BMK BMK ------ ------ Dungeon Master II - The Legend of Skullkeep PC/PC-CD ------------------------------------------------------- Reviewed by The Bitmap Kid ----------------------------- Yes! I am back! A whole new season of my world-renowned Dungeon Master guides (this time for the second game) and yes, even a review. Please, someone stop me! ------------------------------------------------------------------ System specifications: (Available for œ33-œ40 in the high-street, shop around.) Minimum: 386DX-25; 4MB RAM; over 20MB of HDD space CD version; VGA Graphics; Sound Card (Adlib; 100%-compatible Soundblaster; Soundblaster Pro; Pro Audio Spectrum etc; DOS 5.0; Mouse Recommended: 486SX; 380K + 3MB EMS; SVGA graphics; CD-ROM dive Reviewed on: 486DX-33; SVGA Graphics; Soundblaster compatible card; Dual Speed CD-ROM; DOS 6.22 -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Something green glowed, detached itself from the shimmering circle, and hovered. It moved left when Torham moved left, bobbed backward when he moved his dagger. Then it rose into the air and flew away. It had looked very like a minion - they were TechMagickal machines that the army wizards could conjure up, but they were completely mindless. Of course, there were always rumours that the high command had created minions that were more complicated ... and perhaps more dangerous. Could the orb have been something like that? It had almost seemed intelligent. Lightning flashed, drawing Torham's gaze upward. In the dark sky thick with churning clouds, he saw a tiny dot of green fly up to the castle on the mountain. Then it seemed to dive into Skullkeep and disappear inside. Torham was taken aback. He had assumed, as had everyone else in the garrison, that the single entrance into the Skullkeep was the only entrance there was ...." Extract: Dungeon Master 2 manual, introduction. Dungeon Master first appeared in 1987. It was the first game of its kind, a truly ground breaking game with an originality of the like not seen in years. Dungeon Master was not an interactive movie. It did not have many colours, there were no fancy intro sequences or any music whatsoever. Graphics were basic, and yes, even bland. Dungeon Master, however, HAD something. It was _the_ first true adventure role-playing game inspired by the original Dungeons and Dragons theme to be seen on the computer format that managed to break away from text adventures or dodgy "isoramic" views. Dungeon Master was first-person - you didn't control a sprite on the screen, you WERE the characters! This experience so founded by DM is now big business in the texture mapped world of Doom and its clones. But Dungeon Master was there before time began. Dungeon Master didn't have the graphics of film or the sound of CD - but what it DID have was a truly wonderful interactivity and control mechanism that can only be described as genius. It also had the eternally rare quality, gameplay - and what a lot of it! Wonderful puzzles and creatures with realistic lives and characteristics went into creating one of the greatest games on any format of all time. But, of course, if you are reading this, then you probably know this already. My main concern regarding a sequel to Dungeon Master is that the game would, in these modern times of super-graphics and dull gameplay, come up with something frighteningly like Eye of the Beholder - more comic that true-blue adventure - or worse! Fortunately this, from what I've seen, does not appear to be the case. Dungeon Master II - The Legend of Skullkeep comes in a slightly larger than standard good-quality glossy-black box. The box contains a nicely-sized, fully-English manual; a reference card/five-minute walk-through; a regeneration card; a warning leaflet in four languages about a typo in the set-up program; another reference booklet, this in five foreign languages and a CD in a standard case. As usual, half the box is filled with a cardboard inlay to "prevent damage occurring to the merchandise" or to you and me, make the box bigger so we feel justified to spend œ40. The manual to DM2 is fairly clear and concise covering gameplay in much greater detail than the original game's manual. A story introduction is included in the manual to get you in the mood, although unfortunately it is not written by one of the great adventure novelists of our time. There is a brief guide to adventuring and basic instructions on moving, object handling, fighting and magick. Installation is very simple, simply selecting sound and video type. My main problem was clearing out enough hard disk space to fit the game in, which seems to be wholly installed onto HDD from the CD-ROM as if installing from floppies. In fact, the CD is hardly used at all, and does not take advantage of any of the extra space provided by CD. A few demos, previews or other PD software would have been nice on here, and there could have EASILY been a much larger introductory sequence on this space, a HUGE amount could have been done here. Loading is fairly swift and there is a brief graphic introduction in animated raytraced VGA or SVGA. From here you are taken to a screen where you can ether start a new game, restore a saved game or quit. Dungeon Master II, I assume, is set somewhat in the future from the original game. There seems to be no sign of Lord Chaos, or even Grey Lord, and there is no clear link in story line from the original to the current game. A new art has been developed - technology and is part of the arts of magic. Fear not, you will not find yourself in a Captive-like game. This is still all very medieval, although now and then you may find a robot or two that seems very out of place in this world. You take control of warrior Torham Zed and three other characters of your choice. Torham begins to notice supernatural happenings in his drab remote posting, ghosts begin to appear and head towards the locked up and nearly forgotten castle Skullkeep. Then, suddenly, Torham is approached by a strange woman, who says he must gain entrance to Skullkeep and, usual stuff, save the world, that sort of thing. An offer that he, quite literally, cannot refuse. The majority of the game screen is very similar as the original game. Movement switches are at the bottom right-hand edge of the screen, fighting and spell-casting above that and the character stats along the top - the main dungeon scene in its usual place. Rather amusingly the old text section remains at the bottom of the screen to give a textual description of objects and so on, and it is welcome, still providing valuable interactivity with the game as it does. The first improvement you notice in the game is a more polished feel to the graphics. To a slight disappointment they are still rather basic in resolution and colour. The game uses the standard 256-colour VGA graphics throughout, with only introductory screens and other animations in SVGA. Although this is, I suppose, to be expected in a game that promises to be so immense. But there _are_ more colours here, and although much improved from the original, the game still has a somewhat cartoonist quality about it. The music to the game is excellent. Dungeon Master is the sort of game where you need to think and plan - you just can't do this with an annoying tune in your ear. Thankfully the music to DM2 is very subdued and very much a background thing. It is basic stuff, but it builds atmosphere and is perfectly suited to this game. You can also adjust the level of the sounds and music to your own preference, so this a good feature. The movement switches and so on are now in a coloured wood or marbled effect rather than the rather odd neon blue lines in the original game. Fighting and spell-casting actions have a relation to the original style, but they have been combined with the "marching order" area into a single, more graphical style. My initial feeling was this may have been over-complicating, now spell casting and fighting (and character placement in battle) actions have been moulded into one part of the screen. As I have become used to this it has become easier, although it still has slightly tricky and cluttered feel to the whole operation and I think the game loses something very slightly here. Spell casting has changed little, although there is now an extra level of magic that I presume you are awarded when your magick-users gain a high enough ranking. (Mine, clearly, have not...!) Some spells from the original game do not work here, although most seem to, and there are many new spells to discover, together with many new magickal objects. The main statistic/portrait boxes have changed little, as have the main statistic screens, although they are now far more colourful. Interestingly, when I played a preview of this game in the spring, the statistic screens were EXACTLY as they were in the original game on the ST, so I suspect that a lost of stitching together of the two games has taken place, which is no bad thing. The food and water representation, together with the 15/20 type stat display have not changed at all and look rather dull where they might have represented the data a little better, perhaps by more graphs, but this is being critical. Objects, such as swords, clothing and magic items are given a graphical "rating" when "looked" at - this is great for seeing which is the most powerful weapon or strongest armour - often the results are quite surprising. As for the gameplay, the speed of graphic movement has changed little, although the movement has seemingly improved ever so slightly that when you perform an action such as walking into a wall, you actually move towards it slightly and then a step back. Creatures now move and animate a lot more smoothly too, although there is still a slightly amusing jerkiness, but this does not detract from play. The backgrounds are now far more varied and so you can find yourself in a forest or caverns or the standard dark hall. You will even find yourself climbing rope ladders, although you still find yourself suddenly "appearing" in a new location when you do this. The lighting and sound is still sophisticated, as in the original game, so when your torches burn brightly you see better until they go out, when you see nothing. However, I am slightly annoyed by the fact that even the brightest conditions available are not as bright as I would like. In the original game, when you cast a powerful light spell the dungeon was lit up like a football stadium, here it still feels gloomy. I can see the designers wishing for a dull, gloomy atmosphere, but I still find this frustrating. Things like encumbrance under heavy objects still takes place, although my many years of playing Dungeon Master tell me that these things are not quite as sophisticated as the original game. One entirely new aspect of the game are the shops. You start out in the middle of a small "town". In fact, there are four shops, your barracks and that's about it! You can buy and sell items in the shops. Basic stuff really, a long way out of your funding range until you find more cash. You can haggle to get a better deal that that which is on offer, but you will almost always end up paying more for new stuff than you can sell items for! (Always the way, eh?) I'm not sure I like this aspect of the game. It has taken away the incentive to "earn" objects by killing a hoard of creatures. Now all you have to do is save up enough cash and you have it! Okay, this may be no easy task, but this is not the point. There is more than one town in this game. I have so far found two more areas of shops which sell rarer and more weird and wonderful items than the shops at home. There is of course, a rage of whole new objects to pick up or to buy, and one important device is the mapper. This is a basic tool and shows a blocky map of the surrounding area of about six squares all around. At first I though this would be an annoying aspect of the game, but having played it for a while I have discovered that this mapping feature is vital. You will still need to make maps to play the game seriously, and all this item does help you speed up the process amazingly. Part of the explicit thrill of the original game was that you truly _didn't_ know where you were, unless you mapped and so thankfully with this style of mapping, this has been preserved. Creatures are all new. Huge bulldogs to wolves that can jump pits to your good old friends, the ghosts. The most amusing character I've found in the thief. The original DM had a thief that would come along and steel and object from your hand with a giggle. The new version of the character is quite different, however. Now he will grab all he can from all of your hands, and says "MINE!" in _the_ funniest child-like voice. With DM2's sophisticated artificially intelligent creatures, the creature "hoards" its treasure in one or two spots, and you have to follow him to get your items back. The amusement does not last, however because the creature is ***** infuriating! Cute he may be, but a few good fireballs is the only option! I'm sorry! :-) This brings me onto an important point. Regeneration. ALL (or at least the vast majority) of the creatures regenerate. All at different speeds and to different degrees, but in the end, they all regenerate and they all get stronger with each generation. I HATE this..... A big part of DM was that when you killed something, most of the time, it was dead. Gone. Mission accomplished, you could get on with the next struggle. Here you just go on and on and on and on and on doing the same things to the same creatures. I think the designers of this aspect of the game should be lined up with the playtesters who failed to remedy this and be shot. Okay, allow perhaps one of the original hoard to suddenly re-appear now and then to give a surprise when you think your safe. But the LOT come back in one go and, apart from anything else, it makes mapping a damn pain!! Fights with creatures are still exciting and well-balanced, although without a doubt Dungeon Master 2 is also far too tough far too early on. In DM, you started off nice and simple, nice and easy, learnt how to play the game. DM2? You get your ass kicked right from the start. Fine, for an "expert" like me, I just about managed to stay alive, but for a beginner? No, I'm sorry, but no! And finally, puzzles. Puzzles. Where ARE they? I've been playing DM2 for days, entered every outdoor area, mapped most of it and killed most of the creatures. Not ONE puzzle! Not a single one! True, the buying and selling in shops could be one, sort of, puzzle. There is also a puzzle right at the end of the outside area where you have to grab the last part of the key to Skullkeep. A puzzle there. But other than that... nothing! Not a single brain-exercising little niggle! Have the games designers ever PLAYED Chaos Strikes Back? Do the know what a puzzle IS? Nothing! I'm lost for words! (By the way, if anyone knows how to get that last piece of key on the spinning table, let us know eh???) THE most fundamental thing to Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back was the fiendish puzzles! It seems that Skullkeep's landscape gardeners have a LOT to answer for here. What can I say?? Basically, it looks hopeful we have a worthy sequel here. You cannot fully review a game of this sort after playing it for a few days. Dungeon Master is the sort of game that you need to spend months or even years on to appreciate fully. The lack of puzzles (so far) are a bit of a let down for me, as is the shop idea and the relentless regeneration of creatures. I also dislike the amount of time spent outside, this is meant to be a dungeon game, not a wander around the garden of Buckingham Palace! But these are problems that can be put to one side if the game makes up for it in the long-term and so my initial review looks good. The graphics, as I say, could have been better, although are satisfactory, sound is quite basic too, although again, not too bad. If the few major details left work out well, I could easily see myself adventuring for many, many long nights in this game as I did the original. There are changes to get used to, there are some disappointments, but there are also some nice new features and improvements. In the end, as I suppose with most games, time will tell if Dungeon Master II can live up to the huge following of its predecessor. It has a chance, and a good one at that. It has failed, in my opinion, to live up to some aspects of the original, but where the game has made improvements they were done well. If you are a fan of Dungeon Master, then you must get this game, (because, let's face it, there still isn't much choice out there!) If you are new to Dungeon Master, but fancy a hard challenge, I also recommend the game. It isn't perfect, but it is a damn good try and I am impressed by how far it has succeeded. Vision 8/10 - The brilliance of the Dungeon Master 3D world has not been lost, and the polishing that has occurred is nice. Further improvement, however, was possible. Sound 8/10 - Perfect, if a little basic, music and some nice effects, although there is room for improvement in some areas. Gameplay 7.5/10 - A lack of puzzles and the difficulty on early stages is a big downer for this game, although there is potential for later stages. Interactivity 10/10 - Without any question what so ever the best interactivity of any game of its kind. Cloned many times but never bettered. Unrivalled. Lastability 8/10 - If you got hooked on Dungeon Master, then you probably won't escape this. Value for œ 9/10 - More could have been done to fill the CD and a more polished game would have been nice, but heck - this is Dungeon Master!! *** From the next issue of SynTax, I will be continuing my successful guide to Dungeon Master, this time for the second game. However, although an expert at the game, this dungeon is still new to me, and as they say, many hands make light work. Therefore, if you wish to contribute guides of DM2 to SynTax, then I strongly recommend that you do it through me. This way the data can be collated and presented as one rather than little bits of info here and there. This will make for better reading, a better guide and a better magazine. If you would like to contribute this way, then the work that you do will still only affect your SynTax score, rather than my own! Send your help to Sue and I'm sure she'll pass it onto me to be collated fully. Isn't that right, Sue? @~Indeedy ... Sue ------ ------ BMK BMK - o -