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'Rage of Mages' will take your mind off of GT woes By Steven Moy ALANIS MORISSETTE ATLANTA November 13, 1998
Game : Rage of Mages Developer : Buka Entertainment / Monolith Productions Genre : Real-time combat RPG Minimum System Requirements: Pentium 100, 16 MB RAM, Windows-compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM drive, Windows 95/98 Action : 2.5 / 5.0 Strategy : 4.5 / 5.0 Graphics : 4.0 / 5.0 Sound : 4.0 / 5.0 Innovation : 3.5 / 5.0 Overall : 4.0 / 5.0  From the deep pits of Russia comes one of the most anticipated
role-playing games (RPG) of the year, Rage of Mages. Originally developed by Nival Entertainment under the name Allods, it has been purchased by Monolith Productions and brought to America to claim the fame and financial compensation that it so richly deserves.
Six centuries ago, a giant comet impacted the planet of Allods. It had been a peaceful and quiet world, but when streams of ash covered the planet, its people were thrown into death and despair. If it had not been for the Great Mages, they surely would have perished.
Led by the Skrakan, the four Great Mages found that they could stop the apocalypse by binding the lands around their towers with magic. The price for the survival of their people, however, was the Mages' freedom. If they were to save their people, they could never leave their islands. After the Mages ensured the safety of Allods, Skrakan cast a powerful spell encompassing his own island, Uimoir, preventing anything or anyone from leaving. Dozens of expeditions were sent to investigate the mystery, but none ever returned.
In the present, the islands of Kania, your home, and Kadagan have been engaged in a long and costly war, and have battled to a near standstill. This is where your mission comes in. The Great Mage Skrakan is believed to have discovered a new magic principle, and this discovery is believed to be the cause of his isolation. He fears it will be used to damage all of Allod. The purpose of this game is to recover this new principle and find a way to transport it back to Kania so that Kadagan may finally be defeated. Your secondary mission is to survive.
You had better be careful, though, because Kadagan also has knowledge of this secret weapon. Through your journeys, you will battle through the army of Kadagan with whatever force you can muster, while fending off the creatures of the wilderness. The squirrels are irritating, the trolls dangerous, and the dragons deadly.
Rage of Mages offers a unique combination of a real-time strategy type interface with the well-known character-control of role-playing games. You begin by travelling to the town of Plagat, which becomes your initial base of exploration. Here, you can purchase and sell weapons and armor, train to increase your skills, and hire mercenaries to aid you in your travels. You will also find new missions here to finance your ultimate quest as you delve into the mystery of the Great Mage Skrakan. You begin controlling only one character, either a fighter or a mage, but over time, your core group of characters grows, which can be augmented by hiring mercenaries of a variety of types.
Special features of the game include over three hundred varieties of weapons and armor, scrolls, potions, spells and abilities. Playing through more than twenty-five branching missions, you will encounter over fifty kinds of deadly enemies and creatures. Strategic combat will require you to approach every battle with foresight and planning, because with the excellent artificial intelligence, the computer will respond to the experience and capabilities of your character.
When you have exhausted the single player aspect of the game, try out the multiplayer support, which allows for melees of up to sixteen people.
Overall, Rage of Mages is a fun game. You are led through the story by pre-rendered cut-scenes that add character to what is otherwise a straightforward hack and slash game.
In terms of strategy, you will probably have to think more about how you approach battles than other similar role-playing games. The use of a real-time strategy interface adds an element of complexity in that you have to decide who you have attack and who you have defend; this is definitely a change for the better.
If you've been laying off of Star Craft to put more time towards your grades, you probably shouldn't try picking up this game for another month, because it's addictive as all hell. If you're too far gone to care, or if you're like me you'll find Rage of Mages a relaxing escape and distraction from your Georgia Tech woes.
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Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board
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