Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom

"If you like the genre, a classic RPG"

Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom was distributed by Capcom in 1993 or so. In this game, much as in the previous Wizardries, you controlled 6 characters who had to venture down through a dungeon to complete an important task, in this case rescuing the Gatekeeper from the S O R N.

Graphics: 6/10- Not really a showcase for the SNES, but they do the job. As in other Wizardry games, you sometimes have hazy enemies with general descriptions, which are eventually revealed to you in battle. The dungeon walls are just walls, but this time there's more than just bricks to them--check out the flames of level 777!

Sound: 8/10- There aren't few themes, and even fewer sound effects, but what's there is very well done. Most of it is rather slow, medieval type music. The theme in Level 5 is very cool, in spite of its slowness. The Boss battle theme is a bit more upbeat and is also very nice. There's some cool sound effects too, like going down a chute.

Control: 8/10- As with all Wizardry games, there's a lot to do before actually getting into the Dungeon. Assuming your copy of the game is new (Not likely at this point in time), you can go with the 6 ready-made characters, but you have to create your own characters, which can take some time, to get the full enjoyment out of the game. Once you're actually in the dungeon, your controls respond well--up moves you forward, down back, etc. Capcom also used the L and R buttons so you can ''Strafe'' down the corridors, which isn't overly useful, but is nice to have.

Story: 5/10- The story itself is a basic variant on ''Save the world from the Evil Meanie(tm)'', but the setup is pretty nice. Basically you're sitting around in a tavern and the head sage Yeldarb comes to you and asks you to find the Gatekeeper. Too bad you don't see this acted out in the game..

Challenge: 10/10- In 6 words: ''The reset button is your friend''. Seriously, you'll find yourself dying a lot in the dungeon, and you'll frequently be utilizing this button to save yourself from having to go down and get your characters with other characters. Besides this, the game is very nonlinear, and if my cousin (bruplex) had not been playing through the game the same time as myself, I probably never would have beaten it. As it is, it took me, at the very least, 6 months or so. the fact you're wandering around in a first-person dungeon means you'll also have to make maps, but this can be gotten around with a certain item that will essentially do the mapping for you. A variety of riddles to solve further up the challenge.

Replay Value: 5/10- You'll play it alot to beat it the first time, but after that there isn't much reason to try again, other than maybe going through with a weird party. Suffice to say the ending is not the effort you make to get through, though in Sir-tech's (The company that originally made Wizardry) defense, there wasn't much else they could do that I saw.

Overall: 10/10- It's not for everybody, as you wander through a first person dungeon and there's lots of wading through menus and the like. However, if you like AD&D, the other Wizardries, or anything remotely similar, pick this game up for months, possibly years, of role-playing fun.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/00, Updated 02/13/00