phantastisch

There was a time when you couldn't move for computer role-playing games. Companies like SSI were churning out one every three months or so, and a trip to your local computer games shop would
unearth huge, groaning shelves full of the things, all threatening to topple and smother the nsuspectingly eager buyer who pulled one out from the bottom. But then, after the great computer role-playing game plague of 1995 (no, surprisingly it
wasn't much reported in the national press), things changed. In the last two years we've seen no more than a handful of new computer RPGs (CRPGs) and, of those, only Daggerfall has really made any impact. And for anyone who's unsure, let's classify here
what we mean by CRPGs: we're talking pages of stats, an automap facility and a confusing selection of at least 30 different weapons to use. Games such as Dungeon Keeper and Diablo, while
fulfilling many of the requirements, are not true CRPGs.

Step in the German volk. Germany has in recent years become the haven of minority interests. They have Green Party MPs, support the Amiga in droves and, it seems, enjoy creating CRPGs of a kind
that has all but died out in the rest of the civilised world. And good on 'em. Shadows Over Riva is a good old-fashioned, pointy-hatted wizards,
orcs and elves, thieves guilds and endless stats sort of game. And it's a very tidily done one too. It is, apparently, the third in the Realms Of Arkania series, although a scan through the back
issues of PC GAMER reveals that it is the first to come to our attention. In contrast to Daggerfall's Ôgo anywhere and do whatever you want' style that has you traipsing around an entire continent, shadows Over Riva is set firmly in the small harbour town of, you guessed it, Riva. This focus on one smallish area - in actual fact, the town's pretty large, but more of that later - is a definite strength, as it allows SOR to have a far more tightly constructed plot. As your party strolls around the very nicely realised 3D town, seemingly random events occur, usually just as you were beginning to get a bit bored. As time goes by,
though, you begin to realise that these events are all part of a larger pattern, and what once appeared to be chance takes on the new meaning of design. Pretty soon you'll be hooked to the story-
line and dying to know more.

Some parts of the game do creak a little with the weight of time. The combat system, for instance, is of the old-fashioned, tried-and-tested, isometric version, with each character taking it in turns to act. It's so dated that it can be a little frustrating; these days we're used to getting our combat kicks in a more visceral, Quake-type fashion. Sadly, SOR suffers from a very unfriendly interface that provides each character with a number of movement points depending on their stats and the amount of baggage they're carrying but leaves you to work out, for instance, whether your thief can move that far and attack or whether you should wait for another opportunity. There are better ways of doing this, even if you want to keep the turn-based system. A cursory glance at the X-COM games shows how this kind of thing can be made to work and made fun at the same time.

But notwithstanding these minor irritations, SOR is very good fun to play. As you'd expect from any halfway-decent game, there are a myriad of different options that make the game intriguing and
exciting. There's a good range of spells, for instance, with different types of magic-user concentrating on different aspects, but overlapping in some areas. There is a large variety of herbs
that can be collected in the wilderness surrounding Riva and used for the creation of potions. There are different political factions to be played off against each other. There are secret rooms to discover, labyrinthine sewers beneath the city to
explore, dark dwarven mines to rid of orcs, consistent histories to uncover and many types of monster to fight.

And there's the city of Riva to explore. Using a 3D engine that is at least the equal of Daggerfall's, the city is brought alive in a very appealing and convincing manner. Although you'll at first be spending a lot of your time flicking to the automap to find out where you are, as you progress you begin to learn your way around without the need of help. This is partly because the designers have eschewed the Daggerfall Ôlet's make the city
square' approach and modelled the city on a more realistic design, and partly because the buildings are so individual that you soon start to recognise the major public ones such as the temples and the castle. The city also has distinct areas (there's
a slum, a docks area, the bit near the castle and so on) that manage the trick of having their own atmosphere. I felt genuinely uneasy hanging around the docks at midnight to meet someone, for
example.Now, we professional reviewers here at PC Gamer have our own little code of conduct, one that supposedly bars us from ever using the phrase ÒIf you like x game, then you're sure to like thisÓ because it's sloppy and too easy and encourages us to avoid reviewing things properly. However, rules are there to be broken, so I'm going to say quite clearly that if you like Daggerfall or miss the Dungeon Master games or remember SSI's Dungeons &
Dragons range with any fondness at all, you'll also like this. Because it's got that same, good ol' role-playing feel that's so desperately unpopular with games designers today, and the publishers have taken the brave decision to release it at a
realistic price. Well done Attic and Guildhall.

		Final Score