Legend of Grimrock

Audio: 3 Design: 3 Gameplay: 4 Graphics: 4 Lasting Appeal: 2 ------------------------- Overall rating: 3

Legend of Grimrock is a first-person tile-based RPG in the vein of Wizardry and Eye of the Beholder. You make your party from the ground-up, while it is all-around solid the customization is lacking: you only have picks between 4 races and 3 classes, though skills and spells are nicely varied and there is a solid alchemy system. You play as up to four prisoners thrown into a huge mountain and you need to get out... That almost is it for story. There is a much larger focus on gameplay and it is extremely fun classic dungeon crawling fighting, exploring, and spell casting goodness... To a point. The game's biggest flaw is its puzzles... Some are fun, a lot are creative, but a majority of them are confusing and tedious to the absolute max. By far the most horrible are the timing puzzles involving button presses and/or throwing items at the right moment, the demand for such precision and speed in a tile-based game with incredibly clunky controls is frustrating to say the least. Thankfully very few of these puzzles are mandatory, but they always have some sort of great reward. The sadistic design really discouraged me from checking out any optional treasures and side-quests. I really wanted to love this game or at least give it a 4 out of 5. However the utterly sadistic puzzles really discourage side missions which hurts the game's already piddling replay value due to the severely linear levels and simple character creation. Plus many of the dungeons also commit the cardinal sin of RPGs: being disorienting and labyrinthine mazes that are only somewhat helped with a map. You can find a lot to enjoy in this game, but just like with RPGs of old you have to trudge through lot of arbitrary difficulty between every good bit. If you like the sound of this game but are really on the fence, then go get Legend of Grimrock 2. It is basically this game improved in every imaginable way, from more character customization to better dungeon design to puzzles that aren't total crap.

Legend of Grimrock does what it wants to do well, so if you want a real-time dungeon crawler that is all about starting at floor #1 and getting to the bottom of things, this game has got you covered. It has a well-made dungeon full of corridors to explore, doors to open, monsters to defeat, puzzles to solve and secrets to uncover. However, it is not a full large-scope RPG in the vein of Wizardry or Might&Magic. There are no money or shops to spend it in, no quests (other than "get to the end"), no NPCs to talk to - just your party and the dungeon. Cool little game, but do not expect it to be what it is not.

An old-scool first-person dungeon crawler RPG with a clear focus: survive in a harsh and atmospheric enviroment with challenging puzzels, traps and monsters. The game has no unneccessary things like quests, journals, shopkeepers or grinding, only the main important elements. The game looks and works impressive when come to think about the fact that it has made only four people. The real-time system of the game works very well but sometimes it feels bit too fast-paced. When you release a movement button after a step, the party still takes another step further. In combat it's best to avoid getting hit so you end up move wildy around the enemy if there is any room for that. The combat sytem is clear and simple, but it forces eyes to be focused on bottom right of the screen. The runic spell castig system is nice but I didn't like how the spells have level requirements thus preventing you to cast them when you have not spent skill points wisely. The overall game experience is straightforward without any hand-holding. I liked the character development system of the game, unlike D&D system with stupid equipment restrictions. I had couple of good playthroughs with different party setups. I recommend.

Legend of Grimrock is exactly what it promises to be - an old school first person dungeon crawler made in a modern engine. True, this brings across some of the genre's foibles as well - the interface is a tad clunky at times, especially when trying to give your poisoned fighter that vital antidote or trying to cast a complicated spell on the fly. And it does get a little bit formulaic at points. Overall though, it's great as both a coffee break game and a sitter, meaning that it's a good play in any situation. The puzzles are interesting without being frustrating, and the graphics and sounds are both polished and run smoothly. If you're a fan of dungeon crawlers, you owe it to yourself to get Grimrock.