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Siege of Avalon Anthology

Score: 25%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Global Star Software
Developer: Digital Tome
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: RPG

Graphics & Sound:

Possibly the only good part of this game is the nicely presented 2D sprites. There are plenty of things that you can equip (scarves, many types of hats, armor etc.), and each one shows up on your character. This allows for many NPC's to look unique and vibrant. The environments are not so good. The castle reminds me of a maze that they use to test rats in (y'know... go get the cheese) and the buildings and outside environments are not particularly pretty either.

Sound effects are done nicely... but the music... whew... let me just say that the music is made up of MIDI files. The music that was done fits nicely into the game, it's just that the quality is so poor that you would never, ever want to keep listening.


Gameplay:

Ah...yes...the gameplay. The thing that makes or breaks a game. When I started Siege of Avalon, I was expecting an epic quest, an open-ended gameplay experience, and a great story, similar to the Infinity Engine games. What I got was a fashion simulator...and here's why.

The game promises a story that would rival those of novels. It says on the box 'Played any good books lately?' This comment was very promising. I figured that I would get a great experience that would rival that of a great book. I thought that it was a good thing. I was wrong. It turned out that the game was so story driven that the designers obviously didn't think of any other ways that the story could go. No multiple paths...no completing quests out of order. The game was so absolutely linear that I found myself screaming at my monitor! Why did I have to go kill rats in a kitchen before I save my captured brother? Let me give you another example of the sheer horrendousness of the linearity. I go off and find myself running around a wrecked village looking for my lost brother. I figured that my brother was caught behind a boulder wedged into a tunnel in the house. Before I could move the boulder, however, I had to do every side quest in the first chapter!! Frustrating? Extremely. Once I found out where my brother was, all I wanted to do was find a way move the boulder. Alas, there is no way for your measly character to blow up the boulder with a fireball, or move it with your immense strength, or find an alternate route into the cavern. You are stuck killing rats and doing other various menial tasks. Once you're done, magically an Ogre decides to go into the cave and move the boulder for you. YIPPEE.

Your NPC's that can accompany you have no personality whatsoever. They are used like pack mules and shields. There are only 3 classes to choose from and you can only be a male character. The '3-D' map is nothing more than a horrid excuse for a map. There are no markers signifying importance, you can put no markers signifying importance, the whole map is yellow, and buildings, walls, trees, etc. aren't distinguishable. Imagine my horror when I got to the end of Chapter One and the characters state, 'Go to your room'. I ran around the rat-maze castle for what seemed like days, using nothing to guide me but the abstract directions of the NPC's and the worst map ever. Finally, after traversing the same areas over and over again, I found out why I couldn't find my room. I DIDN'T HAVE ONE!!! Your character is supposed to go into the inner courtyard for the second chapter to begin. The only enjoyment I got from the game was when I could dress up my character in various clothes and then see them in the 2D model. Hence, why I ended up with a 'Fashion simulator'. This would be good for a Barbie game...but not for a CRPG.


Difficulty:

The game itself is not difficult at all. Your character regains health and magic when he's not fighting. Every time you got hurt, you just stood around for a little while. This could make for some boring wait-around moments. The real difficulty came from deciphering what the asinine game developers wanted you to do next, and reading the unusable map to get to places.

Game Mechanics:

The controls are simple enough. Point and click. Right click for spells, Left click to attack, like any other Action CRPG. The leveling up system didn't allow you to tweak any part of the character, at least not in the part that I played.

I know when I'm having a good time with a game. When the game flows and I lose all contact with all that is real for that brief playtime. I also know when a game is bad, when I have no interest in finishing it. Siege of Avalon Anthology is a game that has a good story (it should, because of its linearity), but the game play falls far short of the story's lofty expectations. It would indeed have been a better novel than game. If you're looking for a good RPG, stay far, far away.


-Vaxeks, GameVortex Communications
AKA Joshua Benedetto

Minimum System Requirements:



Pentium 2 450 Mhz, 4x Cd ROM, 40Mb HD space, 64 Mb ram, 4 Mb Video Ram, Sound Card, Keyboard, Mouse
 

Test System:



Pentium 3 700mhz, 128mb Ram, Geforce 2, 27 Gb HD

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