What's Your Game?

                           By Sue

Most of us who play roleplaying games on our computer (CRPGers)
have a particular RPG series for which we have a soft spot and we
keenly await every new release in the series. Over the years,
there have been a number of these such as Bard's Tale 1-3, SSI's
Gold Box games, Dungeon Master, Chaos Strikes Back (did that ever
come out on the PC?) and Dungeon Master 2, The Wizardry series,
Ultima and its spin-offs, Eye of the Beholder 1-3 and Lands of
Lore 1 and 2.

My favourite series is Might and Magic. The sixth and latest game
in this series, The Mandate of Heaven (M&M6), was released earlier
this year. But while instantly recognizable to loyal fans in many
ways, M&M6 also took the series a big step forward with a new game
engine, scrolling movement rather than step-by-step and a choice
between turn-based or real time combat, each of which has its own
advantages and disadvantages at different points in the game.

It's well worth taking a closer look at M&M6, both in relation to
previous games in the series as well as games in other series,
just to see exactly what advances have been made. The most
immediate thing is, of course, the actual appearance of M&M6 with
its high quality 16-bit, 65,000 colour graphics. The outdoor
scenes change with the seasons and time of day (early morning mist
is stupendous!). I can still remember saying "Wow!" the first time
my party arrived in the town of White Cap to find it was snowing.

The atmosphere generated by the graphics is matched by that of the
game itself. The storyline is complex with, the authors estimate,
hundreds of interwoven sub-plots and quests, not all of which are
essential, leading up to the grand finale. It's very much a 'do a
favour for a favour' game, as were the previous ones. Among other
things, you will rescue a kidnapped village girl, collect snake
eggs, clear out dungeons, find a missing relic and fulfil quests
for council members.  Some people dislike `quest' games, but I
find them more lifelike than ones where you simply discover
information written on scrolls or walls during your travels. Some
RPGs have so much graffiti in them, it makes their towns look like
Harlem!

Though you can't `live' in M&M6's land of Enroth as you could in
the Elder Scrolls world and, to a lesser extent, the later Ultimas
where you could buy a house, ship, and horse and cart, you will
still find yourself immersed in the game. After all, a good RPG
should get you so involved that you take events in it (especially
death!) personally.  For me, this means trying to run the same
characters, whichever game I play. I much prefer games where I can
create my own characters rather than use pre-rolled ones (and,
worse, pre-named!) such as was the case in Lands of Lore. Though
you have four party members (and two optional hirelings) in M&M6,
there isn't a thief class, which I found a strange omission. The
portraits are digitized photos with appropriately animated facial
expressions - I hope New World paid the actors a lot for miming
emotions and states of mind and body such as weakness, drunkenness
and the red-faced straining of trying-to-pull-a-sword-from-
a-stone-when-not-strong-enough!  Clothing and kit are added to the
characters' pictures in paper doll fashion. They have progressed
from the simple weapons and armour (chain mail, sword, shield etc)
found in the earliest RPGs to increasingly detailed equipment such
as plate mail with added spell points, Elven bows of accuracy and
boots of electrical resistance.

Auto-notes and on screen mapping are detailed but, sadly, you
can't annotate the maps. This makes town exploration tedious,
especially in larger ones such as Free Haven where you need to
know the contents and inhabitants of many buildings to be able to
return at a later stage of the game. I gather this will be
rectified in Might and Magic VII which is due out next year. The
programmers will also implement other improvements suggested by
M&M6 players through 3DO/New World Computing's excellent web site
and message board.

CRPGs have changed in many ways over the years. They've gone from
mono displays to hi-res colour, and from top down views with
step-by-step movement to forward facing, first perspective views
with increasingly smooth scrolling movement. The storylines have
evolved from simple ones where you 'build up your strength', 'kill
the evil one' or 'collect the golden wotsit of thingummy' to more
intricate plots with interwoven quests. Nevertheless the final
goal invariably has you saving the world and its inhabitants.
Well, deep down, we all want to be heroes, don't we?

M&M6 isn't perfect; there are strange omissions and the initial
release was bugged so that a patch was needed. Make sure you have
v1.1 before you start playing or you may be unable to complete
some quests. If you can get the limited version, you'll get the
added bonus of the first five games. Though it isn't essential to
play all of them to enjoy M&M6 fully, I would also highly
recommend games 3-5 which whetted my appetite for more. 1 and 2
are rather dated now but interesting historically.

Might and Magic 6 takes the best aspects of current roleplaying
and mixes them into an entertaining package. I haven't spoken to
anyone who hasn't been as bowled over by the experience as I have.
`Nuff said?

                              - o -