Ultima™ Underworld 1+2

Ultima Underworld was one of the first 3D games and the first actual 3D Dungeon Crawler. It's famous for it's immersive atmosphere and the incredibly designed Stygian Abyss. Its sequel has a less foreboding atmosphere but it's awesome nonetheless. Not much needs to be said. Should be on every RPG gamer's shelf. Keep an eye out for the oncoming "third" game (spiritual sequel), Underworld Ascendant.

Folks, what you are looking at, while playing Ultima Underworld I, is the very first FPS in the history of computer gaming. Before Castle Wolfenstein. Before Doom. A game where you can pick stuff in the screen, then use thos to interract with your surroundings. A game where your gear will go bad from damage, where you need to lit torches to see, where you must consumes food, where every actions have a consequence - like taking that food that belongs to that friendly outcast there, who suddenly becomes angry at you. The depth of the game is truly amazing - to say the least. When you get down to it, it's hard to imagine that this game has been released in... 1992. It's in fact one of the single most important game of all gaming history. Without this game, there would have been no FPS in the first pace. And you know what? 20 years later, it's still incredibly fun.

The first immersive simulation game, yet aged well like fine wine. Modern games have so much to learn from it.

I Recoll how impressive i was on UW1 lowest level, the atmosphere, sneak and elementals dont detect. how multiple choises avail, go via secret access or fly over (magic),find map. Shall i play weak but magic powerfull, or use more muscle and maybe can chant only food and light.. And how creatures really made caves as their home. So much variation, 3 decades of fun and stil like to visit time to time. Note Soem bugs whn trying to haul some items to other level. Remember save before change level.

Because of the 2000 letter limitation I only mention the drawbacks of UW in this review. The controls are awkward. It needs patience and pratice to get on with the controls nonetheless it is hard and cumbersome to control the character quick and precise. Especially the jump riddles can be very frustrating! Not everything was good in the past! No tutorial, the use of the game-manuell and cluebook is very recommended without the game can be very painful and frustrating, you can turn the game unwinnable be killing the wrong person or destroying the wrong object, no hotkeys for magic so it is cumbersome to change spells, only 4 save slots. There are 8 selectable classes in the game but it only effects the starting gear, stats and skills. In the rest of the game it has no effect. It is very recommended to play as a melee fighter because archery is horrible in this game. Maintaining the minimum range to your enemy to fire your missile weapons is very frustrating because of the speed of the enemys and the controls also you have to pick up every single projectile after each fight be yourself. Play as an offensive mage isn´t better because spells also have a minimum range and after a couple spells your are out of mana, so you have to rest and scavenge for food very often because mana regenerates incredible slow. The skillsystem is mostly fake. More than 50% of the skills are barely implemented or useless. Imbalanced. There are only a few pieces of every equiptmentclass mostly 3-4 different pieces, like leather, chain and plate armor. So don´t be suprised when you found the best armor or weapon beside quality and enchantment (you can repair and enchant items be yourself) after completing only 10-20% of the game. That´s a major let down for exploration. I barely found any useful armor or weapon in the second half of the game! Most of the time the game let you in the dark. What does a great protection enchantment exactly means or what´s the worth of an unblemished gem?