textfiles/games/REVIEWS/magiccan.rev

 THE MAGIC CANDLE

 THE MAGIC CANDLE is a fantasy role-playing adventure from Mindcraft Software
and Electronic Arts, and it offers a long quest in a huge imaginary world, good
graphics, three levels of difficulty, lots of magic, monsters, and combat,
keyboard or joystick control, a save-game option, and no copy protection. (This
review is based on the Commodore 64/128 version; Apple II version notes follow.)

 Role-playing adventures never seem to lose their charm, regardless of how often
they appear, or how derivative they are. THE MAGIC CANDLE continues this
apparently timeless tradition with a typically charming "good vs. evil"
storyline, standard characters, strange magic, and plenty of combat with a
lineup of monsters ranging from dumb Orc soldiers to incomprehensibly powerful
Forces of Darkness. Although characters with trades can get jobs to earn money
for weapons, objects, and magic items, this "realism" more or less intrudes on
combat. CANDLE is a lengthy, meandering treasure hunt, punctuated and
interrupted by an awful lot of combat, and an awful lot of chatting with the
many other characters that populate the game.

 The story of CANDLE concerns the lands of Deruvia, the Children of Light, the
archdemon Dreax, and a pure white candle that holds Dreax captive. The
forty-four mages guarding the entrances to the valley of Berbezza -- where the
Magic Candle is hidden -- have disappeared, and now, with no one available to
utter the spells and chants needed to keep the Candle at its full height, it is
in great danger of melting away.

 The goal of the game is to assemble a party of six adventurers, equip them with
weapons and magic, and search Deruvia for the items and chants needed to make
the melting candle whole again -- a state of waxy solidity certain to keep the
pesky Dreax captive. Although the Zirvanad (a valuable spell book) has been
lost, a fragment of it ("Chapter V. Should the candle start to melt") is
reproduced in the instruction manual.

 There are five races: Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Men, and Wizards. There are
nine professions: Carpenter, Fighter, Gemcutter, Knight, Mage, Mercenary, Metal
Smith, Ranger, and Tailor. Carpenters, Gemcutters, Metal Smiths, and Tailors are
useful in CANDLE due to their job skills, gainful employment being necessary to
earn money for weapons and items. Tailors also have the gift of gab, a valuable
and much-needed asset.

 Armor and weapons include leather, ring and chain mail, steel plate, swords,
scimitars, axes, and bows and arrows. Items include lockpicks, shovels, ropes,
blankets, and magnifying lenses for reading inscriptions and scrolls. Magic
supplies include spell books, dried leaves, pressed flowers, powdered roots, and
a variety of mushrooms; each has a specific use, such as restoring energy,
increasing travel speed, curing illness, and others useful in combat.

 Monsters come in four classes: soldiers, beasts, archers, and thaumaturges;
each class has many monstrous elements. And they're just about everywhere,
including towers, abandoned mines, and castle dungeons. Needless to say, it is
in these Strongholds of Darkness that you'll be engaging in much combat as well
as in searching for Deruvian secrets, important items, and the looted gains of
the monsters. Some dungeons have one level; others have five or six or more.

 The C64 screen display consists of an action window, within which you move your
band of adventurers through the terrain of Deruvia; below the action screen is a
list of the currently available commands; at the upper right is an information
section; and at the lower right is a status summary of the characters. The
Information section consists of date and time, day/night indicator, position of
the party (either Level number or X-Y coordinates), number of party members. and
the days remaining before the Candle melts away (1000, 800, or 600 days,
depending on the selected level of difficulty). There is also a compass and a
description of the current location.

 CANDLE can be controlled with either the keyboard or joystick. Commands -- and
there are many -- are invoked with single-letter keystrokes, or by moving the
highlight bar to the command and pressing the spacebar. The cursor keys move the
party in the cardinal directions.

 Pressing a number key (1-6) then the "0" key displays that character's skill
levels, attributes, armor, weapon, and health information; a second screen shows
an inventory of coins, food, items, and, for those that are capable, spell books
and spells. Repeatedly pressing the spacebar will cycle through the status
screens of all characters; the "CLR-HOME" key escapes back to the action screen.
When using the joystick, holding the button and moving the stick moves you
directionally. Moving only the stick cycles through the command list; pressing
the button selects that option.

 CANDLE comes on two double-sided disks. They are unprotected and can be copied.
Four game positions (including remarks) can be saved on disk side 4; reloading a
saved game prompts you for a word from the instruction manual. Also included in
the package are a C64 Startup card, and a map of the Lands of Deruvia.

 Although nothing new really happens, THE MAGIC CANDLE is, for the most part,
okay. The graphics are fine; there are flowing fountains and flickering candles.
The realistic sounds fit with the action. There is a lot of disk access, but
none of it is so time-consuming as to be bothersome. The game plays well with
either joystick or keystrokes.

 There is a down side, though: It's called the instruction manual. It tells you
everything you ever wanted to know about Deruvia, and a lot of things that
perhaps should have been kept secret. The Zirvanad fragment, though incomplete,
more or less solves the game. All this information removes the element of
surprise, and reduces what should've been a long and interesting quest to the
level of a timed treasure hunt.

 APPLE II VERSION NOTES

 The Apple II version of Mindcraft's THE MAGIC CANDLE is more or less the same
as the C64 version. The test machine was an Apple-compatible Laser 128, and the
most notable difference is, as usual, the graphic quality. CANDLE looks
marginally better than most Apple games do, although that's not saying a great
deal. The colors seem to have been lifted from a CGA scheme, and the low-level
resolution makes everything look blocky. In spite of this, the action screen has
enough clarity that you can tell what's going on.

 Directional moves can be invoked with the arrow keys or (if you're left-handed)
with Control-A, -W, -S, -Z. Moving the cursor around the command list and
pressing the spacebar selects commands. When using the joystick, pushing the
stick while the highlight bar is on the Walk command moves the party in the
cardinal directions. Pressing button 1 while the highlight bar is on the Walk
command toggles its activation, enabling you to move to and select other
commands. The keyboard seemed to work much better than a joystick.

 The Apple II version is not copy-protected; backups can be made with your Apple
system disk, or (in the case of a Laser 128) with the Copy II program that came
with the machine. A second disk drive is supported. Four games (including
remarks) can be saved on disk side 4, but there'll be a documentation check when
you reload one of them.

 Thanks to an identical instruction manual, the Apple II version features the
same lack of surprise inherent in the C64 version. The most basic difference
between these two versions is THE MAGIC CANDLE looks better on the Commodore.

 THE MAGIC CANDLE is published by Mindcraft and distributed by Electronic Arts.

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