Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 - Martian Dreams

The Good
The plotline was very well-inspired. The concept of meeting the famous men of the Victorian Era, from Carnegie to Tesla to Freud gave an extra kick (asking Freud about your mother gets you a very interesting response) and even made me more interested in the history of the Victorian Era, and taught me about famous figures I never heard of before, such as Sarah Bernhardt and Louis Comfort Tiffany. They even provided a tiny booklet that gave little biographies that described these famed men and women.

The idea of dreams and psychological ideas were all equally interesting, where you would find yourself facing your own and others' nightmares, and it was also the only way you would gain levels (reminiscent of Ultima V).

Finally, I loved the easter eggs. What better easter egg can you get than having Warren Spector in your party?

The Bad
If you did not understand what you were doing, you could die very quickly and until you get a reasonable supply of oxygen, ammunition can become fairly limited.

This game almost REQUIRES the map unless you understand how to use the sextant (which you can not find until a little later). Some things you must realize doing or else beating the game becomes impossible . There is not much you can get out of killing monsters aside from the experience and one monster in particular can steal your valuable oxygen (and, no, you don't get it back when you kill it). Finally, there is the character creation mess-up, which happens simply because of the way it is presented. I love the Freud psychological analyzing idea, but I have seen way too many people end up making female characters by accident with stats they did not want.

The Bottom Line
Before the concept of steampunk entered our common knowledge with such games as Arcanum, there was Origin's Martian Dreams. Not only did this game use the classic Ultima VI engine, but intertwined historical figures and the mythos of the times for a plot that helped carry you away in the world of gentlemen gunslingers, women who could fire a deringer like any other man, and the many fabled tales of the red planet and its inhabitants...

Unlike the old Ultimas and even its previous alternate universe, "The Savage Empire," armor is replaced by clothes, which provide help against the ravages of the cold half-dead planet and its even colder nights... elegant firearms and dueling sabers replace longswords and crossbows and even the concept of coined money is non-existent, replaced instead by an odd-tasting blue globular sort of thing that saves you from the thin oxygen levels of the red planet.

For any die-hard Ultima fan, there is the cameo of the Avatar's favorite three sidekicks (no spoilers here). For those that played the previous alternate universe of Ultima, there is the recurring character Johann Spector (obviously inspired by Origin's Warren Spector, one of the brainchilds behind Looking Glass Studios and the famed Ultima Underworld games) and easter eggs that one can find including a certain pair of slippers that could grant your one wish true...