 Overview
“Panic! It’s gnawing at everything,
everyone, everywhere. Some say Doomsday is coming to call, that it’s been foretold in
the stars. There’s no shortage of men and women buying into that, cowering under the
night sky.”
So begins the story in which a king has disappeared, devils walk
the land, and the people fear that the ruling lords have lost the “Mandate of
Heaven,” the divine right to rule. It is up to you and your band of fearless
adventurers to find out what happened to the king and to restore order to the world. To do
this you’ll need to battle countless foes, win the favor of the ruling lords, and
consult the Oracle.
As if saving the world and rescuing a king weren’t enough,
many people that you meet will have special requests for you, creating enough sub-plots
and side quests to be complete games in their own right.
Gameplay, Controls, Interface
Before the game begins, you will have to choose your party. Your
four characters can be selected from six different classes and customized by selecting
from many skills. The skills you choose will determine what weapons and armor you can use,
how people react to you and how well you interact with your surroundings. As the game goes
on your characters will advance levels, learn new skills and improve existing ones.
 As you move through the world there are many people with whom you
can interact, many of whom will have information for you or special things you can do for
them. The way you relate to them and the actions you take on their behalf will determine
both your fame and your reputation. Fame and reputation then affect who will deal with you
and how the plot will unfold.
Gameplay consists of two modes: real-time and
turn-based. The real-time mode offers smooth-scrolling first-person action for both
movement and combat. The turn-based mode allows for more control in combat, giving the
player more time to consider actions and choose targets. This turn-based mode is based not
on fixed turns, but rather on the concept that various actions take differing lengths of
time. This means that a character using a fast weapon such as a dagger may move quickly
enough to get in two swings for every one move of his sword-swinging comrade. The main
drawback to this mode is that no movement, other than turning, is possible. To either flee
from or chase after the enemies, a quick change to real-time is necessary.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics and sound in this game are not especially
impressive. The background music is particularly annoying and doesn’t seem to relate
to gameplay in any way. The sound effects are limited to repetitive sounds that only
respond to specific actions. The best thing about the sound is that the volumes are fully
configurable and the music can be completely turned off. The graphics are better than the
sound, but are not anything impressive, either artistically or technically.
 System
Requirements
Might and Magic VI requires a Pentium 90 or greater with
16 MB of RAM. A Pentium 166 with 32 MB of RAM is recommended, but I found that on my P166
with 48 MB RAM the game occasionally bogged down in both modes of play. The game also
requires a DirectX compatible video card, a 4X CD-ROM drive and 200 MB of drive space.
Bottom Line
This game is a worthy successor to the long line of Might
& Magic titles. Although there is nothing particularly innovative about this game,
the intricate plot and attention to detail make it a must-play for anyone who has enjoyed
the previous titles in this series.
Review Posted On 4 June 1998.
|
