Wizardry 8

There has to be some sort of conspiracy going on in the game development community. Having consistently pushed a host of drab, dull and formulaic RPGs upon us, they seem to have made a pact to 'get better’ and the end result is the arrival of several high-quality RPGs -The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Dungeon Siege being the two most notable examples. Wizardry 8, it has to be said, follows the trend in fine style by delivering a huge, detailed world with complex NPC interaction and a colourful, attractive graphical style that won't win any awards but is still well above average for a role-playing game.

Branching Out

The plot is a predictable one; an important artefact is lost, and obviously, you’re the one who has to find it. It’s a dull concept, but it’s carried off with considerable style: many NPCs you meet have a lot to say about the main storyline (this in itself makes it more interesting) and you can quiz them about it through the use of branching conversational trees. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before, but whereas many titles simply throw together a few tried and tested RPG ingredients along with some nice graphics in order to make up for a lack of depth, Wizardry 8 has all the ingredients of an engrossing RPG, and they blend together seamlessly to make for a hugely playable game. Of course, it has its faults...

They’re Joking, Right?

Combat can be played out in real-time if you want to die, or in turn-based mode if you want to stay alive. This system works well despite an unnecessarily cumbersome magic interface (it’s not as easy to display and access each character’s spells as it could be) but the introduction of modern weapons for some classes make up for this (don’t ask, there are even space ships involved somewhere along the line). This is not a problem in itself, but the toughness of the random creatures you meet along the way, most certainly are. It’s not uncommon to come across enemies that are way beyond your level in the wilderness, and you know before combat even starts that you are going to have to revert to a previous save at k the end of it. This is the only k real downer on an otherwise A highly polished and y immensely playable RPG. It’s ' not quite Morrowind, but you can’t hang it for that.