Hexplore

What a bloody ridiculous name for a game. It conjures up visions of spotty 14-year-olds with NHS specs going about calling themselves Llothq'arthe Mighty, Lord of the Forestlands and Holder of the 1998 Award for Pointy Earedness. Having stopped giggling at the inanity of the title, and actually got round to loading the damn thing, the first thing you notice are the graphics, which rather fail to impress, being, as they are, about four years out of date. The music is atmospheric and Hexplore sports full speech, although the sound quality of some of the narration is a little dubious in places, and we're positive that you didn't get rednecks in Carpathia circa the year 1000.

Once you get past the more superficial details and into the serious business of adventuring. Hexplore becomes rather more involving. The combat system comes to life once you gather your party, having a distinct strategic element. The storyline is deep enough to make you want to continue onwards, despite involving the standard 'kill Foozle' plot device, and the game is challenging enough to make it all worthwhile.

In gameplay terms, Hexplore falls into the hack 'n' slash area of things, with NPC interaction consisting mainly of occasional comments. And while you can't kill the friendly NPCs, you can kill all their chickens. Imagine the headlines: "Ritual Chicken Sacrifice In Computer Game - Church of Satan Denies Involvement." But I digress...

In look and gameplay, Hexplore is rather reminiscent of the classic Dark Sun: Shattered Lands . If you're exclusively a fan of RPGs based around NPC interaction, then you're out of luck. However, if you can appreciate a good bit of top-down RPG action of the blasting-your-foes-to-oblivion-with-fireballs variety, then Hexplore is the game for you - although you might not want your friends to see you coming out of the shop with it.