Avalon II: The Island of Darkness - on SynTax Disk 581 (RPG for Amiga, Amiga A500 version tested (NOT A1200 compatible)) Review by P A Hardy, September 1997 Avalon II: The Island of Darkness is a single player role playing game very much in the style of Electronic Arts' The Bard's Tale Trilogy. The plot involves the town of Isla being descended upon by an 'Evil Force', and the mayor appeals to roaming adventurers to save his town from the ensuing darkness which will prevail if the 'Evil Force' is not vanquished. This is where you come in and the game begins. From Isla's Adventurers' Guild you may create up to six characters (or load the pre-created party) from a total of eight races and eight professions. Many of the familiar races and professions are included such as Elves, Gnomes and Trolls, Knights, Monks and Wizards, although only certain race/profession combinations are available - for instance you could not have a Troll Healer, as Trolls tend towards more evil magics. Each character also has a number of statistics such as Strength, Intellect and Life Points (Hit Points) and magic users also have Magic Points too. (Every spell costs a certain amount of Magic Points to cast, and if a magic user has insufficient Magic Points he will not be able to cast the required spell. Magic Points may only be regained through resting the party whilst in the game's dungeon areas). Once you have your six characters, you are free to take a look around the town of Isla. This is represented by a static picture with a menu below it offering choices of places to visit, very much like in Mindscape's Legend. Places of interest include the Adventurers' Guild (where you may hire new characters), the Armour Shop (a general purpose store to buy and sell equipment), the Temple of Paladin (for healing, curing of diseases and reincarnations - at a price!), the Trainer Guild (for level advancement and new spells), and the game's two dungeons, the Dungeon of Isla and the Tower of Lord Roa. And it is in the game's dungeons that Avalon II: The Island of Darkness really comes alive. The graphics are amazingly good and update smoothly, and the sound effects - although sparse - are adequately atmospheric. Whilst in dungeons you gain another menu which offers you the choice to Cast a Spell (each spell deleting a certain amount of Magic Points), select a character to Leave the Party (and return to the Adventurers' Guild), Change Rank (to alter characters' positions in the group), Pick Lock (to open a locked door if you have a Thief in the party), Rest Party (to regain lost Life and Magic Points), and Use Item (to activate an item one of your characters is carrying). Resting successfully can only be achieved when the party steps onto a circle painted on the dungeon floor with a "C "on it, satisfying "Campsite" most likely, something which I only realised through trial and error as the game comes with no instructions on the disc and thus requires the player has at least some knowledge of this type of game to play through it successfully! Whilst camping though, one character member is required to be posted as guard, and he of course will not regain any Life or Magic Points due to not receiving a proper rest. I only encountered two types of monsters in the dungeons, being Giant Frogs and Giant Lizards, although I suspect there may be many more monster types to fight in later stages of the game. None of these combat sites were random either, which is a cartographer's dream - anyone mapping the game would be able to pinpoint exactly where combats would occur, but the creatures met and their number (one to three of each creature) were random, and so could still be a surprise! Fighting itself in the game was a doddle. At the beginning of each combat round you receive the chance to either Fight for that round, or try to Run Away. Fleeing always seemed to work, although you don't gain any experience points or gold pieces for battles you escape from. Opting to fight brings up a combat menu where each character in the party in turn is given a number of options for you to select from, such as strike a blow, defend, or cast a spell etc. very much in the style of Reline's Legend of Faeghail. Once all your combat orders have been input you receive a scrolling message giving a battle report, details of who hits what, who casts what, and who is slain, etc. Then, when the report is finished and the combat round is over, you are given the chance to either Fight for another round or Run Away if there are still opponents left standing. If all your opponents are slain, then all surviving characters gain gold pieces and experience points for the battle, with dead party members receiving nothing. Musically, Avalon II: The Island of Darkness is superb. Lovely pan pipe loading music really sets the scene before the game even begins, and once in the Adventurers' Guild another little ditty begins. Indeed, every location in Isla has its own beautiful music (with the exception of the dungeons) and it's obvious ZERET have rarely gone to town writing good music especially for Avalon II: The Island of Darkness. It really does add an extra dimension to the game! Avalon II: The Island of Darkness suffers from a number of spelling mistakes in its text messages, the most noticeable being when a teleporter is activated and you receive the message: "BAEM me up, Scotty". On the whole though, these deficits are easily overlooked and do not really dampen one's enjoyment of the game in general. Yet it would be nice to see them rectified in later versions of the program, all the same. However, not so easy overlooked are two bugs in the software which all too soon bring the game to a grinding halt. In the Dungeon of Isla a Spirit gives the party a key with which to unlock the door to the library in Lord Roa's Tower - this key doesn't appear in anyone's inventory and, upon approaching the door in question, you soon realize the door will remain locked and still cannot be opened! "Maybe we should look for the key", says the party's Thief happily, seemingly quite oblivious to the fact you've since received a text message saying you have been given that very key. The key never enters the party and, although you receive the message saying it is being given to you, the object simply never materialize. It's as though the programmers coded the text message when you receive the key, but forgot to tell the program to actually give the key to one of your characters. Thus the door to the library remains locked and what lies beyond cannot be accessed: thus a whole portion of the game becomes unexplorable. The second bug is of a similar sort. To enter into Lord Roa's dungeon you need a Permit, and without it you are refused entrance. However, even with the Permit you are still refuse entry because you are told you do not have it, even though it appears in your group's inventory! Reading the Permit in question informs you that it will allow the bearer entry into Lord Roa's Dungeons, but the truth in the matter is it will not. Trying to Use Permit has no effect whatsoever here, and no matter which character carries the permit or in which backpack/hand slot, you will still find yourself denied access. It a real shame, and spoils what would otherwise have been an excellent game. All in all, then, Avalon II The Island of Darkness is visually pleasing and musically superb. The menus are self-explanatory and the game is easy to pick up with only a little playing time. Combat is handled effectively and is exciting, and the game is logical to map, which should please all you cartographers out there. A number of spelling mistakes spoil things slightly but are a minor aberration considering the otherwise impressive gameplay, and don't distract the player too much. It's just a major letdown those two bugs are present, and effectively stop you in your tracks just when you begin to make serious progress and really start to enjoy yourself in the game. Come on ZERET, let's have an updated version with the bugs fixed, and then Avalon II: The Island of Darkness could well be one of the best RPGs out there in the PD market ... - o -