when I ignored a guard and intruded on a restricted part of the royal quarters, everyone turned on me, including the King. It is worth noting that you can kill characters that will eventually have a pivotal role in the story. I didn't dare cross the magical Sisters of Edurneum because their hissing voices warned me not to. The town guards will put up a good fight and so will the evil Ylside. And be careful, even your friends can turn on you if you get caught stealing or commit some other transgression. However, you don't have to kill everything, you can make friends or sneak by tricky situations. Give them half a chance they might even flee yelping 'help, help', and return with reinforcements.ДЄs well as rats and trolls and goblins there are lethal spiders, mummies, undead, and particularly potent liches that can freeze you on the spot and relieve you of your life.

They'll beg for their life if they get into too much trouble, retreat momentarily, but they'll be back if they're trapped. Some of them will have you for dinner if they get the chance and they are tenacious little fighters. It might even pay to listen to their chatter, you never know! The goblins don't like you very much and 'Stupid humans' or other comments like 'me hungry' are constant refrains. These two races always have something to say and are continually mumbling to themselves.

They both found a place in my heart, the trolls because they are so dumb and so willing to be friends, and the goblins. As you progress, although there isn't a huge range of creatures to contend with, some of them, particularly the trolls and goblins, are really brought to life. In the beginning when you are just a puny novice you don't want to run into conflict unprepared, even the rats can be troublesome. Admittedly there isn't much colour, but the locations are surprisingly detailed and the echoing sound effects and, at times, creepy background music keep you continually on alert. It's time to set off and though Arx is definitely a dungeon crawl, it's a foreboding and fascinating one as the graphics, aided by the first person viewpoint, really create that feeling of claustrophobia and dread as you wind your way through the murky world. Most are self-explanatory but you can read a short description of each and how they might affect each other. It's very simple with just 4 main attributes (strength, intelligence, dexterity and constitution) and 9 skills: stealth, technical skill, intuition, ethereal link, object knowledge, casting, close combat, projectile and defence. Swapping between modes is just a keystroke or a mouse click away and apart from movement, which is via keyboard, most of the functions have mouse or keyboard alternatives that can be remapped in the options menu.ДЄfter the brief introduction your first task is to create your character by allocating the available points. There are basically two modes: combat mode and interactive mode and you can tweak various settings to suit yourself. The interface has a short learning curve. It certainly does pay homage to Ultima Underworld and, although it has its hitches, it's a curiously engrossing game and should be judged on its own merits. It's a warren of underground passages and caverns much like the setting of Ultima Underworld and it did bring back fond memories with a single character, first person viewpoint a similar real time combat system and a similar (though mechanically different) magic system where you are in search of runes so you can build up your spell repertoire. The City of Arx is where the story is set. And this is where I stop telling the story because you can learn plenty about it in the game, and soon enough you'll know who you are and why you are there! The basics In a 'flash' you find yourself, minus your memory, deep underground in a goblin prison. And now an even greater misfortune looms! Alas the peace didn't last, before long they split once more into their racial factions, dreaming of supremacy and treating each other with suspicion. The bitter cold set in, so many of the races that were previously involved in petty conflicts now joined together and cooperated as they moved below ground to the abandoned dwarven mines.

Once it was a bright, sunny place but the death of the sun put an end to that. Review by Rosemary Young (February, 2003) The world of Arx Fatalis is a world of change. Publisher: JoWood/Red Ant Entertainment (Australia)

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