Amberstar

Title		Amberstar
Game type       RPG
Publisher	Thalion
Players		1
Compatibility   All (OCS/ECS 1meg - 1.5 MB for Hard Disk)
HD Installable  Yes
Submission   	Joachim Andersson (dalek@home.se)

Review
This is one of my favorite computer roleplaying games of all time. It
might have some shortcomings, I admit that, but it didnt hold back the
enjoyment for me. I've even played through it twice, beginning a third
time, but then the English release of Ambermoon stopped me... :)

The story goes something like this: A mad sorcerer/evil god is trapped
within one of the moons of Lyramion, the planet on which the game is set.
Another mad sorcerer has entered the ancient fortress of Godsbane,
whereupon he is trying to free the evil god. Your mission is to find the
13 parts of the Amberstar, the key to open the gate to the fortress of
Godsbane. To find the pieces you will travel across deserts, oceans,
forests, old tombs and the usual fantasy roleplaying game locales.

The games starts with you creating a single character. The creating
procedure is quick and easy, not like so many other RPGs. After that you
find yourself at your parents funeral. You are alone in the world now,
seeking adventure. It is time for you to seek out a quest, and it isnt
far. In fact, it all begins right in your hometown. Its up to you to find
it, not that its hard though.... :) At the beginning you are alone, but
you find new companions on your trek, totalling six. They range from
the normal elves and dwarfs to some more uncommon such as a half-orc.
Their occupations are the standard fantasy ones. In fact, there's nothing
really original about the game. Most of it contains the usual cliches,
though thats not a bad thing when its as well made as this game is. It
makes it easier to play.

The graphics are okay. The city/dungeon view is a 3d view, similar to the
Might and Magic games. They can get rather repetitive but since the game
has an excellent automap function it doesn't really matter... The outside
(and some buildings) are shown from above. Combat sequences are shown
in a 3d view, along with a separate window showing a grid upon which you
can position your characters in combat for tactical advantage.

The music is the best part of the game. It contains 13 or so different
tunes by Jochen Hippel and most of these are superb, greatly enhancing the
atmosphere of the game. There are no sound effects though.

In short:
Amberstar is a classic computer roleplaying game. It has a huge quest,
with lots of catacombs to explore and quests to perform, right across an
entire world. Of course there are some negative aspects, such as that you
only have one save game and that it can be quite hard in the beginning when
your characters are quite worthless as fighters. But once you overcome that
obstacle, the game is great, especially if you like RPGs.

Alphabetical list.