight part
staff. (At least, it's supposed to be eight. One of us ended up
with nine pieces - I did not enquire too closely how this had been
accomplished, but it did not help him at all). After I had
laboriously (the word being used advisedly) collected five of
these, I found that an essential location in the correct town was
not there. Now, in common with many others, I could not have known
this was a bug. Consequently I spent around a week (real time)
trying to locate the Brotherhood of Seth where they would set me
off on the next quest.  Eventually I gave up and rang for
technical help. "Oh, it's a known bug," I was told. "We'll send
you a patch disc." Biting back any comment, with great
self-restraint I thanked him politely and made another space in my
disc box labelled "Patches". Eventually it arrived, accompanied by
- wait for it - FOUR closely-typed A4 pages listing the
corrections/modifications that had been made to make the game run
efficiently.  (Even then, the spell-screen fault had not been
mended.)

Now, I could be mistaken, but I would have thought that for the
near half-ton they charge for this program, they would have had
the decency (nay, the commercial common sense) to make sure it
worked properly. Their game-testers could not possibly have
completed the game in the form it was marketed. It is all the more
galling when it gets glowing reviews from computer glossies - they
obviously couldn't be bothered either. This is an absolute
disgrace, and I personally shall not be buying the sequel.

The games engine appears to be a little on the ambitious side. I
suppose it ought to work well enough on a 486 DX2, but on my 33MHz
machine it was just about acceptable. To hit a creature, you have
to swing a weapon by moving the mouse. This has to be
instantaneous to be of use, but there is a slight delay. This can
only be a few tenths of a second, but it is noticeable. This means
the sword is still striking when you are preparing the next blow,
which in turn means you are not sure exactly where the cursor is.
Needless to say, your skill (real) improves with time. The screen
seemed to divide itself into four sections, especially when you
are being hit by a monster, though the patch allows you to turn
this "roll" down or off.  The view is first person perspective,
and the movement is by scrolling. The play-screen is large, which
is good for exteriors and large dungeons. Unfortunately, the
interiors of other buildings are made unrealistic. Taverns are
about the size and proportions of Wembley Stadium.

If anyone is still interested, the game itself is incredibly easy,
mind-numbingly tedious and paint-dryingly long ... You are doing
the same things over and over again, mainly hacking and slaying.
Once you get a certain spell, you cannot die, except on purpose.
The dungeons are all very much of a muchness, when the only thing
to do (apart from survive) is to find the exit and the item you
have been sent for. You can forget any piles of items you find -
most have little worth collecting. Occasionally you have to find
keys, but since the doors they control can be opened by other
means, this too is pointless. There are a number of banal word
puzzles to answer that should not faze a five-year old for longer
than a couple of minutes.(Sorry JJ!), though there is one
alphabetical substitution that seems to cause a deal of
head-scratching.  The automap feature is good, when the maps do
not inexplicably disappear, that is. Sound effects are excellent,
music execrable (one meaning of which is deserving to be excreted.
You get the drift). Each quest is two-fold: get an artefact your
informants want, take it all the way back and they will scribe on
to your map where the next piece of the staff is located. Sleep in
an inn, buy weapons and spells as required and off you go again.
Keep doing this for about three months and you get to the end.
"Why did you bother?" I hear you ask. And quite honestly, I have
to say, I don't know.  If you want a decent game of this type
(though not entirely fault-free) I suggest Shadowcaster (which is
rather short) or Ultima Underworld II.




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