Might & Magic 8: Day of the Destroyer

In days of yore, when role-playing games were as common as teats on a potbelly pig, many games vied for the rather limited market. Ultima stood proudly beside The Bard’s Tale, SSI’s Gold Box games filled shelves, and other players such as Wizardry and The Magic Candle fought it out. Nowadays, only a few survivors still exist: Ultima, its ninth iteration released late last year; Wizardry, with the eighth in the series expected sometime this year; and Might & Magic. Might & Magic has always been the RPG-lite of the bunch, with more cartoonish graphics, and a pure hack and slash over puzzle solving ethic. The series took a long break between the fifth and sixth games, and there were many changes, most of them dealing with the technological advances which had occurred in the meantime. Some were, however, gameplay related, and not all were popular, such as the removal of certain character classes, and the limitation of only playing as a human. Number seven had several minor tweaks to gameplay, while retaining the same basic engine with the addition of 3D hardware support. So what about the rather unheralded eighth game in the venerable series?

The first thing you will notice when booting up the game is that the same engine used in both six and seven is still being used here. While it was a great advancement over the World of Xeen engine used in Clouds and Darkside of Xeen (M&Ms 4 and 5), this one was already showing its age two years ago. RPGs have always tended to be a bit behind the curve graphically speaking, primarily due to long development schedules. This has, however, begun to change in recent years with titles that combine excellent up-to-date graphics with great gameplay, such as seen in Baldur’s Gate and System Shock 2. Still, given the long waits between earlier games in the series, and the expected long wait until number nine, it's been a pleasure to see New World Computing (NWC)/3DO give us three titles in just the past two years. How much, one must ask, becomes too much?

There are a few minor tweaks here and there, and for the most part they add to the flexibility of the game, though not to a huge degree. You can now use a limited version of mouselook (familiar to players of 3D shooters - basically hold down the right mouse button, move the mouse, and your viewpoint changes) to look up and down, but it is totally impractical when it comes to movement - you’ll still be relying on the tried and true keyboard. 3D hardware acceleration is once again supported, but as was the case with number seven it tends to blur the 2D sprites that make up the game’s monsters. In keeping with the interchanging backstory between the M&M RPG franchise and the excellent Heroes of Might and Magic strategy series (also by NWC and 3DO), these monsters, as well as the character classes/races you have to choose from now accurately reflect creatures seen in the most recent Heroes game. This adds a new and somewhat interesting twist to the M&M series. Unlike most CRPGs, and indeed unlike past iterations in these games, you do not choose both race and class for your player character. Instead, race has become the equivalent of class. You may not play as a Dark Elf Knight, but may have either Dark Elves or Knights in your party. This hearkens somewhat back to the days of Basic Dungeons & Dragons, when races were treated as classes unto themselves, but is a rarity outside of that example. Races/Classes available to your party are:

Knight - Your typical big strong warrior type, able to wield any weapon, wear any armor, and basically deal with nearly any threat with straight ahead brute force.

Cleric - The requisite fantasy game first aid kit, with a few handy damage dealing spells and moderate weapons ability to boot.

Necromancer - The catchall wizard/mage/sorcerer in Day of the Destroyer. It seems all serious magicians have gone down the dark path - morality lesson alert.

Dark Elf - With some moderate magic ability and their own small but unique school thereof, these basically take the place of the Archer class from previous games, with the addition of being the best darn trap disarmers in the game.

Minotaur - These guys can deal out damage like no others with an axe, while at the same time being reasonably adept with the Cleric’s first couple of spell levels.

Troll - Your basic Barbarian class, with the added benefit of being able to regenerate hit points over time. And no, fire or acid isn’t the only thing that can kill them.

Vampire - With the uncanny ability to walk around in the broad daylight, Vampires also have a unique school of magic as well as the ability to cast a few Cleric spells. Moderately good with most weapons, deadly with a dagger, they have the ability to recognize a monster’s strengths and weaknesses better than any class.

Dragon - The granddaddy of all heavy-hitters, Dragon’s unique spell school enables them to carry the entire party in flight. Combining multiple attacks with a deadly breath weapon, Dragons are simply too powerful to begin the game with - you must convince them to join you later.

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