Game Info:

Category : RPG
Publisher : Atari
Developer : Troika Games
Release : 09/16/2003
MSRP (US): $49.99
ESRB: Teen

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Minimum Requirements:

System: 700 MHz or faster
OS: Windows 98/ME/2K/XP
RAM: 128 MB RAM (256 recommended)
Video: 16 MB RAM DirectX®/Direct3D compatible video accelerator card
Hard Drive Space: 1100 MB
DirectX: DirectX 9.0

Background/Summary:

No evil is best left forgotten. A classic war of Good vs. Evil, Temple of Elemental Evil is a story about the resurgence of evil back into the D&D campaign world of Greyhawk. A classic dungeon module and campaign world translated to the digital world.

After the Battle of Emery Fields, the Demon Queen and the remnant of her forces were shut away inside the Temple of Elemental Evil. Years later, that evil is beginning to stir again. Bandits have taken up residence in the old moat house, preying on travelers. Strange creatures are seen wandering the land outside the forgotten Temple. The demon queen is gathering her forces and preparing to make her way back into the world. Only a small band of adventurers stands in her way…or do they?

Gameplay:

ToEE doesn’t lack on content. The tabletop version of ToEE offered many days of game play and its digital counterpart is no exception. There are a ton of characters and side quests to keep any RPG’er happy, plus the overall story of ToEE to keep the player busy. The game also changes based on what approach the player takes. The player creates or chooses characters to form a 5-person party, based on their ethical alignment toward good or evil.

In game navigation through the world is done via a point and click interface, controlling the whole group or per member. ToEE has a Formation feature allowing the player to group the members in any way they choose. A Log Book feature keeps track of the Party’s quests and other items such as Reputation (which is factored in), Rumors, Keys, Local and World Maps, and even a section call Ego showing which of the party members does the most damage, least damage, dies the most etc. Pop up windows are available keeping track of past dialogue and die rolls

ToEE incorporates the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rule set and does a very good job at doing so. All of the options and rules concerning Character creation, Race, Advancement, Alignment, Skills and Feats, are present with alterations being minor for tailoring game play. The player has the option of choosing pre-generated characters for an initial party of five characters or can create characters to create a party tailored to one’s liking. Once a party is generated, the game starts, with an introduction based on the party’s Alignment. (Anyone remember having a Paladin in a group?). The 3.5 D&D rules allows for flexible and decent characters that are good even at 1st level.

Also present from the 3.5 rule set is the tactical combat system. The turn based format for combat allows for the many combat options the rule set offers. Accessing these features is handled through a Radial Menu pop up done by simply right clicking the character. Hotkeys can be assigned to most of the functions in the menu to help speed up game play for those most used options.

One word of caution concerning the 3.5 rule set is the complexity of it. There are a ton of rules and options that can easily intimidate those not familiar with the system. In order to get the most out of the system the player needs to sit down and familiarize themselves with the rules. Combat in the game is a turn based affair and with tough or many opponents, can be a very LONG affair. Veterans of the tabletop version of D&D 3.5, as well as other fans of tactical based games are used to this. The manual does a decent job of conveying the rule set so newcomers shouldn’t have a hard time learning it. If you’re looking for a fast paced game however, look elsewhere. This type of game is not about that.

ToEE suffers from a few technical problems that can make playing this game a test of patience or an exercise in frustration, even for Turn Based players. The engine has an annoying habit of crawling in combat, even on high-end machines. Something like this can be expected against a large amount of foes but even against small groups or with a few spell effects functioning it happens. In a turn based game no less!

Another problem that has plagued all games of this type is the path finding. The path finding in the game is terrible. Some members of your party can find their way to a spot you choose and others can’t even though they are all standing together. In these cases it’s a minor annoyance but in combat it can spell defeat. Here’s a short example: In the rule set there exists something called Attacks of Opportunities. What this means, short version, is that your character can get a free attack against another monster/character that attempts to move past you, away from you, or cast a spell near you that are within 5’ of your character. (Note: there are exceptions and remember this is the short version). Now picture your character being at the rear of your party trying to move its way to the front ranks to attack.

What should be a short and direct route can sometimes translate to your character moving around the party, past the enemies, and then come from behind the enemies to get to that spot. Now that path would take you past several enemies each of them allowed an attack of opportunity. What should be a simple path turns out to be the death of your character after having X amount of free attacks on him because the path finding gave him that route. The game allows waypoint usage in combat to avoid this type of scenario and the cursor will present a symbol if the move places the character in danger. The 1.0 patch has shown improvement in the path finding in the game but these glitches can still happen.

Graphics/Sound:

ToEE’s graphics are isometric and remarkably similar to BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale Series. Characters and creature models exist against a detailed 2-D background. Character model appearances change with whatever the character is wearing, making them distinguishable and allowing a nice individualistic touch. Character and monster animations are ok to watch but very limited in variety. The 3.5 D&D rules offer a ton of special moves and actions and but little of these has a special animation for it. Granted it’s not feasible that they animate every special move but some of them would have been nice. The game sports a variety of spell effects, some being enjoyable to watch while others simple and uninteresting.

The 2 dimensional background approach is very old and limited on what it can provide. ToEE is no different. Many of the map areas are dark leaving much of the detail lost to the player. Doors are easily hidden in such places and since the 2d background doesn’t allow a rotating view, its easier still to miss a door or object that is placed in the ‘shadowed perspective’ of the map. A hotkey or putting the cursor over the object will highlight a little blue icon denoting what it can do but the player shouldn’t have to work to find something that is not supposed to be hidden. Thankfully, the release of the 1.0 patch has added a Gamma slider to help alleviate some of the dark areas and lessen the perspective limitation.

Another problem the graphics suffer from are resolutions. Characters, monsters, even the back drop in some cases have some good detail to show. Running the game at high resolutions diminishes the size of the models and makes it very hard to notice those details (or some of the monsters for that matter). The engine doesn’t provide a zoom in feature.

The sounds in ToEE are nothing remarkable. Music in the game is limited as are the sound effects The voice acting is also hit or miss, some characters sounding believable while others more a cliché. The game has enough to get by, nothing more. Since combat can be long affairs in this game, the lack of variety in both graphical and sound effects can turn combat into a dull chore.

Wrap-Up:

Temple of Elemental Evil is a faithful translation of an all time great D&D adventure and an excellent conversion of the latest D&D system. Yet the game is hampered by the engine and would have been stronger had multiplayer been present, or used a different engine entirely. Fans of the 3.5 rule set will appreciate it.

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Alexander"Darke" Dinkel - Apr 2004