EVIL ISLANDS

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

So here we go with the Russian idea of what an RPG should be like.
I'm not sure quite how to characterise it - it has the feel of a
Playstation transfer although it is not as far as I know. It's a
bit like the Sierra Quest for Glory series but again not quite.
In the end that's maybe the best way to describe it - try and
imagine writing a QFG for the Playstation thus simplifying most of
the stats and there you are.

It's actually not bad at all although one can hardly imagine
anyone calling it world shattering or very original. These are
perhaps its strengths - it is completely unpretentious and only
attempts to do what it is trying to do very well. In this day and
age with large numbers of very ambitious games around that never
seem to work properly until patch 45 has been released 18 months
after you bought the game that has to be considered a major plus
point. Which DOES beg the question - I've bought a number of games
that wouldn't run at all until vast downloads from the net had
been accessed. The commercial magazines had reviewed these often
months earlier. Did the reviewers actually PLAY the game and if so
how?  What a nice question that would be..

Back to Evil Islands...  You arrive in a strange place not knowing
how you got there, who you are or anything vaguely useful.
Suddenly a primitive tribe greets you as their saviour as you've
fulfilled a long-term prophecy. Great - now all you have to do is
prove them right by completing a number of tasks such as killing
vicious beasts or rescuing missing parties and you're home and
dry. Then you have to find out who the hell you are.  Needless to
say you get credits for tasks a la proper RPGs but the statistic
system is very simple and won't cause any earth shattering
headaches. Whether the hardened amongst us will like it is more
debatable but the nature of this game is that it's very difficult
to really dislike it. It's almost entirely linear - I was unable
to find a walkthrough anywhere but doubt very much I missed
anything significant. It's also refreshing as in parts the gung-ho
approach is suicidal - quite early on you have to steal items from
much stronger characters to get anywhere so butchering everything
in sight will not always work. I managed to guess the ending while
only halfway through but it didn't really mess anything up.

Oh sure there are annoyances. You can only level up or access your
inventory at certain points - usually the areas where you wish to
buy things. Equally you can obtain companions - but they can't
follow you from island to island.  Most RPGs allow you to build
parties - not this one. Also while it is possible to strip your
companions of all the goodies you've given them this is in fact
quite an ordeal... I never managed it.  On the plus side I did
manage to get my character up to scratch for the final battle
which I won on the first attempt. The ending was so poor that I
thought I must have missed something- but no such luck - I
immediately replayed it and there was no alternative.

I liked it - I almost defy anyone not to - although it will never
feature on the lists of 10 greatest RPGs of all time.

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