InterPlay's Blood and Magic A review by Christopher Stewart© 1997 Don't get me wrong, I like old stuff. This review is being written on an old Tandy 102 laptop (so I can go for coffee and it's myriad distractions) that still, in many ways, beats the functionality of the newer machines. There are, however, situations where I expect to be amazed by the new technologies available. One of the main ones is in the realm of computer games. Interplay's Blood and Magic isn't going to knock the socks off of anyone who's been awake for the last couple of years. Titles like Red Alert and Diablo use SVGA graphics and take advantage of the hardware speed boosts in my spanking new graphics card, B&M doesn't stack up. The title falls into the strategy realm popularized by the likes of Westwood's Command and Conquer and Blizzard's Warcraft II. while Blood and Magic uses many of the conventions of these beasts, its implementation belays its age. I remember playing the SSI Dungeons and Dragons titles on my old Amiga and this game seems to use similar MCGAish graphics and cut scenes. While the game play is acceptable, the test machine (and others) wouldn't run the cut scenes properly (which weren't the pre-rendered smacker animations as I seem to be used to)and chopped up the sound. I used Interplay's online registration and sent email to their tech support. I received an automated confirmation that message had been received but, two weeks later, no support has been forthcoming. In the last couple of months I have run over 20 games of varying needs through this system without a hitch (not to mention my work applications). This game just doesn't run well (at least for me). This title, given an updated SVGA engine and decent tech support might have been a winner. Right now, I wouldn't recommend it to any but the most hardcore of D&D gamers. System Requirements: 486 DX2/66 or better. 8 megs ram. Mouse. 256 color VGA graphics system. Double speed CD. 25 megs HD space (minimum). 225 megs for full installation. MSDOS 5.0 (or better). Runs in Windows '95 shell. IPX or Netbios for two player network gameplay (untested). 16550 UART for serial play (untested). Robust sound card support (reviewer's opinion, untested). System as Tested: Pentium 100/256k cache 32 megs EDO ram Soundblaster 16 ATI 3D Expression PC2TV (Rage2 chip with hardware MPEG) Samsung 17" Gli monitor. Logitech Cordless Mouseman Pro. CH Flightstick