Heroquest 2 : The Legacy Of Sorasil - Gremlin
            +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
            (Isometric RPG for PC, Amiga and ST)

               A1200 review c/o Steve McGuire

The Legacy of Sorasil is a 3D isometric, turn-based fantasy RPG
from Gremlin, and the box blurb claims it is the first in the
innovatively titled series Heroquest Masters. It comes on 3 disks,
with a manual and piracy protection code wheel. It can be played
directly from the disks, or installed onto a hard drive.

I won't waste time going into the plot, though if I had, I would
have had to use the words unoriginal and unnecessary. This is a
fantasy RPG after all.  It's one of those unwritten rules that
games developers don't have to waste precious time on decent
plotlines. Yeah, right.

There are a few rather contrived puzzles to solve; which mainly
involve reading the multi-lingual, run-of-the-mill manual and
stepping on magical teleport squares (as if there were any other
kind).

You get to choose a party of 1 to 4 adventurers from the available
selection of 8. These are basically fighters or wizards with a
couple of hybrids thrown in for "colour".

As expected, the girls come off worst with the two female
characters depicted in those woefully impractical old favorites,
the bikini and flimsy, thigh-slashed party frock.

The actual scenarios generally involve locating magical items
which allow egress to the next section.  These items will
inevitably require you to kill off various bad guys. These include
skeletons, flying snakes, gargoyles, vampires etcetera etcetera.

Dotted around the scenarios will be pit traps for you to avoid;
treasure to collect, and more bad guys. Any treasure you find can
be used to buy weapons, potions, spells and tools from the trading
posts that you can visit between adventures.

Upon completing a scenario, you get experience points which can be
used to increase your character stats.  You can make your fighters
tougher and stronger; your spell casters more "mystical", and your
hybrids more mediocre.

Your characters' actions are governed by the number of action
points they have.

Conclusion
----------
I haven't played the first Heroquest game, or the original Games
Workshop board game, but I am reliably informed that they were
both okay, and that's a pretty good description of this game, as
well.

The graphics are nattily executed with nicely animated
heroes'n'villains in decent settings. The sound effects are not
bad and the game play is adequate enough to keep you interested to
the end (what more could you ask of any game). Its figurative feet
are well and truly planted in arcade territory, as you might
expect from Gremlin.

The turn based play is ideal for beginners as you get more time to
think out your ploys than you would in realtime games. It might
also be enjoyed by D+D players who have not come to terms to RPGs
that don't have initiative rolls. "Real-time" RPGers will probably
find it a little slow.

Overall : 65%

@~See the Hints section for some tips from Steve on Hero Quest 2.







                              - o -