Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

"All the right ingredients, but the soup stinks."

This is a first impressions review. I have not finished the game yet, but I have played it for about twenty hours. I will only make observations on consistent behavior of the game. Also I will not be responsible for sudden changes that occur in later parts of the game. While at first glance this may seem somewhat unfair, if it takes you 100 hours to complete the game and the first 70 hours are boring then the average person will probably never see the exciting parts.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are outstanding. In 32-bit color the terrain and objects are quite striking. The character and enemy miniatures are very detailed. Objects that you interact with are less detailed but still perfectly acceptable. There are only two issues that detract from the graphic effects. The highest resolution is 800 x 600. Come on folks. It is almost 2002. 17-inch monitors (or larger) are the norm, not the exception. On my 19-inch monitor the objects look somewhat pixelated because of their size. The other issue I have spills into game play. Your characters must remain on the screen at all times. I feel that if it is not obscured by “the fog of war” should be able to pan your view to it. I get tired of pressing my party against a wall to see into the next room.

Interface: The interface takes a bit of getting used to. Once you do though it is surprisingly simple to use. Gone are the tool belts and item slots. You have access to all your weapons, spells, objects, and combat options through cascaded right click menus. The only time you really have to leave the main screen is to look at the map or your journal. When you open a chest you can distribute the contents to all your players from one screen. No more selecting each player and having him/her open the chest. Character Inventory is handled from a similar screen. This allows you to trade items within your party with a couple clicks of your mouse. When I first started the game I was a little disappointed by the simplicity of the interface, but simple is better.

AI: I found nothing really outstanding about the AI. Monsters seem to move towards the party members in the rear. Ranged attacks are generally performed on the closes character to the monster. Monsters still do the same stupid things, such as getting between two party members and letting one backstab. The area of detection is large enough that you cannot effectively cut monsters out of the pack without alerting the rest. No more whittling the foe down by stealth.

Game play: This is what everyone has been waiting for. In striving to make a game that appeals to everyone, UbiSoft has managed to make something guaranteed to offend everyone. Fans of the click and slash genre (Diablo & Diablo II) will find this game overly tedious. Hardcore AD&D fans (like myself) will find the corners that were cut to make this game appeal to a wider audience offensive. How can you have a D&D game that leaves out whole classes of players and doesn’t allow you to control how your hard earned experience points are allotted. This leads me to the most glaring fault with this game. It is plain tedious. After 5 hours of hacking, slashing, thumping, sneaking, and resting to heal (actual playing time) my characters are still only level 2. I made it to level 2 after playing the game for 15 minutes. Of the 2000 experience points I need to achieve level 3, I have a whopping 577. Killing an Orc ( a risky proposition for a level 1 character with 8 hit points) nets you a whopping 7 XP. Obviously you get the bulk of your experience from completing in games quests. Unfortunately at the beginning the quests are not that numerous. It got so bad that last night I was playing this game slumped down in chair with my feet on my desk clicking dejectedly. It may be edge of you seat gaming, but not in a good way. Hopefully this situation will be resolved in a forthcoming patch.

Sound FX: Music and Sound FX are actually pretty good, but this game is so tedious no soundtrack is going to add drama.

Replayability: Very little. I believe everything is scripted in this game, so the only reason to replay is to catch those moments you fell asleep through.

Multiplayer: Untested.

Technical Issues: This game will only install to the C drive unless you trick it. While this is not a glaring problem it definitely makes you wonder where the QA department disappeared to while testing. There are also reports of uninstall problems. I cannot comment on this because I don’t have time to reinstall my operating system if I test it. After twenty hours of playing, there have been no slow downs or mouse problems, and I was only dropped to the desktop once. Not bad for a first try.

**NOTE: My system is a PIII 1000, 512 Mbs ECC SDRAM, BX440 Mobo, Geforce 3 Video Card, and Maxtor 5400 RPM drives. I also have Norton Anti-Virus running in the background and still no problems.

Overall: Unless UbiSoft patches some of the more glaring issues, such as gaining experience and speeding up game play, then I’m afraid they have a sleeper on their hands. If you are thinking of buying the game, then I would suggest waiting to see what changes are made through patches. If you can only buy one game this year, then buy Baldur's Gate II. If somebody would combine the game play of Baldur’s Gate II, with the interface from this game it will probably be RPG of the decade.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/03/01, Updated 10/03/01