Evil Islands - Netbook Review @ Geardiary

Michael Anderson (txa1265) takes a look back at Russian developer Nival's 2001 rpg, Evil Islands, from a netbook gamer's perspective in this review posted at Geardiary.
On the game in general:

The ‘meat’ of the game is in the combat, character progression, and massive scope of the areas you need to explore. Make no mistake – this is a very difficult game, and it is HUGE. You will easily spend 80 hours getting to the end. The game takes place across three islands: Gipath, Ingos and Suslanger. Each has a different landscape and weather pattern, and each is filled with different types of challenges.

The combat system is real-time with pause (RTwP) as mentioned, meaning that you can play the game largely as an action-RPG in the style of Diablo, but also pause everything whenever needed to issue commands to your party. In many games that distinction doesn’t matter, but Evil Islands is a very punishing game in terms of difficulty. Early on you are instructed on how to use stealth to sneak by a couple of (large) enemies; if you choose not to take that advice…you will die. I know, I tried several times.
So the game makes actual strategic use of stealth as well as all-out action combat…

Conclusion:

There are times when looking for ‘gems in the rough’ all you find is the rough! But with Evil Islands I found a huge game with tons of positives – and plenty of negatives – but overall a very fun and challenging experience that rewards planning and careful selection of skills and battle tactics…This is an absolute gem of a netbook game, and one of the sorts of games I originally intended to play when I started doing this: I had never played, it was modern enough to run easily, still looked pretty good, had netbook-friendly controls, and offered an experience that most folks had missed but was still worth checking out. Evil Islands is a flawed gem, but I am thrilled that …I was able to find and play it through!

More information.

This was a pretty decent little game. Not played it in ages mind.

I just threw out my game disk last year; I remember this being buggy.

I loved Evil Islands. Loved it. And quite surprisingly, when I played, quite a few years ago, had no problems with it. Except for some crashes once in a while. But I save often and in multiple slots. So I didn't exactly have big problems with that. I pretty much have nothing but great memories of this little unknown jewel.

I have a version with German voices and English subtitles and voice acting is not so bad, it is kinda interesting to listen to.. So if anyone is interested in buying the game, they should try to find that version.

I bought it for MP, but it turned out that the MP follows an MMO structure which was totally rubbish Havent gotten very far into the SP game due to the difficulty level.

Loved it also in the good old times.. but it was way too hard for me. I never got past the second isle.
I remember the very cool item crafting system.

Just wanted to note that it was a thread by Gokyabgu that turned me on to this game … I had not even HEARD of it before that!

I got to a point that enemies in some cave blocking progress were regenerating quicker than my damage output. I think i did it wrong, but i thought i was crafting all the best stuff. The only rpg ive ever quit in frustration!

I remember it with mixed feelings as well. It seemed like one of those games that with a little more work and polish could have been really good.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
I got to a point that enemies in some cave blocking progress were regenerating quicker than my damage output. I think i did it wrong, but i thought i was crafting all the best stuff. The only rpg ive ever quit in frustration!

Yah it was easy to get stuck/overpowered at certain points. However, this was even worse in its predecessors Rage of Mages 1 and 2. Got to certain battles which seemed impossible. However, there was generally a way to overcome either through either levelling or a certain mixture of spells/tactics. Must have been as I actually completed all three.

As frustrating as this can be, I actually look back on this fondly now as challenge is something that is absent from a lot of games these days. Felt a sense of accomplishment at completing these somewhat wonkily balanced games.

Originally Posted by dagoo7
Yah it was easy to get stuck/overpowered at certain points. However, this was even worse in its predecessors Rage of Mages 1 and 2. <snip>

Ahh, that's why I recognize the developer's name. I stopped following them after an incident with one of the RoM games where in MP, I advanced to the next map, died and lost all my items. Now I wasn't powerful enough to fight a single enemy, yet I was locked out of entering the prior level to regain my strength because of level limitations they put on the maps. These restrictions couldn't even be optionally overridden on a private LAN game. I had a conversation with the devs, and while one programmer agreed it was bad, he said the guy running the show wanted it that way. Too bad, the game was fun.

Never played the Rage of Mages stuff - worthwhile?

Well … I just requested both RoM games on Goozex, so we'll see …

Originally Posted by txa1265
Never played the Rage of Mages stuff - worthwhile?

I have a feeling they probably haven't aged well, and the production values and graphics were far behind even evil islands. Also the wonkiness and balance issues which may have been charming at the time, may not be so any longer when there are newer, more polished, more modern games to play. That being said, I remember the first one in particular fondly and even remember being extremely affected by one plot development that materially affected gameplay.