The Wheel of Time

May 1, 2002

Price: $5 (Jewel case + extras)

Yes, the title screen is that boring

I am a long time fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Not the kind of fan that rushes out and spends $25+ on a new hardcover edition the week it is released, but the kind that waits patiently for nearly a year until it hits soft cover--and it was likewise that I procured the PC game.

The Wheel of Time game is set roughly a century before the events of the novels and focuses on the exploits of Elayna, an Aes Sedai. Unlike most Aes Sedai, the sorceresses that inhabit the gleaming White Tower in their city of Tar Valon, Elayna has no real ability to "channel the One Power" and instead must rely on artifacts known as "ter'angreal" to use magic. With forty kinds of such devices included there is no shortage of magic in the game (unless one selects the harder difficulty level at the beginning; then, there is rarely enough magic to even survive).

While most ter'angreal are offensive in nature, they are at least creative in the effects they accomplish. A "whirlwind" will carry an foe in any direction a player desires, "decay" not only saps the strength of enemies but the number of charges stored in their own ter'angreal as well, while a "fork" will create an attack the mirrors what an enemy sends your way. Others, such as "swap places," immediately exchanges the player's location with that of the target's and can be used to solve some of the games various puzzles.

The Wheel of Time's graphics were certainly the center of attention upon its release. Never before had such high-detailed textures been used in a game and certainly not for interior locations, giving a sumptuous look that took many player's breaths away.

Unfortunately, in retrospect, those textures were all the game had going for it. Level architecture is passable, at best, even by the standards set by its contemporaries. Its color palate and often poor character models, lends a very static and flat look to the game--especially in outdoor environs. The many special effects such as halos, coronas, and puddle splashes do little to disguise this.

Examine the trolloc in the wagon,
he could be a a cardboard cutout

Though the game was released post Half-Life (which raised the genre's standards considerably) most of the plot is delivered during separate cut scenes rather than in game. These pre-rendered scenes seem to use the same architecture and textures as the game, yet have higher quality characters standing in (notwithstanding your characters nemesis, which has four individual hairs sprouting from his chin). These are actually compressed Apple QuickTime animations and can be viewed simply by opening them in Windows Explorer so those looking for spoilers do not have to search hard. This is actually the preferable way to view the cut scenes because when displayed during the game they tend to be much more blurry and reflect the "gamma" setting--giving an ethereal washed-out look to them that is often intolerable; as is their length, some, approaching five minutes. If only more were done to break the plot advancing events into separate episodes rather than epic monologues, the potential for a more exciting story is there.

A steaming pile of... cut scene

As it stands, there are a few unique and memorable moments in the game, such as awaiting sunrise in the haunted city of Shadar Logoth: where a player must protect a cadre of Aes Sedai and their Warders (knights who are bonded to them) until the arrival of dawn. These moments, however, are few and far between with much tedium interspersed. There are few people will genuinely find this game to be fun. This is not helped by the fact that the game starts out rather slowly and the first enemies you encounter, trollocs (roughly human shaped monsters with animal like heads) and Shadar Logoth minions (roughly "noid" shaped monsters from late 1980's pizza commercials) have incredible A.I.

Though I do not think I am using "incredible" in the same way contemporary reviewers were using it. I fully mean "not-credible." Even the first two monsters encountered in the game have the ability to preternaturally dodge ("dodge" meaning instantly teleport and materialize five feet to the left or right) the exact second a player fires at them; reacting to the mouse click, not the actual projectile. A fast series of shots will result in a fast series of dodges that simply look ridiculous. Or, the foe might just stand in place and collapse under a player's fire. That the utter randomness of the Unreal dodge was ever hailed as artificial intelligence is astounding.

Visits to Shadar Logoth represent some
of the best and worst points of the game

At this point in time (now that Glide based video cards are a thing of the past with the demise of 3dFX), that The Wheel of Time was based on the Unreal engine is a liability, rather than an asset. Gamers who prefer 16bit color for performance reasons will find its appearance under Direct3D unpleasant beyond belief, yet 32bit color is still a moderate chore for the engine even for modern video cards and even with both the latest game patch (as well as an additional Direct3D specific one).

The Wheel of Time has several multiplayer modes, one of which puts a new spin on the "capture the flag" classic. In Citadel, opposing teams are given time to prepare their fortresses for the coming invasion and are given a number of traps which they can set to ensnare their enemies. Some of these are especially amusing, such as staircases that suddenly grow smooth, dropping an enemy to the floor below. Unfortunately, there were few servers available for play when the game was new and their numbers have dwindled since then--but it might make an excellent choice if you are ever planning a LAN party. But even then, at $5 and a 600mb install for a single game mode, it would be hard to justify over competing offerings.

Also noteworthy, is the fold out poster that came with the game (in addition to a manual and the 2 disc Jewel case). One side depicts the 40 various ter'angreal of the game, while the other is an image of a woman standing over several defeated knights, the caption, "Power is not Given. It is taken."

What made the Black Ajah (Aes Sedai are divided into many colored Ajahs, depending on their magical inclinations, such as healing, warfare, or research), of the novels so scary, was the fact that they came from all Ajahs and could be any sister--high or low--who had dedicated herself to the Dark One. It seems unlikely that they could accomplish that if they were all assigned dominatrix uniforms.

Due to the preponderance of the above image among the game's press release materials, many gaming sites came to the conclusion that this was the main character of the game, not a relatively minor enemy. Womengamers.com was among them, including a rendered image of the above with their own preview and labeling it "the" female character in the game:

In the forum response section to the preview, a woman wrote:

To which no less than four men responded in a row, all dismissing her concerns. In fact, to add a fifth, Glen Dahlgren of Legend Entertainment lent his voice:

That all seems to be forgotten in both Womengamers.com's final review of the game and its protagonist (by Dexter Tan, writing as "Zoras") where he writes:

Indeed.

There was a point in time in which The Wheel of Time might have been attractive purchase for someone who is not a fan of Robert Jordan's series. That point has long since passed. Now, only die hard fans need apply and to them I can give only the most cautious recommendation: if you are patient both with the bugs and flaws of the game, it can be a rewarding experience to see Jordan's world come alive. And for around $5, it is worth a shot. Maybe.

by Richard Leader

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