The Immortal

The Good
The Immortal is a RPG/Adventure game released on the Sega Genesis in 1991 this is not one of the huge games for the system and only seems to have a cult following here in the states this might be due to the fact that it is not a particularly main stream game because of its Gameplay and difficulty with a steep learning curve and only now have I gotten used to how the game plays that being said on with the review.

The story begins with your unnamed wizard character in a dank dungeon room walk forth and the head of your master Mordamir is missing and that’s why you come to this dangerous place the message asks for you to help but he says the name Dunric, you are not Dunric? I doubt your master would call you the wrong name, with this mystery the epic adventure begins.

The Game plays with an isometric view as you travel through the dungeons 8 levels and traverse through traps like stepping on the wrong tile and falling to your death, or setting off hundreds of arrows to come flying at you. Occasionally you have to fight goblins or trolls or even Giant Spiders in combat you face a monster can do jabs, right slashes, or left slashes, a well placed dodge will put you out of harms way and when you defeat your enemy you are treated to a gruesome death animation. In each level you have three tries in every level except the last where you only have one. When you suffer too much damage you can sleep on haystacks in the dungeon and the dreams you have give you clues about what to do in the level.

As you continue through the levels you gain more plot points and along the way twists and turns come up to reveal who or what is really behind all this and why at certain points you can make former enemies become allies by doing a favor for them and have one less enemy to worry about.

The Graphics seem like they are pretty good for the time and the textures don’t seem too bland and its only as colorful as it should be since it has a dark tone and you are in a gothic dungeon. The Sound works well with the correct sounding Sound effects and the music fits well with the games mood.

Although on its own the game might seem short at first glance because of the games difficulty and many challenges to get through in one level some of these levels will take three hours to slowly whittle away at the challenges ahead. The game uses a password system to allow you to go to the correct level when you die and a nice feature being that once you insert a password for a level you don’t have to punch in the numbers every single time you can just hit A on the password screen.

The Bad
As many cool things this game has it is not without its flaws some people have been turned off by the game because they couldn’t see past the many flaws this game has.

Sometimes the controls don’t respond like you try to bring up your inventory it stalls you try to rest it doesn’t respond or in combat, sometimes if you are doing a room puzzle that requires you to walk a precise path it can cause some frustration.

It is very easy to die in this game, in some cases ridiculously easy for example in the very first room you start in if you step in the wrong place a giant worm comes up and eats you, in one area you have to row away from a sea monster and unless you do it precisely right you will be killed by it.

The combat is very hard to get used to I got damn near finished the game before I started to get the hang of when and how to dodge and when to attack and that you should tire out the enemy.

Not all the bugs in this game are harmful one bug/glitch in this game that is good is one that allows you to skip a very annoying part and make the level easier.

The Bottom Line
At the end of the say does the game have problems?, yes is the game fun?, yes and to be quite honest they really don’t make games like this anymore so if you love this type of game of are just interested to see how games have changed over the years this is a very good game to try to play, you should either buy a copy of the game or play the ROM(this would make the game easier with the use of save states) this is a game you should definitely experience.

The Good
The death animations. The death animations. The death animations. Hardly any other game has spent so much love and detail into depicturing the demise of the hero (only Mike Woodroffe's games, like Elvira, come to my mind). You often catch yourself deliberately dropping the worm bait to see the monster shoot through the floor, tossing the hero through the air before swallowing him and disappearing, leaving only some blood behind.

But even without those, the game is very slick: The story holds some interest, and only during the final showdown with your mentor, Mordamir, do you finally understand what the heck was going on all the time (and why reading the runes ended the game instantly without any sort of explanation!).

The Bad
The sound - on any version other than the Apple IIgs - is a let-down. And of course, the game can be frustrating - you can only save after completing a level. So if you die (and you WILL die often, trust me on that one), you'll end up having to do the same procedure again and again and again.

The game is also very linear - once you've solved it, there is not much incentive playing it again (other than to re-enact all those death animations). If you do play it again, you'll notice how staged things are. The characters are just waiting for a certain point to speak their lines and hardly ever react to outside interference.

There are some interesting points where you can actually branch off the beaten path, but these are way too few.

The Bottom Line
It's not a game for everybody, but I loved it. In fact, it's been my favorite game for quite some time. The game is just oozing with atmosphere (especially on the IIgs version with its great soundtrack). It's good to see that Will Harvey did not try to bring humor into the game - this way, the integrity of the dark scenario remains untouched.

I remember playing Cadaver once - at some point, your hero is squashed by two big blocks. What you actually see are those two blocks quickly moving towards the player, and then - nothing. Just the stupid sound that indicates "Game Over". How I wished that Will Harvey would have been in charge there. It may sound like I'm picking on a detail when I keep mentioning the fabulous animations of The Immortal, but they're essential to the atmosphere. Immortal would feel less like a gripping story and just like a Pacman computer game without them.

The Good
The graphics are somewhat nice. Other than that, there isn't much to like.

The Bad
A lot of things, the controls are horrible, the music is annoying and a pain in the ass to listen to.

The game is confusing and after a while you don't know what your doing.

The Bottom Line
The Immortal is an isometric action-adventure game where you are trying to save the king. He is trapped in this god awful dungeon, where you have to go rescue his ass.

I do have a video review, and you can check it out right here: Game Review #30: The Immortal (NES Version)