Ultima VII: The Black Gate

The Good
The graphics were nice. I think this is one of the most sinister of the Ultima games. Even to the point of being gruesome, it does have a certain mystery about it. A very long game, with a great variety of weapons and characters to join your party. There are some old faces here, but there are many new ones too. This game did give closure to the mystery behind Quenton's death, and brought back the town of Vesper, which had disappeared off the map and never returned. It's also sad to see what had become of the gargoyles after the events of Ultima 6.

The Bad
The bugs. I restarted this game five times before I realized the reason why the Enchant spell wouldn't work was because a bug in the game prevented it from working after I played the add-on, Forge of Virtue. This was playing as a male avatar; the female had her won set of problems. Walls would disappear at certain times of the game, and very odd things were happening all throughout the game. The voice of the Guardian was irritation--it made me jump every time I heard it. I wanted to turn it off, but then you miss out on parts of the game if you do. The music wasn't that great--the same pieces are heard in every Ultima, and I don't consider that a good thing. The constant clouds floating about made the game run slower--if they were supposed to add a sense of realism, well, they didn't--I don't walk slower when there are clouds overhead. I don't feel like this game series has really broke any new ground since Ultima 4--you're still the Avatar in good old Britannia.

The Bottom Line
If you like the Ultima games, you'll like this game as well. Beware the bugs, and when something happens that you think shouldn't, well, you have probably hit a bug. You might want to ask someone else who's played the game if that's what happened to them, or consult a walkthrough, but believe me, when the walls start disappearing or spells stop working, it's a bug, not part of the game.