Scouting for Orcs

Orcs are the scum of any fantasy world and when you come across one you should kill it first and ask questions later. Orcs usually carry weapons, are heavily armoured, ugly and always stink. They live only to drain the blood from anyone or anything that fights for light and good. I have put many Orcs to the sword this week thanks to the DS game Orcs and Elves from id Software.

Orcs and Elves places you in the green pixie boots of a half-elf, called Eol. Playing as Eol you find yourself in the middle of a war in the mountain citadel of Zharrkarag, King Brahms’s massive Dwarven fortress. You’re accompanied in your adventure by a talking wand, Ellon, who likes to comment on your swordplay and interact with characters that you meet. You use Ellon to deal doom, in the form or killer spells, to the Orcs, Vampire Rats, Slime things, Wraiths and all manner of other evil creatures that have invaded the fortress. You’re also equipped with a sword, armour, a map, a quest log, a bag for items, rings that give you different powers, potions and some ale. Mustn’t forget to mention the ale.

O&E is a pretty standard action and adventure RPG game. You collect items, buy and level up weapons and magic enabling you to take on the tougher enemies as you progress through the dungeons. There's nothing particularly new but don't let that fool you. The physical puzzles are well thought out, if not too challenging, and the action based combat system is involving and fun. The grid based gameplay feels old school but perfectly suited to the D&D style of the game and adds to the overall experience.

The game looks old school too and is not too far removed from the look of Doom or Wolfenstein 3D. The 3D environment in O&E is well crafted, detailed and solid looking, Carmack has clearly been at work here, with nice use of dynamic lighting. The characters and monsters you meet are all sprite based and, although they would look at home on the Commodore Amiga, add to the atmosphere and charm of the game.

I've played through the game once at the normal difficulty level and it took about 10 hours. I did try to explore as much as I could of the 12 levels so O&E isn’t a particularly long game. There are two more difficulty levels and I’m sure "Nightmare" will present a stiffer challenge and take me bit more time to get through.

To me it's obvious that Orcs and Elves, despite the short development time - John Carmack states 6 months, is a labour of love. Carmack has been a fan of Dungeons and Dragons since before the days of Doom so there is probably no one more committed to releasing quality D&D titles.

So although Orcs and Elves isn’t perfect it is far more than just the sum of its various parts. It’s a lot of fun to play, has a charm all of it's own and it will keep you coming back for more. There's nothing else like it on the DS.

Elvish isn’t dead.