Eye of the Beholder

The Good
The MUSIC was terrific, it created the PERFECT ATMOSPHERE from the very moment you started to create your party. The PLAYABILITY was great, obviously you can´t compare it to a modern game but at the time it was awesome. Good and functional GRAPHICS.

The Bad
Well at times the games would get a bit difficult, specially if you didn´t have a hintbook. Luckily magazines proofed to be most helpful. I probably have to blame this game not only for giving me a sort of "RPG-fever" that lasts until this very day. but also for making it harder for me to overcome a mild case of arachnophobia.

The Bottom Line
It was probably the second RPG I ever played on a computer (Amiga 500) and it opened my eyes to a fantastic world. The atmosphere was just binding thanks to the graphics and the music.

The Good
The interface. The change of interface from the traditional SSI gold box series was welcomed warmly. Don't get me wrong, I love the traditional gold box style of games but this was great because the battles now were in the same screen as the adventuring windows. It didn't feel like you left the game to go battle and then came back. It kept you right in there and the graphics greatly improved from the other series. It was just a fun game that was new at the time. Fairly large, I never did finish it but got very close.

The Bad
Some of the dungeons were pretty "blah". Monotonous and felt like you were just wandering aimlessly. I think that was their point in a way. It felt like the two guys in the back of your party were worthless unless they were spell casters.

The Bottom Line
Good. A good 7.5 out of 10. If you ever should have the chance to play it, check it out.

The Good
Eye of the Beholder provides a real-time, 3-D dungeon crawl that does a good job in creating a claustrophobic dungeon atmosphere.. The VGA graphics are good and the sound is adequate. There is a wide variety of monsters, treasure, and puzzles to find. I also enjoyed being able to increase the party size by resurrecting the bodies of adventurers found throughout the dungeon.

The Bad
While the graphics for the dungeon walls and the creatures are good, there is little additional graphical detail throughout environments. This causes all the rooms and hallways to look alike after a while. Early in the game, combat presents little challenge and consist mainly of clicking attack over and over. Later fights, however, have the potential to be more challenging. Unfortunately, due to the real-time nature of the combat, even these battles can become trivial affairs in which the player can avoid damage by sidestepping before opponent attacks. Using missile weapons can be a pain as each rock/arrow/dagger thrown has to be picked up again. I found myself ignoring the back row characters so that I wouldn’t have to pick up every arrow after each encounter. I also found identification of items to be difficul,t and without a hint book, I would likely never been able to identify anything.

The Bottom Line
EOB is moderately entertaining albeit with a few flaws. This game should appeal to those who enjoy hack and slash first person RPGs and don’t mind the step-by-step movement found within. The lack of an auto-map can be a plus or minus depending on the player’s love of graph paper. Overall, an adequate dungeon romp with lots of loot, lots of levels, and minimal story.