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Lands of Lore™ 1+2

Where LOL1 succeeds, LOL2 falls short

Though I don't usually like dungeon crawlers, I really enjoyed Lands of Lore 1. The game is pretty easy to pick up and play, unlike many RPGs. The story is fascinating fantasy fare, and has plenty of exciting twists and turns as you fight the forces of evil. The environments are quite varied and just the right size: not too overwhelmingly big or stiflingly small. A lot of care was put into the graphics, with beautifully-drawn pixel art at every turn. Typically I dislike the jumpy movement in dungeon crawlers, but the smooth but fast transitions between grid cells keep you oriented but not bogged down. Gameplay is typical RPG: Visit towns, buy/sell/collect stuff, combat a huge variety of enemies, coordinate party members, explore. The downsides are that I would have preferred more freedom of movement (ala Wolfenstein), and I would have liked to see death animations instead of just splashes of blood. But overall it's great fun, and the voice acting of Patrick Stewart just makes it that much sweeter. LOL2 has some good points: Refreshing freedom of movement, great integration with beautiful live-action/CGI, excellent beginning. But these are overshadowed by some serious flaws. A big one is the story - the first was an epic good vs. evil tale, here the goal of the "hero" is simply to remove a slightly inconvenient curse. The connection to the past game is weak, since all the returning characters look, sound, and act very different than they did in the prequel, and often for the worse. Gladstone, the heart and soul of the first game, is pretty much absent here. Many RPG elements such as coins have been stripped away, so most of the gameplay is slogging through giant, difficult to navigate, pitch-black environments hunting for the next obscure thing to do. There isn't even any combat for most of the game (though section where you fight the Ruloi is pretty awesome). The puzzles also get super obscure near the end of the game, a walkthrough is required.

6 gamers found this review helpful
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