Shannara - Legend
                     (Adventure on CD)

                      Reviewed by Sue

Based on Terry Brooks epic series of fantasy books, Shannara is
Legend's latest computer game based on a book or series from a
particular author - the two Gateway novels and Piers Anthony's
Xanth game were the previous ones. I read the original Shannara
books when they first came out and I'd enjoyed them a lot even
though they were very Tolkeinish in style so I was looking forward
to playing the game. It comes for the PC only and is CD-based.

One of the main characters in the Sword of Shannara books was Shea
Ohmsford. In this game you play his son Jak who would like very
much like to be an adventurer like his father and his colleagues
Menion Leah, the Druid Allanon and Balinor and fight against an
enemy like Brona who his father destroyed.  Little does he know
that his wish is about to come true! But at the start of the game,
he is sitting by the side of a stream near his home in Shady Vale,
feeling really cross with his father for not understanding him. A
glint in a tree catches his eye and, with a bit of hard work, he
manages to hook a locket from a bird's nest.  Before he can
congratulate himself on his cleverness, a stirring in the bushes
grabs his attention as out comes a horrible monster.  Battle
commences, and Jak is in big trouble when a man in black turns up
and saves him by firing off a handy offensive spell. It's Allanon
and he has bad news.

It seems Brona has returned and he's bent on having another go at
taking over the world. Jak's first - and maybe his last - adventure
is about to begin. As with his father before him, he won't go into
it alone, in fact he will collect several companions on the way.
For it is only by uniting the four races that live in the Four
Lands (human, elf, troll and gnome) that he can hope to succeed.
There's a moral in there, somewhere ...

As with Legend's other graphic adventures, the screen display
consists of a large picture showing your current location and your
inventory below this. You may have up to 6 characters under your
command at one time and can switch between their inventories as you
play; indeed this is essential to complete the game. The cursor is
intelligent and gives only relevant options for the item in
question eg arrows can be shot at things, ropes tied to items,
people spoken to, or given objects and so forth. This type of
system is, of course, limited compared to ye olde Infocom games and
you will find occasions when you want to try something and just
won't be allowed to.

This is the first Legend game to feature combat. This uses a
different screen layout - monsters along the top, your team along
the bottom.  Options are limited (attack, defend etc) but you can
give specific orders to your companions (attack the leader, attack
the weakest, use a special item etc). Travel from area to area is
also shown on a different screen, by means of a map viewed from
overhead. You move your people in a group, avoiding monsters
(unless you want a fight).

I'd heard reports that this game is easy, and by and large it is.
It's also larger than I expected, though each section is
self-contained and it is impossible to find you've left a vital
object behind. As with all text/graphic adventures of this type, it
IS possible to solve problems by trail and error (use everything
with everything until something works) but I still had 3 occasions
when I got stumped.

There is full music and speech. Most of the voices are apt. The
graphics have some animation, nothing special but the cut-scenes
are much better and quite scary.

All in all, the game moves along at a fair pace with twists and
turns to the plot. One outcome of your actions is surprising and
unavoidable.  The final battle also has some surprises but the
whole game ends with a satisfying, if slightly preachy, conclusion.

In terms of "games derived from books", I thought that Shannara was
much better than Xanth (what wouldn't be?!), and marginally more
gripping than the Gateway series. Mission Critical next!

                              - o-