Old gets new? (Wizards & Warriors (PS))

Member Name: Sue Hoskinson

Product:	Wizards & Warriors (PS)
Date:	03/09/01 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty to do, interesting storyline

Disadvantages: Feels a little old fashioned

This game has the feel of an old game yet is only about a year old. If anyone has played any of the Wizardry series of games then this is one that you’ll feel at home with.
What can you say about a game that is considered new but looks and feels as if it was released almost 5 years ago? Well, it’s pretty good actually!

The game starts once you’ve entered the town inn and created your party of up to six ‘heroes’. This isn’t quite as straight forward as it sounds because the choices are immense! The makers boast that there are about 900 possible combinations of race and profession and, to be honest, I think they might actually be right!

The Races
Humans – Good all round characters with no specific advantages or weaknesses.

Elves – Excel in work of the mind and advance quickly in their chosen profession but are weak when it comes to physical stuff.

Lizzords – Make excellent warriors but tend to be a bit clumsy initially.

Dwarves – Good tough characters but not very good at leadership, which makes them better used as a back up party member.

Oomphaz – Great for magic users but they’re huge and slow so that makes them lousy fighters. You can only get special armor for these characters because of their size.

Whiskahs – Super fast with great reactions but not very strong.

Gnomes – They’re considered lucky characters but they also get attacked a lot early in the game which makes them really vulnerable.

Pixies – Super tiny and super fast, they can dodge almost all attacks but can’t do the heavy work so they make really good magic users.

Gourks – Your basic fighter, strong and stupid!

Ratlings – Smart and quick but fairly weak, making them excellent thieves.

Initially you can only choose one of four professions at the beginning of the game whic
h is a little frustrating but at least it gives you something to aim for when you’re planning your party.
The first four professions are the standard warrior, priest, rogue and wizard – I started with 3 warriors, a priest, a rogue and a wizard.
Once you’ve started the game properly and are ‘out adventuring’ you’ll be able to consider training your characters into elites.

There are several different elite classes and they all have different requirements before you’ll be allowed to actually train a specific character in them.

Elite Roles
Barbarian – Biggest, baddest fighter in the game!

Bard – Jack-of-all-trades that can excel as a thief, musician and also use magic.

Monk – Spiritual fighter that uses magic and is lethal with his hands and feet.

Ninja – Master of the night! Can pick locks as well as be a lethal weapon.

Paladin – A noble knight that can learn healing spells.

Ranger – Uses a bow excellently and is a great scout.

Samurai – Super fast swordsman that also learns magic

Warlock – The ultimate magician.


Now that you’ve selected your party it’s time to go out into the big bad world!

The first thing that happens is Gareth, the town leader, tells you about his dream and instructs you to find ‘The Sword of the Mavin’ and also tells you to search for the Tomb of Nivius in the cemetery – where else!

The whole story revolves around ‘The Sword of the Mavin’ and finding it is your ultimate goal. Your journey takes place in a huge land searching for clues as to where this damn sword actually is!! I haven’t found it yet.
Some of the quests are almost mind – boggling but with a bit of lateral thinking they can be completed. I’ve been stuck for days in one temple before actually finding the s
olution and getting out – not without help though!

There are some nice touches added that I haven’t seen in other games like this, for instance there is a raft that you can use instead of having to swim through the lakes and I found a horse to ride so that I didn’t have to walk forever. The maps fill in as you cover them so initially nothing shows up and it’s up to you to find it!
There is a feature that allows you to make notes on the auto-map for later reference which has proved very handy, especially if your like me and have a head like a sieve when it comes to remembering where you found a particular person or statue.

The interface is quite standard, consisting of the usual character inventories, which can be accessed by right clicking of their portraits. Conversations can be very repetitive but you have to ‘ask’ all the questions by clicking on the key words or you’ll miss something vital! A good example of this is one of the quests I screwed up by not telling the Toad boss I was ‘Ukabu’, he didn’t know and I didn’t tell him so the door never opened!

So far the bad points are the lack of help if you do get stuck and the amount of running back and forward can be really time consuming and bloody annoying. I did find a really useful website that will allow you to download maps for future use and they also have a complete walkthrough section as well as just a hints section, you can find them at: www.volberding.com. You cannot identify anything yourself early on and it costs mega bucks to get things identified in town. One pointer, don’t think it’s not worth getting something identified just to sell it because you’ll only get half its value if you don’t!
The only other bad thing that I’ve come across is not being able to climb down! It’s probably just me but it’s a real pain having to jump and hear everyone scream be
fore hitting the ground with a splat!


My overall opinion of this game is this – if you enjoy RPGs and are looking for a game that will take more than a few hours to play then buy this one. I’ve been playing it for about 3 weeks and I still have quite a way to go before I’ve completed it.

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