Lords of Magic - Special Edition (demo) Reviewed by Sue I got the demo of this game on another Impressions CD and installed it because I haven't yet seen a game from them which I didn't like. Yes, it's another strategy game but this time with a magical bent and a Bad Guy. Lord Balkoth is his name and you, of course, must ultimately defeat him by building up your strength and magical ability. Not in the demo though which has a limit of 30 rounds on the easy level (37 or 44 for medium or hard) and a different storyline without a sign of Balkoth. The Special Edition of Lords of Magic not only contains the original full game but it also has the Lands of Urak Quest Pack with five more quests including Merlin and Arthur searching for the Holy Grail and someone called Beow who is trying to recover the dragon Vyrm's treasure. Your created character must be of one particular faith (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Life, Death, Chaos or Order) and a Warrior, Mage or Thief. The demo, again, is restricted and you can only play as an Earth Warrior or a Life Mage while you battle against elves and dwarves. And while I'm talking about restrictions, I might as well also mention that Save and Load have been disabled. The full game also has custom games, a multiplayer option and a map editor. Whichever faith you choose, there is a particular region of Urak which corresponds to it and in this region is a Great Temple dedicated to that faith. At the start of the game, the temples have all been taken over by Balkoth's minions so your first job is to defeat them. This enables followers to worship at the temple which will ultimately increase your power. But, first things first. Creating your character is easy with only two to choose from. Each one propels you into a slightly different setting depending on which side you play for, elf or dwarf. For instance, choosing an elven mage casts you as a powerful Elven Life priestess who must become the leader of your people against the Dwarves and their leader, the Lord of Earth who you have to kill. If you choose a dwarf warrior, you become the Dwarven Lord of Earth, and the whole situation is reversed. You and your 3 companions start near your capital city, The screen is a colourful representation of the surrounding land showing places of interest which you can travel to. You have a certain number of moves each turn (shown by a dotted route and a cross at the end) and if you position your team so that they're on top of a location, you're told a bit about it and given an option to enter. For example, you could be told 'Hamlet, Level 1, A clan of taciturn adventurers took this hamlet in search of booty'. So you know what the place is, the level of the monsters inside and who is there (and why). Three buttons let you choose whether to retreat, enter or autocalc. Retreat is obvious. Enter puts you in the location so that you can fight the monsters inside on a different style of screen. Autocalc lets the program work out and display in seconds whether or not you win, whether all your party survives and then gives you the treasure. If exploration is your thing but fighting leaves you cold, autocalc is a good option. Unlike some auto-battle options, it appears to be fair and I really liked it though I did play some battles myself. The treasure you win after a successful fight includes fame points, crystals, gold and beer. More on these in a moment. As well as hamlets you can enter gold mines, crystal mines, estates and many other types of places. Winning battles at some of these will give you a regular income eg a Level 2 Crystal Mine lost me one companion in the fight but as long as the mine was in my hands, I got 2 crystals per turn. A level 5 Gold Mine bumped off two more of my party, put me up a level, gained me a ring of healing and gained me 5 gold pieces for as long as I held the mine. It's up to you whether these losses in your party are worth the goodies and income you gain. When you've finished your current turn, selecting the counter on the bottom right of the screen advances you to the next turn. As the Dwarven Lord I made it my first task to free the Great Temple. Once I'd done this, my people built a stronghold at my Capital where followers could join me and serve me as long as the Temple remained free. I lost 2 of my party but gained a prisoner, a little mage, and the bonus of a Golden Rod though I still have no idea what this does (documentation is, not surprisingly, minimal. After freeing the Temple you can also start using the Barracks, Mage Tower and Thieves Guild. Putting champions in there lets them pass on their knowledge to raw recruits and mages can research new spells. You can upgrade all three places and once the Mage Tower is on Level 3, you can summon a stone giant at the Temple. As your party grows, so will its upkeep. Ale and crystals are used up at each turn. Gold is used to pay hirelings. Luckily these items can also be increased at your capital by setting your followers to work at different establishments. The market increases your gold, the magistrate fame, temple for crystals and tavern for beer. Once you have enough gold, beer, fame and crystals you can upgrade your stronghold. I never got that far in the time allowed. As you continue to play, more followers will join your cause and wait at the stronghold for you to give them their orders. In the buildings of the capital you can also exchange items for benefits eg crystals for healing in the Temple or sell ale or crystals for gold at the market. Travel is quicker over roads than going cross country and luckily there's quite a network of tracks for you to follow. In the full game I gather you can trade with members of other faiths which you meet on your travels as long as they are friendly towards you. Of course in the demo, with only two opposing sides, it's a case of just attacking anyone you meet on the road! There are loads of extras in the full game - a Lord editor so you can better define your own character, the aforementioned map editor, 8 new buildings, 16 new wandering creatures, multi-level dungeons, castles and caves, 8 guard towers and more. The demo is a good sampler for both Lords of Magic and the Special Edition. If I ever see one of these, especially the Special Edition at a good price, I'll be very tempted. Hmm, wonder if there's a copy on Ebay .... Minimum requirements are P100 (P200 recommended) 4 x CD 16 meg RAM (32 meg recommended) 640 x 480 video card 30 meg HD space 100 meg free for virtual memory - o -