WINDWALKER

 Origin's WINDWALKER, by Greg Malone, is a computer role-playing game sequel to
MOEBIUS. This review is based on the Apple II version; Commodore 64/128 and
IBM-PC version notes follow.

 The story concerns the Realm of Khantum, a nation of islands. Time passes and
is marked by nights and days. (Unlike MOEBIUS, this game allows you to see the
entire screen, day or night.) The emperor and empress have been imprisoned by an
evil Warlord (with the aid of an evil Alchemist) who now rules. There is also a
Nubian princess who figures in the plot; she, too, has been kidnapped.

 It's up to you (and your character) to bring harmony back to the Kingdom.
Unarmed and alone, you set off with some food, coins, a sleeping mat, and a
boat. If you find the right temple, you can study to be a Khisanist monk, and
receive the marks of their order: a silk robe and oaken staff. With this staff
you will be able to defeat your enemies. Even without it, you will be able to do
battle fairly well, because you are a martial arts expert.

 This is both a delight and drawback of the game: You must learn how to win in
combat against various enemies. Win and you progress; lose too many battles and
you have to start the game over from the beginning. In order to win, you need to
know which combination of key commands (arcade style) to use; winning depends
not as much on your attributes as on your keyboard dexterity.

 I'm not overly fond of arcade-based CRPG games, of which WINDWALKER is
certainly one. However, there is an option to train (and practice) before you
start a game, and the arcade action is simpler than it was in MOEBIUS, so I'm
not entirely put off. Each archetype you face in battle has a particular
vulnerability, and training reveals it.

 The arcade action is animated (in black and white), and has two modes:
Continuous Action ("Intuition") or Stop Action ("Concentration"). You can also
replay the last part of the battle; if the battle wasn't a long one, you can
replay it entirely.

 There are several forms of magic in the game: Alchemy, Shamanism, the
aforementioned Khisanism; and Idolatry. Information is gathered by bumping into
people and interviewing them.

 WINDWALKER requires an Apple IIc, IIe, or IIgs, and 128K of RAM. The game is
not double hi-res, but it uses the 128K of memory effectively. The graphics are
detailed and colorful. As in MOEBIUS, the screen displays an overhead view of a
flat map that's painted like a Japanese print. The character figures are large
disembodied heads, traveling over the map with the aid of your keyboard. There
is no joystick control.

 As with most Origin games, WINDWALKER is disk-protected: The boot disk cannot
be copied. Unfortunately, the program writes to the disk when you enter your
character's name (not good); however, the other disks' sides can be copied, even
though the documentation doesn't mention this fact.

 All in all, WINDWALKER is colorful, fun, and should be a welcome find for
gamers who enjoyed MOEBIUS. If you weren't enthralled by MOEBIUS, or didn't play
it, WINDWALKER is still worth a try, thanks to the simplification and
improvement of the implementation.

 Because winning the battles depends on arcade ability, I recommend WINDWALKER
with reservations. But if you like your CRPGs with martial arts action, this
game is for you!

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES

 WINDWALKER for the Commodore 64/128 is also disk-protected, and is almost
exactly the same game as described in the main review above. However, the Apple
version uses more color and plays faster. Although I usually prefer to play the
C64 versions of CRPG games, in this case, the Apple version is superior.

 However, the C64/128 edition will work with more than one drive, and is very
playable. Again, I recommend the game, as long as you don't mind martial arts
arcade battles.

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES

 The IBM version of WINDWALKER comes on three 5-1/4" inch diskettes; 3-1/2"
diskettes are available separately. The program may be installed on your hard
drive because it relies only on the manual copy protection method. Origin
recommends that the game not be played on systems slower than 8 MHz.

 WINDWALKER supports VGA, EGA, CGA, Hercules, and Tandy 16-color graphics modes.
VGA board owners: Prepare to catch your jaw, because it's bound to drop when you
see the opening scenes. The display is 320x200x25, and spectacular. And I highly
recommend that you "abandon game" without saving it, at least once; I won't
reveal the two screens you'll see, but trust me: They're well worth the price of
admission. You'll end up playing most of the game in EGA mode, but the graphics
are quite detailed and nice.

 You can control WINDWALKER from either the keyboard or a Microsoft-compatible
mouse. The mouse works best during the arcade and "question/answer" sequences,
but for general character control, it might take some getting used to. Movement
is smooth during basic gameplay, but jumpy during the arcade-style segments. The
characters move from pre-set position to pre-set position, although it won't be
as noticeable if you increase the speed of gameplay. Despite this minor
drawback, the training and fighting sessions are challenging and fun. I found
myself hoping I'd get attacked more often!

 This IBM version also supports a multitude of sound boards, including the
Ad-Lib Synthesizer, Creative Music System Model CT-1300, the Innovation 88-1011,
Covox, and Tandy sound systems. But even through my internal speaker, the grunts
were quite poetic!

 WINDWALKER is published and distributed by Origin.

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