Great co-op game. Stories of the main campaign and Undrentide can be quite dull but if you skip a lot of the boring text this is a superb loot 'em up that you can play with friends. That said, the game's systems are complex so quite a lot of thought is required to get the most out of it. If you like D&D or games like Icewind Dale and would like a better multiplayer version on computer then this is the game for you. Only quibble I have is that the DRM hasn't been completely removed. There's no CD check, but you have to email gog to obtain licence keys if you're to play multiplayer. Odd that they don't come with the game as I wouldn't recommend playing in single-player at all. Shouldn't they have been removed entirely to be truly DRM-free?
Negotiate maze, kill monsters, collect keys, repeat. All in not-so-glorious 2D and 3D. These are fun games, make no mistake, but a lot of what sold them back in the day (the 3D ones, anyway) was the technology. If you're willing to be patient with one ancient first-person game series and expect to be rewarded with timeless gameplay that stands up even today , go for the Ultima Underworld games and leave these well alone.
Enjoyed these back in the day (especially the free shareware versions since they were free) but to be honest they were never really that good. They're essentially just generic, maze-like platformers with archaic gameplay. The word "platformer" usually indicates some level of precision or skill required in the platforming but it isn't really true here - you just collect keys, open doors and find your way around the mazes. While they can be fun, for $6 you can do a whole lot better. What makes it an especially bad deal in my view is that my ancient big box copy of Duke3d came with the registered versions of Duke 1&2 for free. I guess if I sold it second hand I might be able to get a couple of dollars for the three games...
I was stunned by how advanced this game was when I first played it in 1999, seven years after its release. Since it came out it has been incredibly influential, being a direct influence for The Elder Scrolls, System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Bioshock and even the likes of id software's games, Half Life 2 and Tomb Raider. I only finished it for the first time recently and believe it to be still top of the pile - none of its descendants come close! The game is essentially a real-time, first-person 3d dungeon crawler, and so has elements in common with these. What it brings into the mix is the openness of an Ultima world: you can play it in so many different ways. I think it's possible to be able to complete the game if you kill practically every character... and also if you only kill about two. One of the faster speed runs on youtube clocks in at just over seventeen minutes - the game's so open that you can practically just walk to the end if you know how to get there. Playing if for real will require much conversation, mystery-solving and fighting, making a full play-through more than forty hours long. The fact that this game stands the test of time is a testament to the fact that it wasn't just a tech demo but a masterclass in game design!
Ultima 8 was my first Ultima game and I really enjoyed it. By the time I played it the patches had resolved the dodgy jumping and it was quite a fun action/adventure/RPG. Since then I've played most of the Ultima games and can see why number 8 is so hated. I do still maintain that it can be played and enjoyed immensely. Ultima 9 is different. It both doesn't tie in well with the other Ultimas and the gameplay is just plain bad. The only thing it had going for it on release was the impressive 3D world... but now it's just a dated, sad and barely playable game. Avoid.
I played this one circa 2002 when it was already considered heavily dated and I was surprised at just how playable and fun it was. What impresses me the most about this, and most of the other Ultima games, is just how well-designed they are. Since you are resurrected when you die, there are no dead ends, and yet, the game still retains a fair challenge. The word fair is quite important here as many early (and current!) games were (are) designed by idiots who cheat by increasing game life cheaply with unfair difficulty levels or requiring tedious backtracking. In terms of design, modern gaming owes a huge debt to the Ultima series with its open worlds, interactivity and fair, balanced gameplay. Ultima IV doesn't take long to complete and is a simple, beautiful game. In many ways it's perfect and still perfectly playable.
