MORDOR 1
                    (RPG on Disks 867a/b)

                  Reviewed by Graham Raven

Not so much a game, more a way of Life! Well that's how it's been
for me these past three years. It's strange that this very week I
have been asked to review Mordor 1, and have also finally
finished the game.

I must say that I took to the game immediately I got the shareware
version, playing and developing a host of characters, thieves,
warriors, sorcerers and mages etc and exploring the many levels of
the dungeons. Expect to make many characters and have them die
before you learn how to create someone who will last.
Hint:Constitution is important!

You also need sufficient Intelligence and Wisdom to be able to
read if you really want to develop your character.  Having said
that, a group of strong and dextrous giants can go a long way in
the Nomads Guild, explore quite deeply into the dungeon and bring
back a lot of treasure for the benefit of more long term
characters.

I really liked the way that fighting took place in real time just
as it would in real life. A small criticism I have is that you
shouldn't really develop your healing or thieving skills by
killing monsters, and the way you develop almost any skill in
Mordor is largely by killing monsters. Despite that I really
enjoyed taking new unskilled characters and training them in
different guilds of learning. Any character you create in Mordor
is bound to have strengths and weaknesses, but with hard work you
can neutralise many of the latter.

Your interest in the game is maintained by the continued drive for
more experience, better skills, better equipment, more gold and
ever further exploration. There is a lot of equipment you can use
and you need to keep your wits about you to make sure you're using
the best gear available. The full game has at least 15 levels of
dungeon (by my reckoning there ought to be a 16th but I've never
managed to find it!) Communication between characters would have
been nice, but as it was I found myself imagining some kind of
communication taking place as it was. Some characters really did
seem to develop a kind of personality even though there's no real
facility for this in the game. (The sign of a good game?)

You'll probably need to spend upwards of 200 hours on a given
character before they are remotely ready for a final assault on
the Prince of Darkness himself. Make sure there's a whole party
with you of similar standing, all armed with magical weapons or
you'll not survive. A second party of similar ability is a good
idea too, in case you need to be rescued from deep dungeon.  Dying
isn't a big problem in Mordor, even if you're left in the dungeon
someone will find you and bring you back to the surface where you
can be resurrected (for a price!). However, the deeper you go into
the dungeon, the longer it can be before you're discovered. Humans
only live for 100 years in Mordor, and with monsters that can age
you prematurely wandering the levels, you don't want to be left
dead in the dungeon for 10 years or more!

In the early stages of the game I've found it best to ignore the
recommendations in the help file, and stay with the Nomads guild
until you reach a level where you can use a Vampire Fang (a
special dagger), with this in your hands your progress will be
greatly speeded through all future guilds you may happen to join.
Also if you can join the Healers guild then do so, progress is
slow in Healers but it is well worth it. Once you can heal
yourself adequately you'll be able to remain in the dungeon much
longer without dying, and thereby gain more experience before
having to return to the surface.

Unlike some games where the idea is to have a party composed of a
warrior, a thief, a magic user and a healer/cleric, in Mordor it's
best if all your characters have a grounding in Thieving, Fighting
and Magic, and then specialise in their chosen guild. Whatever you
do however, you'll need good fighting skills, that's where the
vast majority of your experience will come from regardless of your
chosen guild. Also if you're going to be an elite magic user,
especially a Healer, then get yourself a monster companion either
by charming one yourself, or buying one from Confinement (Monsters
R'Us!). Try different monster companions and see which ones work
best - Witches are good for intermediate characters, until you
need something better. Whatever companion you choose, if it's a
magic user itself, make sure that you and your party are immune to
your companion's spells, otherwise you'll find yourself
accidentally being zapped along with the bad guys from time to
time.

I became quite engrossed in the game and played ten characters for
roughly 300 hours each (often at 2 in the morning) and a host of
others for less man-hours. The game can be finished more quickly,
but I was too busy enjoying myself. The game is quite 'deep',
choosing which guilds to join; picking, finding and buying
equipment; learning about a huge number of monsters (try the
library!) will take you many hours. All of which I found
thoroughly enjoyable.

Monster graphics are static and ideally there could do to be more
of them - Vampire bats should not look like birds! Regardless of
such minor criticisms I found that the world of Mordor built up
very strongly in my imagination and became quite real (Michael and
I often held weekly strategy meetings to plan the next phase of
'attack'.) Ignore what the instructions say with regards to
backing up the game. Do this often, it will save you much
heartache.

I now itch to start Mordor 2, which I hope is as good as the first
version.











                              - o -