Shadow Sorcerer

Shadow Sorcerer is by Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame, the third title, the British developer U.S. Gold developed on behalf of Strategic Simulations, Inc. on the basis of the campaign world of the Dragonlance role-playing rules Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published in 1991 and appeared for the platforms Amiga, Atari ST and MS -DOS.

Action

The plot builds on the content of 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 entitled Dragons of the Dwarven Depths ( Eng.: The Realm of the Dwarfs ( 2008), The Lost Chronicles of Dragonlance Volume 1 ) published. However, the player controls only this time a four-man group of heroes who freed 800 slaves from the fortress Pax Tharkas. This he must escort Throbardin now through the wilderness to the dwarf city. But they are persecuted by the Drakonierarmee of Prince Verminaard, must preserve the refugee convoy before their enactment of the player.

Gameplay

The gameplay alternates between two main areas, a strategic overland map and the three-dimensional, isometric wilderness map. On the constructed from hexagonalfeldern overland map, the player sets the itinerary. His group of heroes is symbolized by a golden statuette, the slaves group by a silver, which follows the band of heroes in a certain distance. From the Overland Map from the player steps on a regular basis also in negotiations with the leaders of the slaves, in which he has to convince them to continue to follow the group of heroes after Throbardin. In order to convince the slaves regularly, the player must find, among other regular food for the refugees. If during the travel to a meeting or discovered the player a special dungeon, the view switches to an isometric wilderness map. The entire game action takes place in real time and is controlled using a point and click user interface. For successful successfully endured struggles the game characters gain experience points and can be further developed in the course of the game. Furthermore, can be found in dungeons and the legacy of slain opponents pieces of equipment that can be used by the group of heroes.

Reception

Todd Threadgill from the U.S. computer game print magazine Computer Gaming World called the game " a major step forward for the playability of AD & D computer games." The diplomacy part he described as mostly illogical and frustrating. Allen Rausch GameSpy criticized in a retrospective mainly the poor pathfinding, which made for inattention of the player from the figures motionless targets for enemy attacks. Volker Weitz of the Power Play forgave 43 %, where he accused the developers in its review that they had the game " in such a sloppy programmed together that it's over with the joy soon ". Beside the pathing he criticized the confusing inventory management and many minor technical defects.

"Small problems aside, Shadow Sorcerer is a welcome improvement to previous action releases in the series and yet another refinement to a gaming system did is showing remarkable versatility. "

" Apart from minor problems Shadow Sorcerer is a welcome improvement of the previous Action Series publications and a further improvement of a game system that proves an amazing versatility. "

" 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 whatthey wanted, and They Were not going to like it. "

"Rather than merely to be another side-scroller, you could almost be called Shadow Sorcerer a very early real-time strategy game. Players who had wished that SSI gives up the mediocre side-scroller attempts got what they had wished for, and it should not appeal to them. "