Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

"The potential will blind you, but behind the mask..."

I is, or was, such good potential for this game. Using a new 3D graphics engine set in the 3rd edition AD&D universe, this was a game I'd been looking forward towards for a long time. While the game is still not terrible, it could have been much better.

Graphics-
The graphics are the first things you will notice as you step into Myth Drannor, especially if have played Baldur's Gate. Everything is totally 3D, which is generally a good thing. The backgrounds are incredible. Of course it's pre-rendered, but still it looks incredible. Everything is sharply drawn in high detail. The people however, are a bit different. While they still look cool drawn in 3D, all the characters look kinda blocky. Don't get me wrong, it looks good, but not the best it could be. Thankfully, you can still kinda see the small details such as your new red gauntlets. Also, while the animations look decent, and generally flow together well, I caught quite a few glitches.

Sound & Music-
The game falls flat here. The music is blah. Repititive and bland, it's nothing you will remember, and definatly does not add any tension or excitement. The sound is better, but not by much. All the standard sound effects, but nothing really special. Basically, it all sounds the same. Hitting some plate mail with a sword gets the same 'thwok' that hitting a zombie with a staff does. The sound effects are further impaired by the lack of much happening at once. In battle, it's only one at a time, so it's 'thwok, walk walk walk, thwok' and so on. If spells were being cast while multiple people were attacking, things might have faired better.
Gameplay-
This is the game's highest point, but also the lowest. Some great ideas are implemented here, while others fail miserably. Lets start at the beginning. I've been playing 2nd edition for a while, and have grown quite accustomed to the rules. One thing that ticked me off was no class or race restrictions. Many people say it makes the game much more flexible, but I liked the idea of certain classes beingg excluded. I mean, that's always how it's done. Not really much, but it just ticks me off some. Next is the ability scores. I do not get how Charisma affects the number of spells a sorcerer can learn. I see no relation what-so-ever. You no longer need a high intelligence to learn spells, just Charisma. You also do not roll anymore. All stats start at 8 (with the exception for some race/class bonuses) and you get a certain amount of points to distribute. Which generally means your one primary stat so your guy doesn't, and your other stats are pitiful. There is no main character who drives the story along, much like Icewind Dale, you create up to 4 people and find up to 2 NPC's to join your party. Another thing AD&D fans will ont like is the exclusion of Gnomes, Bards, Druids or Mages. There is a sorcerer however. I think it's just stupid not to include all classes. And after BGII, with the kits, there are many less options.
Now for the meat of the game. All combat is turned based. Whilt this does make strategy, it makes things so slow. Combat is quite repetitive, fighting many of the same enemies, each battle taking quite a while no matter what. Things would have smoother if there had been a real-time option or a turn based, which certaintly helps for difficult battles. Which is another point. Your puny characters will often find monsters who they have no chance against early in the game, which you must frequently watch out for. I dont really want to describe all the bad things about this game, but here is a good/bad list
Good-
-Feats for each character (much like perks from Fallout), that give the specific character a special bonus.
-Class specific abilities that go up with each level.
- Moderate A.I.
- Character points every 4 levels to increase your pathetic stats

Bad-
- Cannot choose feats
- Cannot place points into abilities, it's done automatically
- Slow, repetitive combat
- Incredibly long dungeons that look similar until a new location is reached
- Bad menu system. Everything is done with a pull down menu that is quite cumbersome.

So I did like the game, but I could have loved it had everything been more perfected. However, even more perfection could not have saved the slow game pace, which is the real reason I dont love this game.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/01, Updated 10/12/01