Excalibur 2555AD
Developer - Tempest
Publisher - Telstar
Players - 1
Extras - none
The bit on the box
There is no blurb on the back of
the box!
Graphics
At first look Excalibur apears to be a blatant
Tomb
Raider clone. Female protagonist, 3D worlds, you could be forgiven
for believing it was the sequel. Until you play it that is. The levels
are much more claustrophobic than Tomb Raider's and are set in small
passageways and rooms rather than immense caverns and tombs. The graphics
are well detailed and the light sourcing is very well done, providing brighter
and more futuristic looking areas. The character and monster animation
looks good enough, but the beings themselves lack detail and personality,
looking very much like golems or statues that are struggling to get any
speed up to advance upon you. In fact apart from the main character everything
all seems to move in slow motion.
Sounds
If you are not a fan of techno music, then this isn't
the game for you. The tracks are kind of strange mixtures of synthesizers
and changes when you enter an area with enemies (so there's no chance of
them sneaking up on you because you'll know they are there). I found the
fighting music to be quite catchy, but the normal in-game music got on
my nerves fairly quickly, and had me seeking the volume control for the
TV. The voice acting sounds like something out of Eastenders, I guess in
2555AD only unconvincing British people will be left on the planet. The
actors don't seem to be all that interesting in what they are talking about,
and this rubs off on the player.
Gameplay
While the control system is similar to other games of
this type, there are no variations in weapons to be had, and you fight
with the same sword throughout the proceedings. More weapons would have
been welcome, as would a fighting system that wasn't so basic. I found
myself using one move for virtually the entire game which took care of
almost all the opponents I came across, which made the fighting boring
and ruined what could have been a good way to break up alot of the meaningless
wandering around that I had to do, while doing tiresome missions for the
people I came across. In fact I felt more like a messenger or odd-job person
than someone who was trying to save the world. Also there is no save game
option as each level has a password that you use to restart, but I doubt
you would have needed a save anyway as this game isn't very hard to complete.
I feel a verdict coming on
I get the feeling this game was made to cash in on the
success of Tomb Raider, and to attract people who were eagerly awaiting
the sequel. Not only is Excalibur completely a different game, but
what is there is too simplified. Maybe younger gamers would like this title,
but most of the rest of us expect alot more nowadays. This game is a good
exercise in tedium and patience, but not a good test in gameplaying or
skill. It's not all bad, but if more time and more levels had been put
into it then I think the programmers would have surely seen that what they
were creating wasn't that much fun. It could be a good building block for
future titles, but we aren't paying good money for building blocks.
Review by D.R.T.Barrett
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