Shadow Sorcerer
| Shadow Sorcerer | |
|---|---|
| Studio | US gold |
| Publisher | SSI |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1991 |
| platform | Amiga , Atari ST , MS-DOS |
| genre | Computer role playing game |
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Keyboard & mouse , joystick |
| medium | diskette |
| language | English, German, Italian |
After Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame, Shadow Sorcerer is the third title that the British developer US Gold developed on behalf of Strategic Simulations, Inc. based on the Dragon Lance campaign world of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons RPG set of rules . It was first published in 1991 and appeared for the Amiga , Atari ST and MS-DOS platforms .
action
The plot ties in with the story of Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame . It corresponds to the campaign modules Dragons of Hope and Dragons of Desolation , a novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman also titled Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (dt .: The kingdom of the Dwarves (2008), The Lost Chronicles of Dragonlance Volume 1) published . This time, however, the player controls a group of four heroes who have freed 800 slaves from the fortress of Pax Tharkas. He now has to escort them through the wilderness to the dwarf city of Throbardin. But they are pursued by Prince Verminaard's Draconian army, and the player must protect the convoy of refugees from being pursued.
Gameplay
The gameplay changes mainly between two areas, a strategic overland map and the three-dimensional, isometric wilderness map. The player determines the travel route on the overland map made up of hexagonal fields. His group of heroes is symbolized by a gold statuette, the group of slaves by a silver one, which follows the group of heroes at a certain distance. From the overland map, the player also regularly enters into negotiations with the leaders of the slaves, during which he must convince them to continue to follow the group of heroes to Throbardin. In order to be able to convince the slaves regularly, the player must, among other things, regularly find food for the refugees. If there is an encounter during the journey or if the player discovers a special dungeon , the view changes to an isometric wilderness map. The entire game happens in real time and is controlled with the help of a point-and-click user interface. The characters receive experience points for successfully surviving battles and can thus be further developed in the course of the game. Furthermore, equipment can be found in dungeons and the legacies of killed opponents that can be used by the hero group.
reception
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Todd Threadgill from the US computer game print magazine Computer Gaming World described the game as "a big step forward for the playability of AD&D computer games". He described the diplomacy part as largely illogical and frustrating. In a retrospective, Allen Rausch by GameSpy mainly criticized the inadequate pathfinding that turned the characters into immobile targets for enemy attacks if the player did not pay attention. Volker Weitz from Power Play awarded 43%, accusing the developers in his test report of having programmed the game “so sloppily that the joy will soon be over”. In addition to finding the way, he criticized the confusing inventory management and many minor technical defects. The Amiga Joker praised the controls and menu navigation as well as the graphics and animations of the game. Only the lack of individual object descriptions was criticized.
"Small problems aside, Shadow Sorcerer is a welcome improvement to previous action releases in the series and yet another refinement to a gaming system that is showing remarkable versatility."
"Aside from minor issues, Shadow Sorcerer is a welcome improvement on the previous action releases in the series and a further upgrade on a game system that is amazingly versatile."
“Rather than being another side-scrolling game, Shadow Sorcerer could almost be classified as a very early real-time strategy game. Gamers who had wished for SSI to abandon its mediocre attempts at a side-scroller were about to get what they wanted, and they weren't going to like it. "
“Instead of just being another side-scroller, Shadow Sorcerer could almost be described as a very early real-time strategy game. Players who wanted SSI to give up their mediocre side-scrolling attempts got what they wanted and shouldn't like it. "
Web links
- Shadow Sorcerer at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrew Park, Elliott Chin: Gamespot's History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Sorcerer ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . Archived from the original on August 26, 1999. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ↑ a b Amiga Joker 12/91, p. 74
- ↑ Volker Weitz: Shadow Sorcerer . (Article scan) In: Power Play . January 1992, p. 139.
- ↑ Todd Threadgill: Shadow Sorcerer: Fantasy Action-Adventure Gets a New Look . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 91, February 1992, pp. 70-71.
- ↑ Allen Rausch: A History of D&D Video Games - Part II ( English ) In: GameSpy . News Corp. . August 16, 2004. Retrieved October 26, 2013.