Product: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
Developer: ZioSoft
Web Site: www.ziosoft.com
Category: Game – RPG
Price: $29.95
Requirements: Pocket PC:
Casio Cassiopeia E-125, EM-500, E-200
HP Jornada 560 series
Compaq IPAQ 3600, 3700, and 3800 series
NTT Docomo G-Fort
UR There @migo 600-C
Toshiba Genio-e
NEC Mobile Pro P300
Audiovox Maestro PDA1032
O2 XDA

Software:
Microsoft ActiveSync
Desktop Windows 95 / 98 / Me / 2000 / NT / XP

Pocket PC OS:
Windows CE 3.x (Pocket PC 2000)
Pocket PC 2002

Pocket PC CPU:
StrongARM / MIPS

Color:
256 Colors

Storage Memory:
14MB of RAM

In 1979, Richard Garriott, a student, son of a NASA Astronaut, and a part-time worker in a computer store, created a game in his spare time. Richard wrote Akalabeth for his own enjoyment, but the game turned out to be so much fun that his boss convinced him to sell it. Soon a publisher got its hands on a copy and convinced Richard to allow them to publish it. Thus began one of the biggest, most successful series of computer games in history. The Ultima series was a major force in the creation of the RPG (role playing game) genre and eventually grew to 15 games in the series including Ultima OnLine, the first successful massively-multiplayer game for the internet. Ultima is one of the true classic computer games.

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, was the first of the two-part Underworld saga. Now ZioSoft has brought this classic game to the Pocket PC. You will explore the 8 levels of the Stygian Abyss in this complete conversion of the original game. The Abyss is a huge cavern filled with many perils, monsters, and an endless maze where dark magic rules. The story and characters will immerse you in the Ultima world. A big part of the early RPG was creating a world where the player can use their imagination to actually experience a living story.

Each time a new game is started, you will create a character for your quest. You can be male or female, choose from 8 different character types with different skills, select a difficulty level, be right or left handed, select a portrait, and enter a name. By allowing the player to customize their character, the game will be played and experienced in a different way each time you start a new quest. This allows for a fair amount of replay value.

The control system works very well. Using a combination of buttons and stylus, the player can easily maneuver through the maze and handle all the actions in the game. I find that it is best to use the cursor button to move through the maze and the stylus to perform actions and make selections. If you choose, the game can be played completely by using the stylus. Managing the limited number of items that you can carry and where you carry them is a classic element of RPG games. It can sometimes be annoying how close you have to be to an object to pick it up or interact with it, but you soon get used to it. There many areas to explore in the 8 levels of the game. With many opportunities to fight and explore, you will need to learn over 20 skills that your character can master as well as how to use 24 different rune (magic) stones in combinations to cast 40 different spells.

PocketPC EditorThe graphics are true to the original. Unfortunately that means that everything is in 256 colors. While they will not be impressive, they are very appropriate for the gameplay. The game screen will contain your command bar, 3D view of the environment, your character and inventory, magic gems, health, magic ability, text information area, and in-game keyboard. The screen is true to the original PC game with the addition of the on-screen keyboard.

The sound effects and music have translated well to the Pocket PC. The quality of the audio works well for this game and the way the music changes depending on the situation still fits the environment and gameplay.

The options in the game are very basic such as turning the music on and off. The most useful option is the ability to set the graphic detail level. This can make a major impact to the speed of the game and will improve the game experience. I would suggest adjusting the detail level until the speed of the game is smooth on your particular Pocket PC.

PocketPC EditorZioSoft has done another excellent job converting this game to the Pocket PC. Anyone who enjoyed playing Ultima on the computer will enjoy it on the Pocket PC. The story, adventure, and fun of the game holds up as well now as it did when it was originally released. If you played the original game, this will version will allow you to relive a great gaming experience. If you are new to the world of Ultima, there is no better way to experience classic RPG gaming. While it may be a little pricey, I think the depth, quality, and value of the game is worth it. Hopefully we will continue to see more classic games come to the Pocket PC. I look forward to the next conversion from ZioSoft.

Pros
Classic RPG gameplay
Addictive
Smooth animations
User interface and play system
Replay value

Cons
Simple 256 color graphics
Short target distance in game
Expensive
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.

--Harvey Lee