THE DARK HEART OF UUKRUL review
By Wayne Short
Copyright (c) 1991 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
The Dark Heart of Uukrul is a fantasy role playing game for the Apple II line of computers. It is a game where you will explore an immense underground city, searching for the means to the incarnation of evil: Uukrul. The adventure leads you from the simple passages and markets in the west to the final confrontation in the palaces of Adron and the areas of chaos in the east.
The game has passing similarities to both Wizardry and Ultima but retains originality by developing its own unique world and gaming system. It offers more than the simple "bash and kill the monsters approach". The success of any game of this type is the ability to retain the interest of the "gamer". The fantasy must provide interest through its subtlety and depth.
Your party consists of four characters, one from each of the ancient disciplines: a Fighter skilled with weapon use, a Paladin who has the ability to lay on hands as well as skill with weapons, a Priest who can call on the gods and elementals to aid the party, and a Magician whose magical skills are vital to the party's success.
Eriosthe is a huge city and Uukrul has not corrupted the whole of it. In the west you will find a marketplace with a shop for the purchase and sale of weapons and other items, a Forge for the repair of broken weapons, a Hospice which will heal your wounds, a Mausoleum where your dead can be resurrected or laid to rest and a Guild where you can meet and recruit other party members. Temples and Magic Circle allow your Priest and Magician to advance in skills and powers.
Upon booting the game you are presented a title menu with three choices : Play the Game, Generate a New Party, or go to the Game Utilities. There is a default novice party on the disk if you wish to start playing the game immediately. If you would like to generate your own party you will be asked several questions about the characters, to shape their personalities.
The games' utilities are available for the following functions:
- You can change the name or sex of any characters in the party.
- You can restore your game from the last backed-up position. At each sanctuary you have the option to save a back-up image of the game at that point. If you later restore your game from that back-up with this utility, everything that happened since then will be forgotten.
- You can start the whole game again.
While playing the game, a summary of each character is presented in the status area. This is always shown in the order of fighter, paladin, priest and magician. Each line shows the characters name, armour class, health state and hit bar. More details about each character are available by examining the character Profile.
A character armor class indicates the probability of damage being taken from a hit. The higher the armour class the lower the probability of damage.
The various health states of a character are : HEALTHY, WEAK, HUNGRY, STARVING, STUNNED, POISONED, PLAGUED, CRITICAL and DEAD.
A dead character can only be resurrected in the Mausoleum, but the chance of resurrection succeeding declines as the corpse ages.
The hit bar reflects the amount of damage that the character is able to sustain before being slain.
The Character Profile screen for each individual show character attributes such as Strength, Intelligence, Piety, Dexterity and Vitality. (These, of course have similar usage to the other games of this type such as the Bard's Tale and Wizardry.) 'Encumbrance' reveals the weight of the items currently carried by a character. A weight limit is imposed and this increases as a character progresses through skill levels by gaining experience.
In addition the Character Profile shows other information which is specific to the different character classes. The Fighter and Paladin show their armor worn and weapons wielded, the Priest and Magician show their energy and rings.
The Inventory screen shows the items carried by a character. If the item can be worn as armor, or used as a weapon, it will be highlighted when it is actually being used.
Priests are able to invoke help from the gods through Prayers. The god's may answer such prayer, but their response is never certain.
A Priest's rings are ranked in order of metal - Iron(Fe), Copper(Cu), Silver(Ag), Gold(Au), Platinum(Pt) and finally Crystal(Xt). As your Priest
progresses in experience he will be awarded more powerful rings from the Shrines within the Temples: these will give him greater success in his communion with the gods. The rings worn are shown in the Character Profile.
Every Prayer successful or not, demands a toll of your Priest's Virtue Points. These represent his spiritual energies, and regenerate slowly to a maximum.
A Magician's power lies in his wide range of magical spells. These come from the five disciplines of magic : FIRE, FROST, PROTECTION, HEALING, KNOWLEDGE.
In order to harness these Spells, your magician must make use of his rings of power. Each Spell requires a minimum ring to cast. The power of each ring is indicated by its metal, and they are ordered like the Priest's rings.
As your Magician's skills increase, more powerful rings will be awarded at the Circle of Magicians. Every spell demands a toll of your Magician's Psychic points and these points slowly regenerate to a maximum.
Food is required by your party to survive will in the maze. It must be purchased from the supply shop in the marketplace with any money you obtain while exploring Eriosthe. Money is important because it is required to buy an services or food in the marketplace.
Exploring the city Erisothe requires your careful powers of observation, as there things such as secret doors, grates, pits, roof openings and teleporters to reveal their true usefulness. The exploration commands along with the dungeon view are reminiscent of Wizardry (Hard of course to improve upon..).
Characters gain experience by meeting (and defeating) Uukrul's evil horde in combat. The combat screen itself is modelled upon Ultima's grid pattern with the option of you moving your characters adjacent to their adversaries. Your characters will gain experience from the combat from the combat depending on the amount of valuable work contributed by each individual.
Many inscriptions are found within the city... these will provide you with clues to aid you in your quest. Some will yields their meaning easily, other will require powerful magic to do so. The Magic Circle also contains the Archive of the great mystic. As your Magician progresses in power more chapters may be consulted to yield their secrets.
The Players Handbook is well written and comprehensive at 74 pages. Like other games of this type an introductory story and other hints are provided to start you in your quest. A summary of spells and prayers is provided.
The game is supplied on two double-sided 5.25 inch disks which are not copy-protected. Backups may be made with your own favorite copying program. If you wish to use multiple parties, just make more copies of the "scenario Disk" and Restart each new game from the beginning. Like WIZARDRY, the game has been written in Pascal and therefore is not transportable to a hard disk for continuous play.
It is immense in size considering the size of the game disks and will take some time to complete.
As for myself I have reached an impasse after the fifth sanctuary in Eriosthe'. There is a locked gate and I haven't yet located the keys....
This is recommended to anybody who likes fantasy role-playing games.
Game : The Dark Heart of Uukrul
Authors : Ian Boswell and Martin Buis
Publisher : Broderbund
Hardware : Apple IIe/IIc/IIGS, 128K of Ram
5.25 inch disk
Australian
Distributor : DataFlow
phone (02) 606-9343
Price $90

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