Battlespire
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
You may occasionally perceive an echo while wandering through the cavernous chambers of Battlespire-and not just of your footfalls. It's the spirit of Ultima Underworld II-Origin's 1993 role-playing masterpiece, whose specter this new Elder Scrolls adventure evokes in its automap, disparate teleport-linked levels, interest in storytelling, and mix of chat and fighting.
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Despite moments of charm and beauty, Battlespire struggles with issues of speed (slow, even on a high-end machine), tone, and balance. Beginning in the Imperial guard's proving ground, you'll slog through seven immense levels to escape back to Tamriel and rescue the friend who preceded you.
The graphics are a mixed bag. In high-res mode, shadows flicker in the corners and light pools on the ceiling. But that majesty is curtailed by enemies who are pixelated 2D graduates of Daggerfall. The level design is mostly run-of-the-mill-I didn't really start to enjoy myself until the large outdoor romp in level five.
Some of the conversation is wonderful, so much so that by level three, it begins to become a practical alternative to fighting (which pitches you against the same old band of idiots). But a lot of it is repetitious, and everybody thinks they're a comedian.
Then there are the technical issues. V. 1.3 initially crashed for me when I tried to speak to characters; and later in the game, it coughed up DOS errors after the death animation. The system for picking up items and throwing switches-the screen must be perfectly centered on target-is still infuriating. The up/down buttons for the inventory work unpredictably, and only four items are visible at a time. Multiplay is limited to LAN and Mplayer-the latter wasn't ready at press time.
As I played, the echo subtly changed: Battlespire was starting to feel like Daggerfall all over again.
