Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Secret ot the Silver Blades

Just when you thought SSI had completely given up on its gold box cash cow, it comes back with one final gesture to its loyal market: AD&D Unlimited Adventures: Fantasy Construction Kit. Now anyone who's finished all nine games (and the other 99.9% of the playing world) can create his own Forgotten Realms adventures with 112 different monsters and a library of 250 different art images.

Unlimited Adventures uses a grid system to map and populate all of the towns and wilderness areas. In addition, users can play their adventures as they create them, in an effort to achieve the balance necessary in any role-playing game. And for those who get periodically sick of designing, unlimited comes with The Heir of Skull Crag, a ready-to-play adventure.

Secret of the Silver Blades, the third segment of the Forgotten Realms series, requires the player to destroy an ancient evil loosed upon the world. Apparently, the terrified miners of Drag-onspine Mountain unwittingly dug into unhallowed ground and released a nasty band of bloodthirsty creatures. The miners called upon the Well of Knowledge to send them a hero. This scenario sets up the player's task, one far more difficult

The player can create a party from scratch or import existing characters from an earlier Forgotten Realms story. If creating from scratch, the player selects each member's class, race, alignment and so on, in order to build a well-rounded team. The game begins in the miners' town, where the party gets initial instructions. From then on, the village is the place to rest, memorize spells or buy and sell various treasures.

During the adventure, the player chooses between an overhead chooses between an overhead view of his surroundings or a three-dimensional perspective. The player must also constantly monitor the characters' vital signs and positions within the party. All encounters center on the lead character, so gamers have to learn who to put on point at what time if they are to succeed.

Fighting in Secret of the Silver Blades is tactical and probably the hardest aspect of the game. The player sets up each character's objective: where he'll stand, what he'll hold, where he'll aim, what spell he'll cast, etc. Once done, the player may opt to allow the computer to control his characters based upon the settings they've entered.

Not all monsters are evil, of course. Some give players vital information and others even offer to join the party. These new members are computer-controlled and often flee at the sign of any real danger. The graphic representations of monsters and scenery are well-done and imaginative. However, movement of these pictures is blocky, and the sound effects poor. But, as veteran role players know, AD&D movement is based on segmented motion. Therefore, fluid motion and mind-blowing sound effects aren't really expected.

Secret of the Silver Blades is an incredibly intricate, all-encompassing adventure. It follows the AD&D principles for character control, experience levels, combat and magic use. Players unfamiliar with this intricate play style may be better off starting with Curse of the Azure Bonds to get a feel for the complexity of these types of games. Secret of the Silver Blades is a game that takes a lot of time to understand. However, if Advanced Dungeons & Dragons interests you, be prepared for the challenge of a lifetime!