Geneforge

"For everyone who's ever wanted to play God..."

Hello, and welcome to part 2 of my trilogy of non-Exile/Avernum Spiderweb titles. Geneforge is something new from Spiderweb, both in design and execution. The basics of a stat-based game remain, but this is a far cry from Avernum, and a welcome one at that.

Graphics

The sprites move so fluidly, I have a hard time believing they're not polygons. The game takes place from the now-usual 3/4 quasi-3D perspective, and everything is very much improved from the days of Exile. Your creations all move differently, and have their own attack animations, as well as special attacks. While it's not nearly as fantastical as modern PC RPGs, fans of old-school design will be at home.

Sound

No music, sorry. Instead, you have a lot of different sound effects made by your monsters. There's also the odd bird chirping when you traverse an area, and the sounds of children playing and shouting in cities, but still no music...oh well.

Gameplay

You are a Shaper. Life and death is your business. You can create life, and take it away. Basically, you can create monsters out of nothing to fight for you. Sound fun? It is. You begin the game stranded on Sucia island, which has been declared off-limits to Shapers and non-Shapers alike. Since you have no way of getting off the island, after traversing through a training facility to get yourself introduced to the game, you're off to explore.

Starting out, you pick your class. The guardian class focuses on combat and less on magic powers, with decent shaping skills. The Shaper focuses on shaping (duh) with good magic skills and poor physical prowess, while the Agent class is strong with magic and decent with weapons, while weak in shaping skill. The class you pick not only affects how you play the game, but the cost of stat upgrades.

Speaking of shaping, what is it? Well, at any time during the game you're able to create monsters that act as your party. You can even name your creations, but I wouldn't recommend getting too attached, since some can be eradicated quite easily. There are separate stats for each of the three shaping categories, including Fire, Battle, and Magic. Each shaped monster drains a little of your essense, which also powers some of your magic ability. You can have up to seven monsters at one time, but you won't have an army that expansive for quite a few levels. Your monsters can gain XP and will gain levels, becoming stronger than basic creations, though this also makes them less expendable. Over the course of the game you'll find canisters that contain nanomachines (or things that act the same way) that give you the knowledge to create a new kind of monster, improve your spell abilities, or teach you new skills. The greater the skill you have in the shaping skills, the more powerful your basic creations become.

So how does it play? Differently from Exile/Avernum, that's for sure. Rather than using the mouse or keyboard to move in a given direction, you point to a spot on your map screen with the mouse and and click, and your character will automatically move there. It works that way in combat, too, oddly enough. When an enemy comes into view, BAM, you're in a battle. You have a limited amount of movement points, and moving around uses them up. You basically have to reach the enemy or be within range for a missile attack or spell. Your monsters all have their own attacks and movement range, and knowing how to use them properly is the key to victory.

Almost immediately in the game you'll be thrust into a plot of mystery and intrigue, and you're gonna have to choose sides. The serviles, the Shaper's artificially-created servants, have split into three factions over Sucia island. One faction wants to be free of Shaper rule and considered equals, one wants to still worship the Shapers, and one wants to kill all Shapers. Over the course of the game you must decide which faction to back up, and who you choose will affect the course of the game.

Sucia island consists of over 70 areas, and the world map is more of the point-and-click kind of navigation. The island's pretty damn gi-normous, and going from one end to the other is no walk in the monster-infested park. There's tranquil forests, power stations, tombs, dragon nests, minefields, and all sorts of dangerous crap you don't want to get into...if you weren't a Shaper, that is. Monsters that are defeated in an area stay defeated, which makes things easier if you need to get somewhere in a hurry.

Like all Spiderweb games, this game is hard, even on the lower difficulty levels. Don't be afraid if you lose a monster or two (or ten) during the course of the game. Why be afraid when you can just create them all over again? Or, if you're not a pet kind of guy, go it alone and challenge the dangers of the island by your lonesome. Good luck if you do, though...

Replay Value

Three classes to play as, three factions to join and multiple difficulty levels, plus this game has multiple endings. Just escaping the island isn't enough, you also have the option of defeating the evil power behind the problems on Sucia, or even joining the big baddy. Like all Spiderweb games, this one's an open-ended monster, and the game can change dramatically each time you start it up. Makes me really anxious for Geneforge 2...

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/12/03