Menzoberranzan Review

There’s nothing like a walk down memory lane. If you don’t mind me waxing philosophic, the best way to realize where the future of games is going is to look at the past. That’s how I felt when I was playing Menzoberranzan, one of the many Dungeons & Dragons RPG SSI released during the 1990’s. As the game loaded I was giddy with the sensation that I was about to experience history firsthand. It would be like watching the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that compelling, and I haven’t truly felt giddy in a while, but I was looking forward to playing one of the games that stood out from the long list of Dungeons & Dragons CRPGs. Being a huge fan of the Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale games, I wanted to see how the Forgotten Realms was originally adapted to the PC.

Menzoberranzan is pretty straightforward. You are allowed to create two characters, and as the game begins they’re the heroes of your village, having just defeated some hideous creature. The villagers plan a party in your honor, but before you can celebrate, Drow invade the village, setting it on fire and kidnapping the villagers. This all occurs in the opening animation and gets the action started right away.

It should be re-stated now that this game was released in 1994, and should not be held to the standards of today’s games. That being said, the graphics in the opening animation are great, but they do not continue through to the actual game. The 3D world has a very flat and blurry look to it. There are no rounded edges, which made me think fondly of the old pen and paper dungeons I used to draw on graph paper. The designers did go through the trouble of giving walls their proper thickness, so there’s no similarity to the paper-thin walls we saw in the dungeons of games like the original Bard’s Tale.

The opening quest of putting out the fire is simple enough, and it serves as something of a tutorial so you can get used to the game controls. From there you learn more of the situation with the villagers, and you’re given your ultimate goal: rescue the kidnapped villagers from the Drow. Fortunately, you’ll make friends along the way that will lend you a hand. The most notable of these companions is Drizzt Do’Urden, who will help you find your way into the Underdark.

The subsequent quests are uncomplicated and linear, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As I played, I did find myself trying to give the game the benefit of the doubt more than a few times. I was often reminding myself that the game was old, and that I shouldn’t be too hard on it. So with regard to the quests in the game, I did a little (role-playing,) and decided that if the safe rescue of my fellow villagers was of utmost importance, then my motivation for finishing quests should revolve around that goal. One drawback to Menzoberranzan’s quest system is that there is no record or journal in order to track your progress through each quest. I kept a notepad open to record important information, but there is a feature in the game to print out the dialog sequences if you wish to. However, I found it easier to just keep my own notes.

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In terms of actual role-playing, there wasn’t a lot of it, which is odd for an RPG. The decisions of my characters had no effect on the direction of the story, and conversations with NPCs only really served to advance the storyline with information needed to finish a quest, or to add a character to my party. In fact, a lot of the time I was given the chance to try every dialog choice within a single conversation.

Gameplay in general is a bit dizzying, and I found it difficult to get used to a first-person view when I was controlling 2-4 characters. I kept asking myself, (Which of my guys is that Bugbear attacking?) or (Where did that Verbeeg come from?) Combat was also confusing. Try to picture the game Doom, but turn-based. As long as too many creatures aren’t attacking the party at once, you can keep up. Otherwise you have to keep spinning around to see what’s coming next. It’s enough to make you a little nauseous.

It is a hack-fest though, which can be fun if you’re in the right mood. You don’t even have to worry about missing some important piece of information, since the game prompts you to talk to a creature before you kill it, if the creature has something to say. They tricked me a few times into talking when I didn’t have to, but hey, I knew what we were getting into when I went searching for my lost brethren. The monster and NPC graphics do seem a bit cartoonish, and you never quite feel like you’re battling evil or that the urgent nature of your ultimate quest is all that serious. For all you know, your fellow villagers are partying with the Drow at club Underdark.

As far as sound effects and music go, I would suggest turning down the sound on your PC, and turning on the stereo. Maybe try a little early-90’s grunge to get yourself in the mood. The music in the game can best be described as annoying, and I can’t even forgive the age of the game this time. It was computer-generated noise. I’m reminded of the music from King’s Quest, with the beeps and boops and lack of chords. There were no battle sound effects, although the music did change when the party was entering a dangerous situation.

For all of the minor problems I had with Menzoberranzan, I overwhelmingly found it very addictive. It was refreshing to play a game that was so straightforward, yet ultimately rewarding. Could it be that I’m so full of myself because I’ve finished so many other (better) games that I couldn’t just abandon this one merely because it’s old and dated? Although the game doesn’t possess a whole lot of reasons to be played through multiple times, I did very much enjoy my initial journey through.

Fortunately, if you ever get the itch to play Menzoberranzan, the game can be found on a compilation package of Forgotten Realms classics. It even includes a demo of Baldur’s Gate, for nostalgic purposes if nothing else! I paid $15 for it, and received fourteen of the original SSI games. Now that’s how you stretch your game budget! For the game ratings, I tried to focus on the total game experience and kept an open mind on the age of the game. Overall, Menzoberranzan is a solid RPG that allows you to experience the Underdark (and journey with Drizzt Do’Urden) firsthand.