textfiles/games/REVIEWS/dethlord.rev

 DEATHLORD 

 Descending the levels of darkness, we fight toward the final
outcome. Ikeda, the great Samurai, has led the party, and all have
fought well in the name of the Emperor. But the level-draining
enemies are too numerous to count. Our only hope lies in speed (and
the creative use of Utilities). Down, down we travel, past Levels of
Darkness, Levels of Fire, and still more levels filled with lakes of
terrible acid. On our journey through the world of Lorn, we have
found certain helpful items while seeking signs of the Deathlord: a
lantern to light the way, a ring to resist the fire, a Rod of Acid
Resistance. We wonder what this Sunspear is for; we know it must be
for something! Luckily, we've also found the seven words that will
let us pass the seven gates. Ah, finally, level 16. Oh, no! The
barriers are everywhere. Crossing them costs half of our hit
points. We'll never be strong enough to withstand the Deathlord! 
Perhaps there is a way? We will look. Still the battles go on, 
Undead Ronin are everywhere! The Lich, beware the Lich! There it
is.... 

 So goes the finale of one of the most difficult, frustrating, and
enjoyable computer RPGs I have ever played on my Apple. (Commodore
64/128 version notes follow.) 

 DEATHLORD, by Al Escudero and David Wong, is a truly remarkable
work in at least one way: the number of disks its size requires. 
It's difficult to grasp just how big this game is. Most players are
aware of the number of enormous games released recently on four or
more disk sides. DEATHLORD is also enormous, but it uses only three
disk sides. I suppose this has nothing to do with how the game
plays, but I'll get to that in a moment. A portion of this review
should acknowledge and applaud the advances in code compression that
must have occurred for this entire game to fit in such a small
space. Nice job, guys! 

 You have to stand in awe of a game that includes 16 continents, 
numerous cities, towns, ruins, palaces, castles, pyramids, endless
dungeons, and bad guys on every block. In fact, even after having
"finished" the game (by securing the Deathlord's head for delivery
to the Emperor), there are still many places in Lorn that remain
unexplored, whole dungeons to be examined, and hours of enjoyment
yet to come. Were it not for the alluring call of ULTIMA I might
still be trying to map the bottom four levels of the Pyramid
Dungeon. 

 DEATHLORD is a hack-and-slasher's dream, and a mapper's Nirvana. 
Set in the medieval Orient (which definitely adds a challenge to the
opening), the object of the game is to find seven Words and six
Items scattered throughout the Land of Lorn. The Words, it is said, 
are all at the lower levels of the dark and fearsome dungeons. You
must find the Words, and use them (and the Items) to vanquish the
Deathlord himself. 

 DEATHLORD will take a while to play and will have its moments of
great entertainment, along with its moments of pure frustration. The
enjoyment will outweigh the frustration, especially if you like
mapping: Much of the challenge involves good map-making. If you're
careful, you'll be able to discover the most likely areas for the
secret rooms that abound in this game. Once they're pinpointed, you
will often find more treasure than you can carry, or one of the
coveted Words. 

 As I've indicated, DEATHLORD isn't perfect. The game does suffer
from what I (and others) consider flaws; from time to time, these
flaws will greatly increase your frustration. The dungeon levels are
of inconsistent size. There are many, many hidden doors, but there's
no reliable way to find them. Bumping into hidden doors will always
reveal them, but then you have to bump into almost every wall in the
place. Good mapping helps, but it doesn't eliminate the problem. The
real aggravation comes when using the (F)ind command: It just
doesn't work consistently. You not only have to bump into every
wall, you must also hit the (F) key, along with an arrow key, 
between five and ten times pe suspect wall. As I said, frustration
builds. 

 Another flaw is the lack of a Locate spell. The game has many
teleports and tricks that make mapping harder. The only suggestion
of a teleport is a slight screen flicker you can easily miss; being
able to tell where the heck you are would be very helpful! (There's
a spell that tells you which level you're on -- information you must
have -- but not where you are on that particular level.) 

 Some have criticized the rather superficial Oriental flavor of the
game, but I found it acceptable. It adds a bit to the challenge at
the beginning of the game, and it gives your mind something to work
on as you try to raise your party to survival level. 

 Character creation is simple but important. I recommend that you
practice for a while with the party the game provides (you'll find
that walking in the swamp can quickly kill you!), and then take
pains to create a really good party yourself. I found it very
helpful to have all four classes of magic represented. Other players
have reported good results even without some of these classes. Since
both the creation and the ability to reject a rolled character take
little time, keep rolling until you accumulate very good stats for
each of your six characters. You'll need them! 

 Three little (or maybe not so little) playing tips: DEATHLORD is
tough. You die terribly and frequently. If you play with your disk
in the drive, any deaths will be recorded on disk, and temple
resurrection costs a lot. I used the SAVE often and played with the
drive door open. It made the game a lot more pleasant. Even so, it
took me three months to finish! 

 The second tip is to make a complete scenario backup. Do this
before you ent a new dungeon -- especially after leaving Kodan. 
There are some dungeons from which it is hard to escape (until you
get certain spells). When you enter the dungeons, the move is
recorded on disk. 

 The third tip applies when you start going from disk "A" to disk
"B" (after you leave Kodan, go south): You can reset the disk you
are using and recreate all the gold, special battles, and items you
have found. This can be very important if you lose a ship or
accidentally drop an item. 

 DEATHLORD will appeal most to those who like the ULTIMA series. It
has the same overhead viewpoint and the same ability to talk to
characters encountered during the game. The interaction with these
characters is similar to that of ULTIMA IV. 

 In short, the game is a good one. It's definitely not for beginners
or those who lack patience. Be prepared to devote a great deal of
time. Don't let the three disk sides fool you: This is a game of
incredible size and challenge. 

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES 

 The Commodore 64/128 version of DEATHLORD is everything the Apple
II version is: large, challenging, frustrating, and time-consuming. 
It's also pompous, overblown, and not particularly new -- you'd
think that by now all the evil in the universe would have been
eliminated. 

 In his Apple II review, Scot pointed out that are people who found
DEATHLORD's Oriental flavor superficial. Of the 8 races from which
you can select your characters, 4 of them have an Oriental flavor. 
What's more, there are 16 classes (7 fighters, 4 thieves, 2
priests, 2 wizards, and a peasant), each with an Oriental flavor. 
Much of the armor, many of the weapons, and all spells have Oriental
flavors, as well. While all this might truly be superficial, it
certainly makes it tough on us Caucasian players, who have to juggle
all those Oriental flavors around in our heads. 

 The C-64/128 version of DEATHLORD offers a macro command feature. 
As many as 4 non-combat macro command sequences, each of which is
limited to 15 characters, can be defined. The many spells of the
Shisai and Shizen priests are used for cures or protection; the many
spells of the Mahotsukai and Genkai wizards are used for offensive
and defensive purposes. Since the macro feature cannot be used in
combat, you'll be able to prepare healing commands that can be
executed more or less immediately with a single keypress. 

 The graphics of DEATHLORD on the Commodore are okay, not fabulous
but certainly not unwatchable. All game functions are effectuated
with keystrokes. There are a lot of keystrokes, above and beyond 4
directional moves, 6 statistical displays, and the 4 macros. 

 Characters from ULTIMA III or THE BARD'S TALE series can be
transferred to DEATHLORD although, on emerging in Lorn, they will be
different (perhaps due to their initial lack of Oriental
flavoring). 

 The DEATHLORD boot disk is copy-protected; the 2 scenario disks are
not and should be copied. Actually, they _must_ be copied, because
you cannot play from the master scenario disks. The package comes
with a Command Summary card and an instruction manual that
explains, in greater detail, the information on the Command card. 

 Regardless of its Oriental flavor, DEATHLORD is a single-player, 
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS-type adventure. It is long and large and
complicated. If you can handle another D&D epic, DEATHLORD will
provide you with the thrills, frustrations, and maps to which you've
become accustomed. 

 DEATHLORD is published by Software Design and distributed by
Electronic Arts. 

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253