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Queen Of Darkness manipulates evil dragons and their
draconian minions to spread her iniquitous power across
the land of Krynn. Once her scaly servants have succeeded
in overpowering the populace, the queen plans to personally
take control of Krynn and envelop it in an eternity
of darkness.
There's
only one way to stop her (wouldn't ya know it): Krynn's
people must have their faith in the old gods restored
to boost their resistance to evil. A band of adventurers
have already recovered the Disks Of Mishakal (check
out US Gold's Heroes Of The Lance -- if you really
have to) and now seek the long-lost Wyrmslayer to help
rekindle opposition to the evil forces currently sweeping
across Krynn.
You
control the adventurers as they move swiftly through
the war-torn world of magical mayhem in an attempt to
avoid capture by draconians, find Wyrmslayer, rescue
a princess, and free women and children held prisoner
in the fortress, Pax Tharkas. Your band initially consists
of a fighter, a warrior, a mage, a knight, a cleric,
a barbarian, a kender and a dwarf (other characters
may join your quest en route), all of whom should be
familiar to you if you've played Dragonlance games before
or, better still, read any of the excellent books.
Two
main modes of play exist: Wilderness and Combat. Wilderness
is a dragon's-eye view of your surroundings and is used
to navigate your way across Krynn -- there's also a
map of the whole area available at the touch of a key.
Combat is automatically instigated when non-player characters
(NPCs) are met, or buildings entered, and utilizes a
third-person perspective. These NPCs are many and varied,
in fact their numbers are ridiculous. Encountered every
other step they take the form of nomads (friendly nomads
may join your party and can be used as cannon fodder),
kapaks, griffons, dire wolves, hobgoblins, trolls, war
dogs, and dragons. Very few NPCs bode well for your
party.
Fighting
is undertaken with either a ranged weapon (such as spear
or bow) or close weapon (sword, for example); your mage
and cleric use magic. The first four members of your
party are all included in the fray. As members die (a
regular occurrence) their place is taken by the next
in line, although Goldmoon (the cleric) is replaced
automatically by Riverwind (barbarian) should she take
too much damage -- he's such a hero!
Time
is of the essence. As soon as the game starts you should
race south toward Pax Tharkas before the draconian hordes
infest the land. Along the way you come across Gilthanas
the Elven prince, who tells you of a secret entrance
to the fortress: a good job really, as the front door
looks far too well guarded to get through. Once Gilthanas
is part of your group, head for the forest and mountains
to find a way south that avoids the worst of enemy hordes.
Statistics
such as Charisma, Intelligence, Hit Points, Wisdom and
so on feature, although they're controlled by computer
while you're left to rush around Krynn trying to avoid
death. Weapons, potions and spells found on your travels
may be added to members' inventories and used to help
keep them in their seemingly impossible task.
Played
with a combination of keys and joystick, Dragons
Of Flame is arcade orientated -- RPG elements sadly
take a back seat. No-win situations occur regularly:
Trolls and Griffons are particularly vicious and, if
magic isn't (or can't be) used, take mere seconds to
make mincemeat of your party. All too often three or
four of these enemies attack at once, giving you no
chance.
The
only way to progress is to save your position after
every successful confrontation. This reduces game-flow
to zero and ultimately leads to intense frustration.
Those who enjoy taking two steps forward and three back
may warm to Dragons Of Flame. Everyone else who likes
good RPG-style games should buy Drakkhen.
Really-useful-information
dept:
A C64 version should be available around April, priced
£9.99 cassette, £14.99 disk.
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