"The first of a line of great RPGs..."

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was the first Wizardry game. For those who aren't knowledgeable in the Wizardry field, it's a first person, walk through complex mazes and kill things RPG. The story goes something like this: This one insane Overlord Trebor (Robert backwards, one of the creators names) stole an important amulet from the insane wizard Werdna (Andrew backwards, another creator name), and it's your job to get it back. You never actually meet Trebor until about level 4 in the dungeon. Levels 1-3 are the ''Proving Grounds''. The game has an interesting character creation setup, you choose form one of 5 races (Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Elf, and Hobbit) each with their own unique stats and abilities. This gets broken down further, when you get to choose what character type (Fighter, Mage, Cleric, Wizard, Thief, Samurai, Lord, Ninja) and all require a certain number of stats (Fighter - 11 strength). There is also character alignment. (Good, neutral, evil) These have little effect on your character, but are significant nonetheless (i.e. a ''Good'' will not travel with an ''Evil'' but a neutral will travel with either. This also effects what type of character you can make. A Thief cannot be good, and a Samurai cannot be Evil, etc.)

Let's look at the types of characters you can get. First, the fighter. He is a basic soldier type guy, can equip virtually any weapon or armor, has the highest strength, and is usually the heart of the party (I recommend 3)

Next is the Cleric, which is the healer. He can equip a good amount of stuff, but not some of the swords or heavier armors like the Plate Mail. He is an average fighter, but his spells are his strength, he has powerful healing spells, as well as some hurting spells. (I recommend 0, you'll see why later)

The Mage is next in the list. He is the attack magic user, and his high level spells are incredibly powerful. He is the weakest of the characters, and he is only able to equip Robes for armor, and very little weaponry. He also has the map spell, and the teleportation spell, which comes in great handy. (I recommend 1)

Up next we have the Wizard. He is a combination of the Mage and Cleric. He learns spells slightly slower, but when you level him up, he'll learn all the Cleric spells you'll need. He also has the ability to identify unknown items found in the maze, something that costs money in the town. He can equip light armor and weaponry. (I recommend 1)

The ever important Thief is next. He has the important ability to detect and disarm the numerous treasure chests. The traps are usually quite deadly, but he can disarm them. He is also very agile, and a decent fighter. He can equip light weapons and armor. (I recommend 1)

Well, there's your 6 members. Three fighters, a Wizard, Mage and Thief. This is a good party to start out with, until you can upgrade one to one of the higher level types. Let's look at those.

Most likely, the first high type you'll get is the Samurai. He is a combination of the Fighter and Mage. He can equip most heavy weapons and armor. He also starts learning Mage spells slowly when he reaches level 4. A good replacement for a fighter if you can get him. (Samurais cannot be ''Evil'')

Chances are, the second high type you'll get is the Lord. He can equip virtually anything, like the Fighter. He starts slowly learning Mage spells at level 4, and is a great replacement for a fighter, the more of these guys, the better. (Lords can only be ''Good'')

Finally, we have the most powerful type in the game, the Ninja. His AC (Armor Class, determines how hard you get hit, lower is better) drops 1 point every three levels naturally, so without armor he can have a lower AC than a fully armored Lord. He is also best without weapons, his bare hands can kill even the toughest of enemies in one blow. Plus, he is like 100 times better than the Thief at detecting and disarming traps. This is the best character in the game, and is also the hardest to get.

Overall, this game is long and complicated, I gave you a brief summary, there is much more should you decide to venture into the world of Wizardry.

Graphics: 2/10
Well...for NES, they're....kinda bad. The walls are the same size and color, as are the doors, pretty much everything looks the same, you never see your characters (which is the norm for Wizardry games), etc. It got a 2 because some of the monsters look halfway decent.

Sounds and music: -3/10
Yes, this gets a rare negative. A drunk fish could make better sounds for this game, but, an RPG isn't based on sounds now is it? Either way, I reccomend drowning it out with something, and the mute button is a life saver too.

Gameplay: 5/10
It's your ''walk around in first person slaying beasts with weapons you find and level up your characters for weeks'' game. There are some rare items, cursed items, etc. So it adds a little replay value to the mix.

Replay Value: 7/10
With all the different character classes and types, you'll spend quite a bit of time trying out different party combinations and such.

Challenge: 10/10
The Wizardry series is famous for it's incredible difficulty, and this one is hard. Once your characters die, it takes forever to get enough money to bring them back, and sometimes when you try to revive them they get turned to ashes. They're still revivable, but if it fails again, you lose them forever, no way to get them back, all the items they had are gone. It's really quite tedious leveling up your best character for a month, and then bam, he's gone.

Overall: 7/10
Since it's the first one, I'm cutting it some slack. It's a decent RPG. People who aren't familiar with RPGs or don't have a lot of patience should avoid this, but die hard RPGers such as myself will love this game. Don't bother renting it, either buy it or don't.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/05/01, Updated 03/06/01