The Wheel of Time

Herald Rating: * * * *

GT Interactive

PC

$99.95

M15

Review: Peter Eley


Robert Jordan's novel The Eye of the World is the latest fantasy classic to be made into a computer game.

Oh yes, cynical fans may well ask, just like Dune was made into a game, eh?

While Dune and its subsequent spin-offs were excellent games, they never came within a bull's roar of evoking the atmosphere of Frank Herbert's enigmatic novels.

The Wheel of Time is different, a first-person action game with a compelling storyline, first-rate graphics generated by the legendary Unreal engine and cut scenes which add a haunting sense of an ethereal, timeless world. And the haunting New Age/Celtic soundtrack almost has you looking over your shoulder for Druids.

It's rare for a game to be based around a woman, but you get to play Eleyna, keeper of the chronicles of the White Tower. She belongs to a sisterhood of sorceresses fighting renegade members who have formed a breakaway sect called the Black Ajah.

This conflict sets the scene for what is essentially a first-person action game. But it's much more than a straight shoot-'em-up. Forget about guns, grenades, BFGs and the like.

Eleyna's weapons come from a series of ancient artefacts called Ter'angreal, based on the elemental forces of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Spirit. There are around 50 different ones, and like most such games you pick up more powerful ones as you progress.

And the puzzles would do justice to many adventure games. You need to solve these to defeat the boss monsters and find the levers and buttons that let you move around the game.

Talking of monsters, watch out for the Black Wind — a genuinely scary mass of screaming, skull-like faces that mean instant oblivion.

Unreal's graphic engine is brilliant, and The Wheel of Time gives it a good workout with stunningly detailed environments and effects. Beasts' lairs seem dank and downright scary, but venture outside and the sunlight shimmers off distant spires.

There does seem to be a dearth of good new PC games at the moment and The Wheel of Time goes some way to filling the void.