Finally, a decent Dungeons and Dragons clone comes to the Atari.
Graphics 7
Sounds 7
Value 8
Tilt 9
The Good
* Free-roaming
* Four party team (as apposed to one)
* Musical scores
* No space combat/futuristic weaponry
* The entire package (manuals and the cloth map)
* The dungeons themselves serve a purpose
The Bad
* Confusing dungeon crawl
* Lack of colour
* Long loading times
Note: This review is based on the Atari XL systems and not the C64. I used the C64 purely for the cover art as the Atari section lacks this.
When I was a very young lad back in the eighties, I remember that pretty much every weekend I visited my friend's house to play a round of Dungeons and Dragons. You know, pen and paper and lots of dice rolling. Also back then, computer gaming was at its infancy so we always trying to imagine what it will be like playing D&D on the Atari.
Thankfully, there were pioneers of this genre that make this a reality and Richard Garriott is one of the leaders with the Ultimas series. Ultima I and II were successes in its own right however Ultima III is where it makes its mark as this was the first game in the series to feature a party of adventurers instead of the lone warrior. Also Richard went one step further and introduced a separate combat screen where the party fought multiple monsters in a turn-based system. It's like stating 'finally Dungeons and Dragons on the computer'.
The premise of the game starts off where Ultima II ends with the death of Minax and Ultima I with Mondain. The rumours being that Mondain and Minax had conceived a child named "Exodus" (which also co-insides with Richard's departure of Sierra and formed his own company 'Origin') which now an adult taking revenge for the deaths of his parents (and why not). So Lord British and Britannia is becoming yet again the orcs stomping ground.
Character creation have radically improved since the previous two Ultimas. Ultima I and II didn't really differentiate the arch types save from a couple of minor perks. Ultima III stepped up and made all the arch types unique hence a thief will be a thief and a mage will be a mage as there is no real 'cross-swapping' of perks. Of course this encourages creating a mix blend of heroes to confront the land of Britannia. That said, new classes are available to choose from which can be looked as the derivatives of the big four (fighter, mage, thief and cleric).
Improved challenges are presented in Ultima III. Combat, as stated above becomes a new 'battle screen' (similar to Archon); the moon gates bringing in better rewards to those who can solve the puzzle and naturally the world is a lot larger. Space combat is left out (thankfully) along with its ultramodern weapons however the dreaded dungeon crawl remains the same. Here is where the grid paper does all the talking. However the good side to these dungeons that now they serve a purpose (unlike the previous Ultimas).
Ultima III uses the same graphical engine as the previous two Ultimas however it wasn't really an issue back then as 'game play' was the 'talk of the town'. Hence all the icons will look similar to Ultima II as you can witness the rippling of the seas to those 'dancing' fiends.
The sound affects, like the graphics haven't really improved much either however there are noticeable enhancements for the musical scores. Actually there is now music for your listening pleasure and it really improves the game play. I was really impressed by this. The scores themselves uses all the power of the Atari as the Atari XL chipset has one of the best sound quality around.
Depending on what you do, Utlima III can take ten hours to complete or as long as you want to develop your characters to its fullest potential. The actual quest itself is not really complicated however it's the building up the party's strength is where all the time will take as well as the distance traveling between (the lack of) quests. However the entire package (if you manage to grab hold of) is one of the best I have seen. The commercial package includes the cloth map, The Book of Play book, The Book of Amber Runes book, The Ancient Liturgy of Truth book, and Player Reference Card. So you can, so-to-speak make it a multiplayer game just like the good ole pen-and-paper RPG.
Of course Ultima III wasn't the only party based RPG in the market at the time. The famous Wizardry series also made its mark however it was more of a dungeon crawl comparing to Ultima III's land/dungeon/sailing romp. Ultima III didn't carry on the legacy of the 'lone' warrior nor the absent of space combat and futuristic items made Ultima III more of a true fantasy RPG than just a collection of 'ideas' all meshed up. I felt Richard had matured as a developer and made Ultima III a legend in its own right.