Eye of the Beholder (Andreas Larsson) Free
Game title: Eye of the Beholder
Game description: Eye of the Beholder is a dungeon crawling style RPG set underneath the city of Waterdeep. You take control of a party of four who have undertaken the task of navigating through a complex underground dungeon in order to uncover the ancient evil that lurks within it. To succeed, your brave champions will have to fight off myriads of evil creatures while at the same time deciphering cryptic clues to unravel the puzzles that lie ahead of them. The game is best played with a combination of a keyboard and mouse, with the former used to move about while the latter is used to collect and manage items, interact with the game world, initiate attacks and cast spells. The C64 version includes an auto-map facility and a built-in comprehensive Bestiary while the C128 version supports two screen and 2Khz modes.
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Production - 90%
90%
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Fun - 72%
72%
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Depth - 93%
93%
Summary
It has been a long wait but Andreas Larsson and team can be very proud with what they have achieved with the C64 adaptation of Eye of the Beholder. The production values from a graphical perspective are simply superb. The game simply looks beautiful. Exploring the dungeons of Waterdeep is quite engrossing with the game engine doing a good job in making sure things move about at a decent pace and I enjoyed the way the game gradually opens up its game world as you solve the various puzzle elements within the game. I really enjoyed that each of the dungeon levels had their own distinct feel in respect to the type of enemies and puzzle element they contained. The inclusion of the auto-map feature is a god-send and very much appreciated feature and mouse support is fabulous. But it is important to note that if you are not familiar with EOTB or its genre then there is a significant entry barrier to the game as you are going to have to make the effort to understand how to fully play the game. This includes trying to deal with the clunky control mechanics. Inventory and weapon management is a pain and combat can be a frustratingly repetitive process. If you have fond memories of playing EOTB back in the 1990s on an Amiga or PC machine then you will absolutely love the C64 conversion but if you have never held an appreciation of the dungeon crawler RPG genre then EOTB is not necessarily going to change that…no matter how good the conversion.
Overall
85%User Review
( votes)Pros
- Simply gorgeous looking graphics
- Inclusion of auto-map and bestiary
- Mouse support
- Exploring the dungeons is engrossing
- Good variety of play across all levels
Cons
- Cumbersome control mechanics
- Not easy to pick up and play
- Lack of in game music
Video Game Link:
