carlton@apollo.HP.COM (Carlton B. Hommel) (06/12/90)
What timing. I sucessfully mastered the Inner Sanctum on Thursday
night, and Softpro called Friday morning, saying M&M II was in.
In this review, I'll talk about the Macness of the game port,
rather than my opinions on the game itself. Suffice to say that
I'm playing about 3 hours/night, after the kids are asleep.
A couple weeks ago, someone posted a review of M&M I for the Mac,
and had several complaints. Well, New Wave Computing must have
heard loud grumblings from other Mac users, because this one is
much better.
o Layout +
The main window is now smaller, which is probably a win for
Multifinder users. The font is crisper, more info is presented,
and it no longer looks like Theldrow. Its more Grim & Gritty(tm).
o Graphics ++
The old monster pictures and dungeon walls were stored as PICT
resources, and not very good ones, at that. The new pictures are
stored in some format resedit doesn't understand. I'd compare the
quality to Dark Castle. The monsters are animated, as well.
You still see only the first monster on the list, even after all
monsters of that type are dead.
o Spells -
Spellcasting is no longer done by an annoying radio box. Instead,
they are done by an even more annoying nono, *hierarchical menus*.
o Sounds ++
The sounds are now stored as familiar snd resources, so you can
modify or shorten them. One bug - the intro theme does not repeat,
like it did in M&M I.
o Alert Boxes +++
Oh rapture, oh joy. Alert boxes now time out. You can specify it
(and other message timeouts) from 1/4 second, to 5 seconds, to
"next mouse click." Most messages now appear in a status window.
o Mouselessness ---
When I play, I want to play fast. The keyboard movement commands
have gone from "kol;" to the keypad "4856". I can live with that.
However, it is no longer possible to play without moving the mouse.
Oh, ick.
o Protection +
M&M I used key disk copy protection, for which I promptly got a
CODE patch. M&M II uses the "type in the xth word on the yth
page" format. I consider this less obtrusive for a D&D-type game,
as I'd never play without the manual, hint book, and several reams
of notes. (But it must have added a lot to the size...)
o Secrecy ?
M&M II has encoded all of the interesting game strings, so weak-minded
types with hex editors can't rummage through the binary, and find out
all the secrets. I'm sure it will increase their hintbook sales :-)
o Upgrade +
You can carry over your M&M I characters, but the following happens
before they clear customs:
- All items/equipment removed
- Stats maxed out at 20
- Money maxed out at $1000
- Gems maxed out at 100
- Level maxed out at 7 for "Total Winners", 6 for others
That's ok. I can win, even if you take away my Laser Pistol, my Fire
Opal, my Ultimate Armor, and my Ultimate Sword :-).
I've found one glaring bug, but the help desk didn't seem to know about
it. In a large room, say 3x3, the ahead walls to either side of you
are blank. I've had one system bomb, ID = 10, while in combat, that
has not been reproducible. These on a 1 Meg SE.
The New World Computing phone numbers are
(818) 999-0606 Business number, for credit card orders
(818) 999-0607 Hint/help line
However, they have no Internet address. Instead, there is a Might &
Magic / New World group on Compuserve. Since I could barely afford
to buy the game itself, I'm not paying Compuserve's rates. However,
I'd be interested in seeing some of the discussions there, if someone
could forward them to me. I'd also appreciate it if this message
were uploaded to them, or if I could get their Compuserve mailbox
number.
I'll post a game review, discussing the merits of the game itself, if
there seems to be enough interest. (Interest defined by followup
articles, or an overflowing mailbox...)
Carl Hommel
carlton@apollo.hp.com