Battlespire Review

7.5

Format PC

Developer Bethesda Softworks

Publisher Virgin Interactive

Genre Unknown

Chris Anderson will take gameplay over graphics any time. Battlespire argues its case for the former.

This is the latest game to emerge from Bethesda, creators of Daggerfall. Bethesda are renowned for two things: first, their ability to create massive game environments and enchanting storylines, and second, their apparent inability to keep up with the times in a technological sense. This isn't to say that the game engine for Battlespire is particularly lacking in any way, but the graphics and general presentation fall way below acceptable standards for a game of this type.

This was precisely the problem I had with Daggerfall. When it came out two years ago it looked dated and primitive, and in my opinion it couldn't hold a candle to Ultima Underworld (or any of the Ultima games for that matter). If bad presentation was unacceptable then, it's utterly unforgivable now, considering that almost every game that comes into the office looks pretty smart thanks to the wonders of 3D acceleration.

You can probably tell from the screenshots that Bethesda, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to give 3Dfx and co a wide berth. The explanation for this madness? Well, it seems that Bethesda's own proprietary game engine (Xngine), which they used for both Future Shock (a futuristic Doom clone) and later Daggerfall, has compatibility problems with various 3D cards. To address these problems, Bethesda would have had to modify Xngine to the extent that the game would have slipped quite considerably and missed its projected release date by some margin. Why then, did they use Zngine at all? It's not a bad game engine by anyone's standards, but it's hardly revolutionary and indeed looks positively antiquated alongside the likes of Quake II or even Jedi Knight. What this all amounts to is a game with tacky environments and almost laughable sprites that will remind you of a number of old titles you'd probably rather forget. Bethesda would no doubt argue at this point that you don't need lush terrain and 3D polygon characters to make a great game - after all, it's gameplay that counts at the end of the day. Oh, really? It had better be bloody good then!



Game on

In truth, Battlespire is a fairly competent action RPG. It's not a sequel to Daggerfall, a point that Bethesda have emphasised by creating a very different game experience. To start with, whereas you could pretty much do whatever you liked in Daggerfall (it was a completely open game environment), Battlespire is level-based. This makes it play like a sort of fantasy version of Doom - I can't compare it to Quake for obvious reasons. At the beginning of each level you'll find scrolls left behind by one of your ill-fated fantasy colleagues which give you hints on what you need to do to complete the level. This invariably involves killing every bast you come across before completing a few puzzles at the end.

However, this is a lot more fun than it sounds. The puzzles are all quite simple but nevertheless fairly logical, and there's a curious satisfaction to be gleaned from completing all the tasks in the right order. There are many scrolls to be found which give you information on various events and NPCs in the game world. These are particularly well written and set the scene perfectly for the events which follow, said events involving much hacking at enemy flesh and casting of spells. And that's pretty much it.

Now I've got a problem. How do I explain why I spent ages playing this game? (I'm on level four and the levels are pretty big.) Strange though it may sound, the more you find out about the history of the game universe, the more you want to learn about it. This makes it worth going through the motions during each level because you know that when you get to the next one it'll be completely different, with its own characters and idiosyncrasies. Of course, this may not be enough for people who liked the open-ended gameplay of Daggerfall and Arena, or the utterly engrossing and unique gameplay of Ultima Underworld, but it'll do me nicely thank you very much. While it's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, it offers a reasonable diversion for those of you who may have completed Lands Of Lore 2 and are desperate for something to keep you happy until Ultima IX and Lands Of Lore 3 appear later this year.