HEROES OF THE LANCE

 HEROES OF THE LANCE is a graphics-oriented fantasy role-playing adventure based
on TSR's "Dragonlance" ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game universe. Developed by
Strategic Simulations and U.S. Gold, and programmed by a top-notch U.S. Gold
team, HEROES features excellent graphics, animation, and sound, flawless
joystick-controlled playability, a save-game option, and no copy protection. The
Atari ST version is the basis of this review; IBM-PC, Amiga, and Commodore
64/128 version notes follow.

 Although ST users will see BARBARIAN here, the only thing the two games have in
common is that both are state-of-the-art. What's more, short of donning a
loincloth and hacking through Larry Niven's DREAM PARK (or worse, a 7-Eleven),
HEROES is the best software representation yet of an AD&D-type adventure.

 The plot of HEROES concerns the Queen of Darkness, the land of Krynn, and the
Disks of Mishakal. Being denied direct access to Krynn for the moment, all that
Takhisis (the Queen of Darkness) can do is spread her evil power across the
land. The Disks of Mishakal contain True Healing and the knowledge that will
restore faith in the true gods. When the three Disks have been recovered, faith
will be restored, and the gods will intervene.

 The Disks, however, are under active guard in the ruins of the city of Xak
Tsaroth. The active guard is Khisanth, an ancient black dragon; also populating
the ruins are two kinds of Draconians, Aghars, dwarves, wraiths, trolls,
spiders, and assorted spectral minions.

 In your quest for the Disks, you control eight ready-made adventurers (called
Companions), including a spellcaster, a cleric, and a thief. The statistics
(strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, consitution, charisma, moral
alignment, hit points, and armor class) and equipment (armor and weapons) of
each have been pre-determined. Only one adventurer appears on screen at a time.

 The ST screen display consists of the ruins of Xak Tsaroth, a wonderfully grim
and gnarly place that scrolls left and right, or, upon entering a cross
corridor, blanks out for a moment, according to the directional moves of your
adventurer. Below this display (which occupies approximately two-thirds of t
screen) lie a double row of character icons, and a compass. Next to each
character icon is a Hit Point status bar. The compass highlights directions to
indicate viewpoints and exits.

 Pressing the Spacebar overlays the action area with the Main Menu, which
doubles as a pause screen. From this Menu, Hero Select lets you change the order
of your adventurers; Magic User Spells allows you to control the spellcasting of
Raistlin; Clerical Staff Spells lets you control the spells of priestess
Goldmoon. Only Raistlin can make use of his staff of Magius. Shoul tragedy
befall priestess Goldmoon, three other characters can use her Blue Crystal Staff
(although spells are limited).

 Also from the Main Menu, items found in the ruins can be taken, used, dropped,
or given to another adventurer; games can be saved (on a blank, formatted disk)
and restored; and the current score can be viewed.

 HEROES is controlled with a joystick that operates in three modes, depending on
what needs to be done. Characters can be made to walk, run, leap, enter cross
corridors, and switch to Ranged Combat/Dodge mode. This mode lets the characters
throw spears and handaxes, use slings, and shoot arrows, if the character is
more than a quarter of the screen width away from an encounter.

 Since the denizens of the ruins come right at you, they won't always be a
quarter-screen away. When a creature gets near enough, you'll enter Close
Combat, a condition indicated beneath the compass. Using the joystick, you can
thrust sword, spear, staff, or axe. A nifty feature of Close Combat is that you
can move your character backward: A character facing right can be made t back
away instead of turn around.

 In the ruins, items such as Healing, Strength, and Invulnerability potions,
scrolls, precious gems, rings, wands, and weapons and ammunition can be looted.
The weapons cannot be used by the characters (except for quivers of arrows and
pouches of bullets), but the looted items affect the characters' standings at
the end of the game.

 HEROES is not copy-protected; there are documentation checks, however. The game
comes on three mini-floppy disks, which must be copied by way of a utility
program on disk C. The manual offers clear explanations of gameplay, and
character sketches of the adventurers.

 HEROES OF THE LANCE is without a doubt one of the best games of the year, if
not the current decade. The ruins of Xak Tsaroth are perfectly realized,
claustrophobic, dank, and hideous; the creatures that populate them are
perfectly nasty and gruesome. The characters are alive with haughty purpose;
their movements are smooth and great fun to watch, and when Goldmoon starts
dating, I want to know.

 With computer as Dungeon Master, you're spared the handling of statistics.
Exploratory travel is restricted to the ruins, mapping is not required, and the
innate aimless wandering of the usual role-playing game is nowhere in evidence.
The joystick interface works flawlessly, and the characters respond promptly.

 The joystick control notwithstanding, HEROES is less of an arcade game than it
might seem. Of course, there is plenty of combat action, all under your direct
control, but the characters are so well-designed they seem to have
personalities; their quest is not easy, and you'll have to know and understand
them if you hope to play well. Technically, this may not be a role-playing game;
SSI calls it an "action" game: It certainly is, and a dazzling one at that.

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES

 Thanks to some very apparent effort on SSI's part, HEROES OF THE LANCE is as
impressive a piece of programming on MS-DOS machines as it is on the ST. Whether
or not you'll be able to enjoy the game depends a bit on your system and how
much allowance you'll make for speed.

 To run the MS-DOS version of HEROES, you'll need an IBM PC, PC XT, or PC AT
with 384K minimum. The more memory you have, the better the game will play,
because as many graphics as possible are loaded into memory when you boot. Thus,
with another 256K or more available, the early parts of the game will whiz by
when new screens are loading.

 Alhough the game is available in either disk format, only one is included in
each box; therefore, shop carefully for the disk size you want. Because the copy
protection is in the documentation, the disks (three in the 5-1/4" version; two
in the 3-1/2" version) are unprotected. You can make working backups or run the
included installation program to deposit the files into a HEROES subdirectory.
This definitely speeds up the screen rewrites.

 HEROES offers CGA and EGA modes and will run with -- but does not specifically
support -- VGA, PS/2 VGA, and Tandy graphics configurations. The graphics are
pretty spectacular in EGA (apparently 320x200x16). The CGA graphics are the
usual magenta/cyan/white/black and offer the same resolution.

 Here we come to the only tricky characteristic of the game. A standard 4.77 MHz
PC or XT processor may be too slow for your tastes, particularly during combat
sequences. The more characters moving onscreen, the greater the slowdown.
Running the program in EGA mode exacerbates the problem, as does combat with
ranged weapons. EGA owners with 4.77 do have the option of reconfiguring the
program to CGA mode in order to speed up the animation, but this probably won't
make enough of a difference. Besides, the quality of the animation is integral
to the game, and four colors do not do it justice at all. At 7.14 MHz, the game
played (I felt) just on the acceptable side in EGA, but I did a lot of running
instead of walking.

 While both joystick and keyboard are supported, a mouse is not. I would
recommend a joystick for this game, although you'll need to use the space bar to
access the main menu frequently. The keyboard controls are adequate but slightly
awkward.

 I'm enjoying HEROES nearly as much as the good Doctor did; not only does it
beautifully recreate the "Dragonlance" world, but it's an imaginative assemblage
of game elements: It's a graphic adventure, an arcade game, and a role-playing
game all at the same time. And fortunately, it's as much a class act on MS-DOS
machines as it is on the more graphically-oriented systems.

 A footnote: HEROES OF THE LANCE was programmed for SSI by an obscure game
software company called U.S. GOLD, a firm beginning to publish and distribute
its own software, as well. If its other releases are as stylish as HEROES, I'd
say we have a terrific new game company to watch!

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES

 While I, too, am impressed with the look of this game and the obvious thought
that went into it, I cannot agree that this is a first-class blend of
role-playing and action.

 The Amiga version of the game comes on two 3-1/2" disks that can be copied with
AmigaDos or your favorite copy program. Visually, the game is extremely similar
to the Atari ST version; however, never did I get the feeling that I was really
playing "DragonLance," or any other fantasy role-playing game. The eminent
Doctor claims, "With computer as Dungeon Master, you're spared the handling of
statistics. Exploratory travel is restricted to the ruins, mapping is not
required, and the innate aimless wandering of the usual role-playing game is
nowhere in evidence." This obviously struck him as a good thing, but to me, the
joy and wonder of a role-playing game (either computer or pencil-and-paper
version) are the exploration and "wandering about" that he finds so tiresome.
Compared to games such as DUNGEON MASTER, the ULTIMA series, and THE BARD'S TALE
series, HEROES offers precious little to "role-play," since there's very little
to think about. You wander down one hall or another, fight a monster, pick up
your projectiles, heal the party, and move on. This, to me, is not what I look
for in a computer role-playing game.

 As an action game, HEROES also falls short. It lacks the exuberance of
BARBARIAN. And if "hack-'n'-slash" is your fond desire, I would recommend SWORD
OF SODAN over this game. I also take exception to the Doctor's statement, "The
joystick interface works flawlessly, and the characters respond promptly." Maybe
I am inept, but I found the positioning of my characters for the simple job of
killing a dwarf nigh onto impossible. Backing up during combat was sluggish, and
my characters sometimes appeared not to know whether they were going into ranged
or close combat, because they looked uncertain as to which weapon should be
used.

 HEROES is not an easy game, and I don't believe it should be. But I think a
game of this nature should start off at a fairly easy level and progress from
there. This is a given in most computer role-playing games: You don't meet the
Giant Flaming Wyvern on level one of the first dungeon. Yet HEROES tossed one of
its toughest adversaries at me in the opening hallway! My entire team --
described by the accompanying notes as seasoned adventurers -- became wormfood
in a matter of seconds. This is discouraging. It's not uncommon to have to
restart QUESTRON, BARD'S TALE, ULTIMA III, or PHANTASIE III several times before
you get a beginning party that can survive its first encounter. But I think it's
unfair to describe a party as "seasoned," only to show that they're incapable of
standing up to one of the first enemies encountered. It has been my experience
that sudden death leaves very little room for improvement. I felt more bored
than challenged by my early defeats, and decided to spend my time on something
more interesting.

 Two final (minor) complaints: First, it seems a shame that no one at U.S. Gold
thought to take advantage of the Amiga's sound capabilities. Compared to the
lofty music of FAERY TALE or the eerie sound effects of DUNGEON MASTER, this is
a pretty quiet game. I suggest you play music in the background (Styx or Kansas
would probably do quite nicely). Last, it makes no sense to me why a game that
comes on two disks and requires a third for saving purposes cannot be used with
a two-drive system.

 If you believe the best part of a role-playing game is the combat, and feel
that map-making, interaction with other characters, and exploration are wimpy
and time-consuming chores, this may be the perfect game for you. However, if
you're merely looking for a way to play ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS without
having a bunch of people over and rolling a lot of dice, look elsewhere.

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES

 HEROES OF THE LANCE for the C64/128 is essentially the same action game as in
the excellent Atari ST, Amiga, and IBM versions. For these notes, I played the
game on a C64 with Epyx's FAST LOADER and one disk drive. The game comes on one
disk (two sides), which you're advised to copy. Copy protection requires
information from the manual. You'll need to format a blank disk to save the
game.

 HEROES retains the graphic look of the Amiga version, but (as you would expect)
it takes longer to play. There are frequent delays while you wait for a segment
to load; otherwise, the game play is exactly the same, with joystick and menu
control. You move eight different characters and handle various weapons with a
joystick. You press the spacebar to bring up a menu of other options, including
spell casting.

 The interface is complicated and difficult to learn (for any version of the
game). You must determine who should be the leader of the party (only one icon
at a time is used for your party), and this will vary according to need: The
Kender has to lead when there are traps to be disarmed; the Dwarf is best for
dealing with spell casters (he's short and the spells pass over his head). Other
members are effective leaders against different types of monsters.

 You also must know how and when to arm your characters for ranged or close
combat. Much of the game is spent hitting the spacebar and changing your
options. If you choose the wrong options, each of your characters will meet many
deaths. (There are resurrection spells, but you use up the powers of the staff
if you rely on them too often.)

 If you're patient and read through the manual several times, you can learn how
to play the game; however, it can be very frustrating trying to play while
you're learning. I recommend HEROES, but with reservations.

 HEROES OF THE LANCE is published by Strategic Simulations, Inc., and
distributed by Electronic Arts.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253