THE SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES

 THE SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES is the third game in the AD&D "Forgotten
Realms" series from SSI. Characters from THE CURSE OF THE AZURE BONDS can be
transferred directly into this program. Characters from THE POOL OF RADIANCE can
be transferred indirectly through AZURE BONDS. The designers have managed to
find yet another way for transferred characters to lose all their items: The
characters are given some magical weapons and armor in compensation, but not
enough to properly equip everyone. However, it is possible to quickly acquire
more magical items very early in your mission.

 This review of THE SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES is based on the IBM-PC version
(V. 1.00), which came on 5-1/4" disks. It supports joystick and mouse. Copy
protection is manual-based, using the Journal when starting the game, and the
Rule Book (randomly) when saving the game. (Note: Some Journal entries have
titles, and the words in the title count as part of the Journal entry in the
copy protection scheme.) The AdLib and Game Blaster cards are supported for
theme music, but game sound effects are strictly via PC speaker. However, the
Sound Blaster card will not work with this version of the game. The program
recognizes it as an AdLib card, but does not work properly.

 While SILVER BLADES is the third program of a series, a beginner can start
here. The beginner won't understand the references to the prior games, but
understanding them is not necessary to winning SILVER BLADES. Newly created
characters have 200,000 Experience Points, which is level 8 for a Fighter.

 SILVER BLADES offers many features that make it suitable for a novice. First,
the difficulty level can be set by the player. This idea is from THE CHAMPIONS
OF KRYNN -- another SSI AD&D game, but in the "DragonLance" series. However, the
difficulty setting appears to work differently in SILVER BLADES. The difficulty
of the battles seems to be determined by the ability of the player's characters,
as in the previous "Forgotten Realms" games. The difficulty setting seems just
to establish the upper limit for the battle generation, and the frequency of
random encounters. Second, the difficulty of the battles is easy in the
beginning, and only really hard in the endgame. Third, the game has a built-in
clue book in the form of the "Well of Knowledge." Fourth, major portions of two
of the first three mazes in the game are given in the Journal. (Note: The map on
page two of the Journal for this version of the game has two errors. There is a
door that is not shown, and the six-squares-long north/south corridor is only
five squares long.)

 Veterans of POOL and AZURE BONDS can skip this and the next paragraph. For
interested beginners, the SSI AD&D games are very heavily combat-oriented.
Combat uses a unique 3-D system based on the miniatures system. This is a
reflection of one of the inspirations for the original D&D games. The series
also features very interesting interactions with Non-Player Characters (NPCs).
The player has to make judgments as to whether an NPC is friendly or hostile,
truthful or lying. The player also makes decisions as to whether to help or kill
any NPCs encountered.

 These are not games in which you can kill everyone indiscriminately with no
penalties. They usually require a large amount of mapping, although SILVER
BLADES has some very nice mapping aids built in. The games are event-driven:
Nothing happens until the player does something. There is also no real-time
limit, although the game often implies that there is one. Realism is definitely
a second priority to playability. Housekeeping details, such as food, are
assumed to be automatically taken care of by the player's characters.

 The command menu is the same one used in THE CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN. The mouse is
better implemented. Double-click is now available to point and select items.
However, double-click does not work as expected in several places. An example is
the Money screen of the Loot screens. This is a reflection of the fact that the
menu system is still primarily keyboard-oriented.

 SILVER BLADES has several very useful new features. You can now store surplus
items in the town vault in Ambergris. It is no longer necessary to have a banker
character to hold the excess loot. Scrolls can be Joined into bundles. (Note: A
bundle can contain a mixture of cleric and mage scrolls, and also readable and
unreadable mage scrolls.)

 The game also has new levels. Within racial limits, all characters can advance
to level 15 (except thieves, who can advance to level 18). There are new,
higher-level druid, cleric, and mage spells to support the higher character
levels. The higher character levels mean that (except for thieves) nonhuman
characters are at a disadvantage: They cannot advance to the new levels.

 The maze coordinates are always shown, even when the Area command is not
available. The experienced gamer will appreciate this, as some of the mazes are
huge! There are 12 mazes that are greater than 80x60 in size. Fortunately, only
one of them requires full mapping. (Note: The coordinates display is not always
updated immediately or correctly when entering a new square. This most often
happens when moving from one maze to another. Rotating the party will correct
the display.)

 THE SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES is as long as THE POOL OF RADIANCE, with the
speed and efficiency of THE CURSE OF THE AZURE BONDS. The game is very linear,
although the player is free to ignore the linearity to a large extent. There are
also some optional side missions, but the player has only one chance to take on
the side missions when they are presented. There is also one optional, very
difficult battle -- much like the Beholders Conference in AZURE BONDS. The early
battles should be very easy for the experienced player, but the endgame battles
are quite challenging. While none of the required battles has quite the
difficulty of the legendary Slum Trolls battle in THE POOL OF RADIANCE, the
sheer size of the endgame makes it strategically very difficult.

 THE SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES is perfect for lovers of the previous games,
combining the best features of THE POOL OF RADIANCE, THE CURSE OF THE AZURE
BONDS, and THE CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN. SILVER BLADES doesn't offer quite the rich
variety of POOL, but then, this storyline takes place in a remote rural area:
The player shouldn't expect the diversity of a metropolis.

 THE SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES is published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. and
distributed by Electronic Arts.

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