Wizards & Warriors

It may not be built from the Baldur's Gate engine, but for old-school RPG fans Wizards & Warriors provides a solid role-playing experience, albeit with a few flaws.

It may not be built from the Baldur's Gate engine, but for old-school RPG fans Wizards & Warriors provides a solid role-playing experience, albeit with a few flaws.

Wizards & Warriors hearkens back to the days of classic RPGs like The Bard's Tale and Wizardry, which is not surprising since developer D.W. Bradley was the brains behind several of the later games in the Wizardry series.

The game universe resembles that of Dungeons & Dragons, but with a few refreshing variations. If you're tired of the usual elves and dwarves, you can add to your party an elephantine Oomphaz, a feline Whiskah, or a diminutive Pixie. And in a twist rarely seen in RPGs, gender affects your characters' starting attributes with males receiving bonus points in strength and fortitude and females gaining in agility and presence.

Party members can start out in one of four roles - warrior, wizard, rogue, or priest - with the opportunity to join a guild and train in an elite role, including barbarian, bard, monk, samurai, or ninja.

The combat system combines real time and turn based modes in what is referred to as "adaptive time phasing." It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, battles will progress with ease. A unique spell system allows your magic users to learn spells in six areas - Sun, Spirit, Vine, Moon, Stone, and Fiend. As your spell casters gain experience, skill points can be added to specific crafts, increasing the number of spells available in that style, or to the Sorcery skill, which increases the power of the spells.

While its unique features are a welcome addition to the world of RPGs, Wizards & Warriors also suffers from some frustrating and unfortunate flaws. Puzzles are often difficult, not because they require lateral thinking, but because of strange design decisions. In one instance, you must open a door by activating a lever, which is hidden in the shadows of a wall, but since you don't know the lever exists, there is no reason you would be searching the wall in the first place. Another puzzle involving fire pits seems to defy all logic whatsoever. Thankfully, a walkthrough for the first part of the game is included on the disc.

Though not up to Quake III standards, the graphics in Wizards & Warriors are good for an RPG with some nicely animated 3D models, especially those of the skeletons, but the scenery is chunky and heavily pixelated. The day-to-night change is particularly effective as the sky turns from blue to orange to black and the world gets gradually darker. Quality sound effects and voice acting combine with a decent soundtrack that comes dangerously close to sounding ripped from a new age travelogue.

RPG fans looking for a change of pace from Baldur's Gate II and who are willing to overlook a few flaws may want to give Wizards & Warriors a chance.

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