Reviews / previews
You may occasionally perceive an echo while
wandering through the cavernous chambers of
Battlespire-and not just of your footfalls. It's the spirit
of Ultima Underworld II-Origin's 1993 role-playing
masterpiece, whose specter this new Elder Scrolls
adventure evokes in its automap, disparate
teleport-linked levels, interest in storytelling, and mix
of chat and fighting.
Despite moments of
charm and beauty,
Battlespire struggles
with issues of speed
(slow, even on a
high-end machine),
tone, and balance.
Beginning in the
Imperial guard's
proving ground, you'll slog through seven immense
levels to escape back to Tamriel and rescue the
friend who preceded you.
The graphics are a mixed bag. In high-res mode,
shadows flicker in the corners and light pools on the
ceiling. But that majesty is curtailed by enemies
who are pixelated 2D graduates of Daggerfall. The
level design is mostly run-of-the-mill-I didn't really
start to enjoy myself until the large outdoor romp in
level five.
Some of the conversation is wonderful, so much so
that by level three, it begins to become a practical
alternative to fighting (which pitches you against the
same old band of idiots). But a lot of it is repetitious,
and everybody thinks they're a comedian.
Then there are the
technical issues. V.
1.3 initially crashed for
me when I tried to
speak to characters;
and later in the game,
it coughed up DOS
errors after the death
animation. The
system for picking up items and throwing switches-the screen must be
perfectly centered on target-is still infuriating. The up/down buttons for the
inventory work unpredictably, and only four items are visible at a time.
Multiplay is limited to LAN and Mplayer-the latter wasn't ready at press time.
As I played, the echo subtly changed: Battlespire was starting to feel like
Daggerfall all over again.-- Peter Olafson / GamePro
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