GOTHIC

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

Occasionally a game comes along that is original and however hard
you try you cannot remember playing anything quite like it before.
When said game has an original storyline, believable characters,
open ended missions and the ability to allow character development
any which way you choose then by rights the developer should be on
to a winner. "Gothic" which I think started out life as a German
only game was eventually ported for the English market. A few
alterations were made but the game was not a huge success. However
it did well enough for us to be promised a sequel next year.

In "Gothic" you are wrongly placed in prison. Not a dungeon but an
entire world isolated from the rest of society by a magic dome.
Here you find three distinct groups of people all of whom think
differently. One community is happy with the lot and by mining ore
and selling it back to the regime that imprisoned them live
comfortably - by oppressing the workers.  One regime believes that
by obtaining enough ore their god will become powerful enough to
smash the barrier. And the third? Well they believe in smoking
weed and mysticism. You have to ally with one of them but do not
have to make up your mind until a fair way through the game. So
there's lots to do from the start.

Your character is pregenerated but can pick up a fair few skills
by repetition of action almost but much more subtly like the way
it used to be in the "Quest for Glory" series. There is no party
formation as such but occasionally you will be accompanied by
another character who will kill some of the enemies but for which
you get the credit. Very helpful at times!

There are two main criticisms of a game that I would otherwise
wholeheartedly recommend. The most important are the controls.
These are very finicky and let me down several times in fighting
sequences. Because the game is in third person perspective you
cannot accurately judge how close you are to an enemy and may miss
because of this. Also the battles start almost impossibly
difficult but actually become easier as the game processes
although believe me combat can be extremely challenging up to the
very end. There is also a minor annoyance - a character in one of
the camps who attaches themselves to you like a parasite and is
impossible to shake off. Much as I hated to do so being a noble
being and all that I eventually had to kill him. I understand he
was an "in house" joke.

If the developers can iron out the controls and other minor
quibbles then the sequel should be something else.










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