Lands of Lore II: Guardians of Destiny
       (ROLE PLAYING)
   Lands of Lore II: Guardians of Destiny is a game  of epic proportions.
   It combines graphic adventuring with an off-beat attitude just like the
   Zork series; first-person, 3D action/fighting like Daggerfall and also a
   character and story-driven role-playing similar to Betrayal at Krondor.
   It's a jack-of-all-trades and a master of nearly none, but taken as a
   whole, it is a remarkable achievement and a game that many will savor
   and struggle with for weeks and weeks.
   
   The plot is complex and full of magic, demons, oracles, and bizarre
   characters. You play Luther: a bold, brash, wisecracking young man
   with a curse. He involuntarily and at random moments shape-shifts into
   a tiny dinosaur or a large ogre (!!!). Your initial quest is to find
   a cure. That will take you on a journey to jungles, caves, ancient
   ruins, snowy mountains, and magical cities. In a first-person,
   environment reminiscent you'll do a lot of roaming and plenty
   of standard adventuring by picking up anything not tied down,
   combining items to form healing potions, and meeting, greeting, or
   fighting a multiplicity of beings. Your weapons include standard
   medieval fare plus many magic spells and powers.
   
   The game does not poccess the essential fare of RPGs.You can adjust Luther's
   abilities by choosing how you deal with the beings you meet. Defeat
   weaklings with your brute force and you gain nothing. Take on more
   powerful beasts using cunning and clever weapon combinations 
   and you become more powerful. But if you are a RPG fan who is looking
   for help from some of the characters, you'll be disappointed.
   Luther acts alone. Most of them seem to chat more than fight.
   
   Player options are more numerous than any game I've seen. You can
   customize all your movement, inventory, and fighting controls (more
   than 50 keyboard commands), adjust graphic and audio levels and
   styles, set an auto-save timer, leave messages on an auto-mapper, skip
   conversations, and change difficulty levels.
   
   As an adventure LOL II breaks new ground. There are innumerable
   optional paths, passageways, and character interactions that can move
   your quest forward. Many gamers may finish the game without visiting
   the Draracle's (the Dragon Oracle's) secret museum, the tree dwellings
   of the wild ones, or the Dark Army's sealed and long forgotten
   hallways. You can choose to befriend those you meet, slash and thrash
   your way through the minions, or some iteration between the two. Your
   actions will affect future encounters.
   
   On the downside, those fighting animations are weak, aiming is mainly
   automatic, and the interface, with all its options, takes some getting
   used to. The game is an amazing resource hog. Would you believe a
   minimum install of 130MB, plus 80MB more for music, one or two MB for
   each save, and a substantial disk cache file? The graphics run the
   gamut from chunky, pixelated scenery, to stunningly beautiful, 3D,
   motion-captured animated cutscenes. Some of the script writing is
   pedantic, most of the dialogues are overloaded with pregnant pauses,
   and the acting is occasionally pathetic. But the frequent snippets of
   humor along with some truly spine-tingling encounters overcome most of
   these issues.
   
   What you get with LOL II is an ambitious and immersive
   action-adventure loaded with challenging puzzles, cool secrets, and
   multiple means to arrive at its conclusion. Though the games is
   commendable, it certainly wouldn't be no.1 on your list of purchases.
   A moderately playable game sans the spice to make it a hit.