Nox

****

Westwood

PC

$99.95

Mature 15

Review: Peter Eley

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Nox makes you realise just how good the role-playing classic Diablo was back in 1998. While Nox is a first-rate game, even the mother of its publisher would have to admit that it isn't entirely original.

Diablo fans won't complain: Nox nicely fills the void while we wait for the much heralded and much delayed Diablo 2. It's a good game in its own right and has strong multiplayer support through Westwood Online.

Like Diablo, it isn't too hard to master and is a fairly intuitive mix of role-playing, action and adventure.

You are Jack Mower, a white-trash American who lives in a Florida trailer park and spends his days and dole watching wrestling on TV and drinking Buds.

Suddenly, a wormhole disrupts the fabric of time and space and Jack is catapulted to the world of Nox where the evil sorceress Hecubah is trying to gain control. Soon Jack's whacking demons, trolls and other uglies like he was born to it.

Perhaps the most similar feature to Diablo is the way the game is played. It's set in a town with heaps of non-playing characters who give you clues and tasks. Dotted around the town and its surrounds are hidden elevators which give access to various dungeons and caves, where you pick up objects and gold. These can be used and traded for spells, food, weapons and armour.

As the game progresses you get more gold but need to buy better weapons and stronger armour to fight bigger and badder foes.

One flaw with Diablo was that it could be clocked quite quickly. Nox is similar: there are only 10 missions, or chapters, and experienced players will soon complete them.

Like Diablo, Nox has a choice of three main characters and the game is played differently according to which you choose.

In Nox, the Conjurer is perhaps the pick. As well as using weapons, he has an intriguing range of spells and the ability to charm beasts into carrying out various tasks.

Required: Pentium 2, 32mb ram, 2mb video card.

E-mail: peter_eley@herald.co.nz