"Classic."

Wizardry is the NES port of the PC classic. The evil wizard Werdna has stolen the Mad Overlord Trebor's amulet, and you have to get it back. It's a slight variant on the old "Save the world theme"--a slight one.

Graphics: 6/10- They do their job. Again, it's more a problem with quantity than with quality. You have your dungeon, which is composed of bricks (How hard is it to make bricks exactly?), and the enemies. The enemies are pretty well done (A definite improvement of the PC), but there isnt much else that holds your interest.

Sound: 6/10- Same story here. The battle music here is pretty cool, as is the rest of the music really, but it's the same boring theme once you get into the dungeon. The sound effects are basically nonexistent.

Control: 8/10- You hit up to go forward, left or right to turn, and A or B to do other things. Simple enough, and they all respond pretty well. The spell seclection is a bit annoying (You have to hit left or right in order to access different levels of spells) though.

Challenge: 10/10- Like everything else I've reviewed, a tough game. You really have to be attentive and explore, make maps, keep track of which item works where, etc. AND you have to make sure that you do this without getting in over your head (The enemies are NASTY on the lower floors, and death is more than a mere inconvience--you will have to GO DOWN and get your characters' corpses [Using other characters--you can have up to 20, with 6 in any one party], THEN hope that they can be resurrected. Not for the feint(sic) of heart, that's why the game was recommended for ages 16 and up...I happen to agree.

Story: 5/10- A variant on the old save the world theme, "Grab Amulet from insane guy and give it to another insane guy". Not bad.

Replay Value: 9/10- It's a tough game, which earns it plenty of replay points, but there's not really any reason to go back and play it again once you're done.

Overall: 10/10- If you're an RPG fan--and I don't like having everything spelled out for you with townspeoples' clues or whatever--BUY THIS GAME!! With its first-person game play and unmemorizable (I don't even think that's a real word) dungeons, it will provide challenge for months to come.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99