Avernum’s graphics will instantly remind you of the early Ultima games (Ultima V, specifically), and the combat is quite similar to earlier Ultima games as well. Now while this might not be considered up–to–snuff nowadays, I will say that Spiderweb Software couldn’t have picked a more worthy game series to emulate — the mid–range Ultimas (IV – VI) are some of the deepest and most rewarding RPGs ever to be created. Fortunately, while the developers may not have top–notch 3D graphics talent penciled into their budget, they know a thing or two about RPG game play — something Avernum has in spades.

Avernum is actually an update to Spiderweb’s previous RPG Exile: Escape From the Pit, so the storyline will be familiar to folks who had the chance to play that specific shareware classic. It would seem that you and your band of merry me. . . errr. . . persons have done something very naughty, and as punishment have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the volcanic pits of Avernum. Your quest — which should be obvious — is to be the first creature ever to escape the underground prison, and if you so choose exact revenge upon the evil Emperor that is responsible for your incarceration. There are oodles of other quests available to your party as well, and you will need to complete these secondary quests to gain experience so that your party can become powerful enough to stop getting killed by every monster they encounter, which is what will happen the first few hours of the game. To say that battles are difficult at the beginning of your quest is like saying Callista Flockhart is "a bit slim". You and your newly created party will be beaten nine ways to Sunday until you manage to get the hang of the strategies necessary to win (magic, magic, magic), and you’ve gotten your fighting types equipped well enough to survive your enemy’s attacks.

You’ll spend a lot of time in Avernum talking to townspeople who have apparently nothing better to do with their lives but wait around for your characters to show up asking nosy questions. Avernum has a nice journal system so you can automatically record anything important these folks tell you. Most of the 80 or so side quests you can embark upon will be given to you in this fashion, so you’ll most likely make good use of the game’s journaling capabilities. Avernum’s interface is intuitive enough for folks who are used to the RPG genre, and since that’s the core target audience for this game, it works just fine. I especially found the ability to play the game entirely via keyboard controls well implemented, and after about five minutes with the game I tossed my mouse to the side (nailing my cat right in the side of the head) and played the rest of the game strictly using the keyboard.

Character classes are somewhat standard fare; you’ll be able create Soldiers, Barbarians, Priests, and Mages as well as Hedge–Wizards (sort of a Priest/Mage combo), and Rebels (jack of all trades type). Folks who like to roll their own characters in RPGs will be in hog heaven here. You can tweak about 20 skills right off the bat, and you get additional special skills along the way as well. Another nice touch is the inclusion of Character Traits; examples of which are Cursed at Birth which will have a negative impact on some of your character’""s actions but will also result in an experience point percentage bonus. Alternatively, you can give your character a positive trait (like Toughness or Divinely Touched), but these positives will be balanced by an experience point penalty. The ability to tweak your characters to your liking really adds to the role–playing aspect of the game, and goes a long way towards the player feeling a bond with his or her characters.

Game play is pretty standard, old school RPG fare — travel to towns, talk to people, embark on quests, deal with random encounters, etc. The game’s land that can be explored is absolutely mammoth, and you’ll definitely be able to sink a great number of hours into solving all the major and minor quests that Avernum has to offer. The combat system is pretty rudimentary, but it serves its purpose and actually forces the player to strategize rather than just click blindly at opponents. In short, if you like games like the aforementioned Ultima V or some of the console RPGs, the game play here will suit your tastes just fine.

Now onto the graphics. Well, what can I say? The graphics are vintage 1992 and will not even impress people who grew up with punch cards and vacuum tubes — they’re simply totally out of place in an industry that has recently pumped out attractive RPGs such as Deus Ex and Planescape. And quite frankly, although I did for the most part enjoy Avernum, I must admit that the subpar graphics did indeed detract from the overall experience of the game. My party looked like a flea circus navigating the landscape, and I often had problems discerning one group of pixels from another, which was really annoying during combat. All that said, Spiderweb is very up front about the looks of their game so it’s not like they’re trying to trick anyone. You definitely will know what you’re getting, graphics–wise, when you purchase this game, so it’s hard to fault the developers for this issue. Graphics simply ain’t what Avernum is about. Avernum is about robust, old–school RPGing, and at this it is very successful.

So, the bottom line here is that if you’re an old coot like me who remembers what it’s like to play RPGs on a monochrome monitor, you’ll most likely enjoy the trip into the RPG Way Back Machine that Avernum provides. If you remember a time when a pad of graph paper and a sharp pencil were necessary equipment for computer gaming, you’ll definitely enjoy the nostalgia that this game will invoke. This is old school CRPGing at its best.

However if you’re a graphics junkie, although Avernum may be chock full o’ gaming goodness, don’t expect to see any polygonal magic such as the kind Eidos uses to render Lara Croft’s gravity defying mounds of. . . [ED: Uh, that will be all. . .]

AUTHORS ADDITIONAL NOTE: It should be mentioned that Avernum was actually programmed by one single man, Jeff Vogel, a well–known independent game designer and a rabid advocate of the shareware distribution model. While my duties as a reviewer bind me to compare Avernum to other current RPGs in the marketplace, one must keep in mind that Vogel’s competition often has teams of artists and programmers working on their titles, while Jeff just hacks away all by his lonesome! That Vogel is able to produce the quality work, which he does single–handedly, is nothing short of amazing, and his dedication to his craft should be commended. If there were more Jeff Vogels in the development community, I’d be willing to bet that the quality of PC gaming as a whole would increase dramatically. [Mr. Vogel – please e–mail for information as to where to send the check...]