ISHAR RPG GAMES
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¾The Ishar RPG Games Trilogy
¢By²:¹ Plugster/Defiance
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²THE ISHAR TRILOGY.  If you're like me,
you  missed  the  D&D  dice-  throwing
games  of  the  80s and got your first
taste  of  role  playing on your Amiga
with     Bard's     Tale     or    the
ground-breaking   Dungeon  Master  and
Chaos  Strikes Back.  The makers of DM
handed you a sword and armour and gave
you  a  world  where  "things" come AT
YOU,  sneak  up  behind  you, and make
noises in the distance.  Even with Eye
Of  The  Beholder  and  Black  Crypt I
don't   think  DM's  eery  atmospheric
gameplay  has been bettered.  However,
several  recent  Amiga  releases  have
come awful close.

First,  there's  Hired  Guns,  a super
duper  blast  fest in the same vein as
IBM's   DOOM;   although  without  the
textured  scrolling.   Next, the ISHAR
series which has just become a trilogy
with  the  release  of ISHAR III:  The
Seven  Gates  Of  Infinity.  All three
have  standard  and  AGA versions with
the  only  difference  being cosmetic.
All, however, share the same strengths
and weaknesses.

The biggest strength is the large view
window   and   the  striking  graphics
emanating  from  it.   In  Eye  Of The
Beholder  II  the  forests looked like
walls  with  trees  painted  on  them.
ISHAR,  however, has forests that look
¶²like  forests.   Trees and under-brush
of  all  types pass by in perspective.
In ISHAR I you can actually tell where
you  are on the island by the types of
trees nearby.  In ISHAR III, the first
city  is  designed with the slum areas
on  the  outside, circling "rich town"
in  the  middle.   In  my  opinion the
ISHAR  TRILOGY  are  the  best looking
adventure games on the Amiga (although
you  could  make  a case for SIMON THE
SORCERER).   ISHAR II introduced a lot
of  variety  in the different areas to
explore - the mountains look great!

The sound effects on all three are OK;
although  the tune that plays in ISHAR
II  is  a  stand  out.   The character
graphics  are  good  in all three with
ISHAR  III  being the standout because
some  are digitized people in costumes
(one  lady, however, wears a pant suit
and  red  shirt that look right out of
the JC Penney catalog).

The  animation  is simple but this has
become  a  standard  in  RPGs  in  the
interest  of speed.  Perhaps this will
be  the  area  to  improve on when the
next generation Amigas show up.

The  puzzles  in ISHAR I are difficult
to  solve  because  it's  hard to know
just  what to do next.  It's easier in
ISHAR  II and ISHAR III starts you off
with  a  guy  standing several squares
ahead  ready  to  direct  you  to your
first encounter.

Combat   is  surprisingly  uneventful.
You'd  think a more interesting combat
system would have been developed since
¶²DM.  Perhaps the worst problem is that
your opponent is able to stand between
you   and   a  wall.   This  makes  it
difficult  to  fight in a hit-and-move
manner.     You    end   up   fighting
"toe-to-toe"  and the strongest almost
always wins.  At least in DM you could
block them in and they could block you
in.   It  was  fun to attempt brushing
off  the  baddies.   Also,  you  had a
variety   of   blows  to  choose  from
(slash, pary, bash, etc.).

All   three  games  are  plagued  with
programming  problems and will lock up
at  the  drop  of a hat.  Some advance
preparation  will  usually  combat the
problem.   The  island  with  the tree
platforms   in   ISHAR   II   AGA   is
especially  prone  to  lockups.  ISHAR
III AGA has a pecular problem when you
try to enter or leave "rich town".  If
the  proper  disk  is not in the drive
then  it  will  lock  up.  I make sure
that DISK C is in one drive and DISK D
is  in  the other.  This seems to work
even  though  all three seem to have a
problem   with   dual-drive   systems.
Possibly  a  hard  drive  could be the
answer  to  this problem (I don't have
one yet some I'm not sure.  Anybody?).
I wish SILMARILS would update the game
system    and    give    them   proper
playtesting  - indeed, SILMARILS could
be   another   PSYGNOSIS.   I  haven't
bought their latest release ROBINSON'S
REQUEIUM yet.  I'd be interested in an
opinion  besides  the EURO-MAGS.  They
tend to be overly critical.

Problems aside, the ISHAR TRILOGY is a
worthy  addition  to  the adventurer's
¶²library.   However, patience is a must
or you'll run off cursing.

¾ISHAR  I  ¹80%  (GREAT,  AT LEAST FOR A
                WHILE)

¾ISHAR II ¹90% (WORKS GOOD FOR A WHILE)


¾ISHAR  III ¹ XX% (HAVEN'T PLAYED ENOUGH
            FOR AN HONEST OPINION, BUT
            IT LOOKS BETTER THAN "II")