Exile I - on Disks 1150a/b
                      (Shareware RPG)

                  Reviewed by Laura Duncan

Exile - the title is self-explanatory.  In a narrow-minded world
there just isn't room for such freethinkers as ourselves.  Square
pegs they call us and as punishment we are cast into the pit,
never to be seen again(?).  But don't give up, things are not as
bad as they seem.  There's plenty going on down here.  Towns are
separated by evil infested wilderness.  There's quests to go on,
training to do, shops to visit and pubs to explore.  We are in a
world of fantasy and there is no set path to follow.  There are
lots of possibilities, we could try to escape, explore, wreak
revenge on the evil empire on the surface or try to save the good
people of Exile.

By now you get the picture.  Exile is a fantasy based RPG which
runs through Windows, in my case v3.1.

At first I found the screen layout daunting.  The playing screen,
with its top down viewpoint, takes up about half of the page and
the characters' details are in small writing alongside.  There are
icons below the playing screen that have different functions for
normal or combat mode.  The normal (town) commands are, from left
to right, cast mage, cast cleric, look, get, bash (to knock down
doors, but it can be painful), picklock, alchemy and map.  During
combat some icons change to parry, wait, end fight, shoot arrows
or whatever and make PC active alone.  There are other icons when
walking through the countryside but you can easily figure those
out.  It is easy to save or restore except during combat, as
usual.  The whole is beautifully organised utilising Windows
routines with lots of HELP in the drop down menus.  There is tons
of detail which not only makes sense but makes for a good RPG.

You can design your own characters (PCs) which is very simple in
the Windows format or start with some ready made.  I must confess
I prefer to potter around with the prefab party first to help
decide how best to make the designer PCs.

There are sound effects and they are actually helpful, for example
they can warn of a monster nearby or signal that one of your
characters is about to die when he or she coughs.

As you move around the screen only one of your PCs is visible, but
you can choose which one.  In combat mode everyone is there
waiting to take their turn and there are amusing sound effects
accompanying each attack.  If you are successful there is a
satisfying clink of cash as you gather up the spoils of war.

The learning curve can be as steep or gentle as you like with
training available at a price.  Though not exactly exciting I
think the strategy element of a RPG is very important.  The buying
and selling of equipment and general team management works well
here and is a strong point of the game.  There is lots of
background on spells, weapons and making potions (it's called
alchemy and you need skill and ingredients to do it) which really
bring the gameworld to life.  Conversations with non player
characters are brief but supply the general information to make
progress in the game.

I won't go into developing the plot or which characters to look
out for as I think this is part of the fun of the game and there's
even a walkthrough in the HELP but it's not needed unless you're a
novice.  I've been playing the game for ages now and still haven't
exhausted this shareware version which is only half the story.
The best compliment I can pay this game is to say that playability
is not about fancy graphics (and high tech specs).  All in all
then, a good game for the RPG fan.










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