MIGHT AND MAGIC II

 Any sequel has a tough job. It must maintain the novelty and thrills of its
predecessor; moreover, it must offer improvements and new ideas that make it
worthwhile on its own. Several computer role-playing games have succeeded at
this task; the authors of MIGHT AND MAGIC II have now tried their hand...with
mixed results. This review is based on the Apple IIgs version; Commodore 64/128
version notes follow.

 Jon and Michaela Van Caneghem have designed and created a world of epic scope:
not only the basic medieval towns and countryside that we explored in M&M I, but
four elemental planes (earth, air, fire, and water) and a torrent of sub-quests
that guarantee the game's freshness for months. There is a huge selection of
spells, the more useful of which you have to work to learn. The graphics are
double-high-res, which leads to some beautiful animation and attractive art
work. And the technical range of options is impressive: secondary skills, an
auto-mapping feature, myriad magic items, ranged and hand-to-hand combat,
hirelings. Overall, M&M II offers a well-designed concept and plot.

 On the negative side, the mechanics of execution in this game are very
disappointing. For example, the 3-D graphic window is just plain broken. The
manual notes that you can see in front of you an area 3 squares wide and 4
squares deep. True, but the program represents the area outside that as open air
-- even if there are buildings there! This leads to much confusion, especially
in towns. Additionally, there are many special locations and objects in this
world, and they're completely _invisible_ unless you're standing on top of them.
It appears that some programming shortcuts were taken in the graphic interface,
and the game's playability suffers.

 Further, though combat is remarkably balanced, executing any option other than
fighting can be tedious. Try to use an item, and the program responds: "Which
(A-F)/(1-6)?" It's referring to your inventory, which you can view by backing
out of the choice, selecting View, remembering the number or letter, then
backing out, and finally selecting Use again. A definite obstacle to the flow of
pitched battle.

 There's a huge amount of detail packed into this copy-protected program (it
fills six disk sides), and I suspect that the designers had to make some hard
choices to fit the program into the machine. I certainly cannot fault their
decision to favor plot and imagination -- keys to a successful and entertaining
CRPG -- but in terms of visual realism, MIGHT AND MAGIC II is unsatisfying. I
give this one an 8 out of 10 and a plea for improving the interface in versions
for other computers.

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES

 Initially, the appearance of the C64/128 version of MIGHT AND MAGIC II is
almost the same as the Apple and IBM versions. The Demo option has been removed,
but little else. Considering that both the Apple and IBM versions rely on more
memory than the 64K allotted to the Commodore version, this is a remarkable
feat. However, as you play the game, you'll find that the graphics and speed of
the other versions are superior to this one, and understandably so.

 Side A is copy-protected, but copies can be made of the other disks. Side B
definitely must be copied to be able to save games.

 If you're familiar with the C64/128 version of MIGHT AND MAGIC I, you'll be
quite impressed by the improvements in M&MII. The sequel offers much better
graphics (including animation), although the speed of the game is about the
same. M&MII is much larger than M&MI, and revolves around quests less. There is
plenty to explore in the towns and dungeons before you attempt to map the
wilderness areas. The game has auto-mapping, which saves a considerable amount
of time, but it's advisable that you do some mapping yourself, as well.

 MIGHT AND MAGIC II is published by New World Computing and distributed by
Electronic Arts.

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