Avencast – Rise of the Mage
Ages: Teen

As one might expect from a Lighthouse Interactive release – there‘s more to the game than the cover. Lighthouse http://www.lighthouse-Interactive.com has been the source of many unusual games coming out of the EU - Ship Simulator, Darkness Within, Keepsake, Moment of Silence, and more recently Overclocked (release date 3/31/08) from Germany and Avencast-Rise of the Mage - Austria.

The title of the game spells out what is forthcoming. It starts out with a talented youth being sent to the academy of magic – sort of a male equivalent of Keepsake, which is the female equivalent of Harry Potter. Much effort has been spent on developing the ethos and hierarchy of this magical community – a Council of Archmages, each with their area of specialization, a professorial cadre dealing with Battle magic, Crystallography and Alchemy, plus mentors for the adepts. There are classes and mini quests to attend to in the vast walled citadel of Avencast. This is the first part.

Evil never sleeps, and when the time comes to defend Avencast our hero will be ready with melee Blood spells, ranged Soul spells and a whole range of evasive actions. Because your hero is a mage – focus will be on magic spells, but sometimes you do have to beat a monster to death. There are over 40 spells dependent upon the magic used – ice, soul or fire and the skill status of the hero.

Movement is done using the WASD keys and spells are carried out by a combination of keystroke and mouse click - unusual. There are the standard trappings for an RPG game - skill, leveling up, trading, but in this case, the history and development of the hero becomes almost personal. The graphics are painterly and soft focus, music appropriate to the action on screen and the voice acting – with its English/Irish accents very much in keeping with the story.

The game comes with a great manual – almost a story book. So, is it an adventure game – yes. Is it an RPG game - yes. Is it a puzzle/quest game – sort of. As I said – expect the unusual from Lighthouse Interactive.

Fun Factor: The game will satisfy many levels of players
Female Factor: Only a few women in this school
Player Friendly: It takes awhile to get comfortable with the key stroke/mouse combos. Automatic saves keeps you from going back too far.

Reviewed by: Editor - 03/08