Well of Souls

Around 1996 to 2000, there was a thriving community on the internet that I can best describe as the design-class-failing programming elite. These were people digging their hands into new mass distributive technology (The Internet), and trying to actually make a living off the Shareware market. I actually have a old CD I treasure in my collection like a prize- my Way Cool Windows Games CD. It's probably the best example of a grouping of similarly done windows games by independent developers, and honestly, some of the most fun games I have ever played- at least from the simplicity standpoint.

So, enter Syntetic Reality. It all hinges on one guy, who seems to have done the best one-man job I've seen so far as old gaming goes- Dan Samuel. Playing the part of independent programmer and taking advice from his son, he has created two massively popular games known as "Warpath" and "Well of Souls". Hey, if you don't respect him for that, respect him for the fact he took all this and did it with Visual Basic. Pretty hardcore stuff, if you ask me. Now he works for "There", which I've made pretty public that I think it's like driving a car backwards on a freeway, but whatever.

Anywho, onto Well of Souls. Well of Souls is basically a point and click RPG similar to many dungeon crawlers, but with some distinct differences. The whole game is running on "Old Windows Style", but, as I'll show you, it's bad by today's standards and I can't reasonably give it a 5, but that doesn't preclude it from being a fun game.

First off, let me address the situation with the graphics in this game. Under no circumstances are you going to hear me actually say they are good. Unfotunately, due to the plain old fact that programmers-aren't-designers-and-vice-versa, the game uses a variety of art, pictures, and designs from different places. While this gives the game a unique look, it also unfortunately makes the game look horrible. You may find a weapon with a very realistic look, whereas your helmet may look like a four year old drew it. Inconsistency is annoying, and this game really shows why.

Where this game excels is the general engine it runs on. The game is a classical RPG, and by no means is it shoddily done in this respect. Battling is fun, the animations (Though limited) get the point across, and the "Floaty" feel of the characters is actually kinda cool, though when you realize it's a programmer's lazy shortcut, stupid. You can reasonably expect new equipment for every two levels, which really gives a new pace to the game instead of the traditional MmORPG "Slavedriving" to get that next sword or whatnot. It keeps the game moving, I'll give it that, and it makes it unique.

The game runs on Synthetic Reality's "MIX" server system, which allows gamers to connect to each other by a traditional Client => Server system. This is exactly what many successful RPGs have done (Diablo, to name one), and there's nothing wrong with this- but unfortunately, it becomes quickly obvious that Syntetic Reality dropped the ball on the thoughts behind abuse of the game. Because the game is old or because hackers are adept (Or both), the game tends to be abused, hacked, neglected, and generally trashed quite often on the servers. This is dissapointing, because for such a great game, one would expect something of better quality than the rudiamentary anti-hacking system going on. But, you get what you pay for.

The adventure is long, and the servers are customizeable. The characters can be varied and look different, and the game is bearable. So, why am I saying it deserves a three? Well, simply put, these things aren't in high order. When playing this game, I never really felt that "Polished" feel I get from many games. This is a beta (Err, it has been for a LONG time), so one is to expect that, but even betas typically have better reputations than this. That is not to say this game isn't a blast, it's just lackluster to a lot of newer offerings in the gaming industry. When games like GunZ Online are free as well as this game, the comparsion in quality and replayability becomes obvious.

If you're looking to revive a little oldschool enjoyment, or just want to see some really good use of a really annoying programming language, this is definately something you could check out over a weekend. Actually, Gametrash.com has our own server up there for a while, I'm hosting it myself for my friends, I'll keep it up for about the next week or so. You can reasonably expect to see some of the Gametrash Authors on there at some point, screwing around or yelling at each other, so do drop by for the short period I put up with the MIX server. But, if you think we're going to be playing this game for a long time, you're sorely mistaken- we have better things to do, this game isn't THAT good.

3 star(s) out of 5

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