Ferazel's Wand

By: Kirk Hiner

Genre: Arcade

Format: CD

Developer: Ambrosia Software

Publisher: Ambrosia Software

Minimum Requirements: PowerPC, 90MB hard disk space, 21MB RAM, CD-ROM, 13" monitor capable of supporting 256 colors

Network Feature: No

3Dfx Support: No

Retail Price: $30.00

Availability: Out Now

I love Ambrosia Software.

I'm almost afraid to say that. I mean, back in high school, most girls would immediately quit talking to me if they learned I just liked them. Take Amy Dyer, for instance. A cuter girl you couldn't wish to meet, and she could dance like she was about to make it rain. Witty, too. We would often stop each other in the hallway and immediately remember back to our service in Vietnam or how we survived the sinking of the Titanic or some other such nonsense. But the moment she discovered I liked her, Titanic be damned, that was it. Gone.

Of course, I can't really say that I blame her. I mean, who would go out with a guy who frequently wore white Freddie Mercury jeans, gray cowboy boots and a blue safari shirt...on the same day? It's a wonder girls talked to me at all. It's a wonder anyone talked to me at all.

But Ambrosia Software's not that shallow, right? They don't care what I wear. They love me for who I am...a Macintosh gamer. And besides, having a only met a couple Ambrosia reps briefly at Macworld New York, I don't so much love them as I love their software (much like I didn't so much love Amy as I loved her...software). As I've mentioned many times in my reviews/articles for Applelinks, the first game I ever played on my LCII was Ambrosia's Maelstrom, and it's the only game I've ever owned that has been reinstalled every time I upgrade my computer.

Yet despite the fact that I own more Ambrosia games than I do pairs of underwear (another reason Amy wouldn't go out with me?), I've never reviewed any of them (games, I mean, not my underwear). Why? I don't know. It's a wonder Ambrosia didn't dump me and start dating someone from MGL or IMG. So now I'm making it up to them by reviewing their latest wonder, Ferazel's Wand.

The thing about playing a new game from Ambrosia is that instead of wondering whether or not I'll like it, I find myself wondering how much I'll like it. So how much do I like Ferazel's Wand? I'll get to that in a moment. But first, a little background on Teraknorn. As is stated in the documentation:

In the mystical underground caverns of Teraknorn, the peaceful Habnabits gathered magical ziridium crystals and practiced their ancient magical arts. One horrible day, the evil insectoid Manditraki invaded, pillaged, and killed the Habnabits with impunity. Their quest - control of the ziridium mines - was given to them by their Dread Queen Xichra.

As the last of the free Habnabits, Ferazel must fight for the survival of his race, and wrest the control of ziridium from the filthy talons of evil. Journey across the seven lands of Teraknorn to the perilous Great western desert. Increase Ferazel's skill, stamina, and magic repertoire and avenge your Habnabit brethren. Anything less would amount to betrayal.

Okay, so even before the action begins, you're already given a bunch of words you can't pronounce. I guess that's the mark of good games these days; the harder it is to pronounce the characters' names, the better the game. Ferazel actually looks pretty simple, until you read that it's pronounced something like "You're Hazel." What's that all about? Ain't no one looking at Ferazel and getting You're Hazel out of it. It's like that Sade woman. Remember her? She was Whitney Houston's competition back in the mid 80s who tried to get us to believe that Sade was pronounced Shar-day. Huh uh. It's spelled Sade, and it's pronounced Sade. If you want to be called Shar-day, then spell it that way. I can't help but think she'd still be around today if only she hadn't tried to be so artsy.

Okay, that thought went much further than I'd intended. Back to the game.

The coolness of You're Hazel's Wand is apparent immediately upon launching the game. When the intro screens fade, they do so in a deep blue that is the kind of pointless flair I really enjoy. The excellent music from Eric Speier kicks in, and the obligatory introduction commences. You learn a bit about what has happened in Teraknorn (pronounced Teraknorn, I believe) and that you're the only person who can save the Habnabits. Figures.

You start out armed only with a dagger and a fireball spell. It's possible to use up your spells, but there are plenty of refills to be found. There are also plenty of new spells to be learned, and more weapons to pick up as well. You'll need them too, as it doesn't take long for the villians to get tough. And as if they weren't enough to contend with, there are lava pits, acid pits, spike pits...you get the idea. Suffice it to say the terrain in the land of Teraknorn is the pits.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, don't forget to tip your waitress.

Ferazel's Wand contains everything one would expect to find in a side-scrolling arcade game of this type. So what makes this one stand out? Style. Pure style. I mean, I'm not exactly sure what parallox scrolling means, but I certainly hope that more games start to use it. The graphics in Ferazel's Wand are some of the coolest I've seen. Colorful, detailed, speedy...impressive. The game somehow feels almost as vast as Tomb Raider or Unreal in depth. Quite an impressive accomplishment for a game with no 3D acceleration.

And perhaps one of the best features of Ferazel's Wand is the fact that you can begin to play it immediately after installation. Signposts throughout the game explain new moves and objects, so the online manual that ships with it is really only needed for reference. Actually, I take that back. You'll want to check out the manual to understand what many of the potions and spells are.

The controls in Ferazel's Wand are somewhat odd, but not unreasonable. One unique twist is that if Ferazel jumps near a wall, he automatically grabs it. This saves a lot of trouble in many a sticky situation, but can also be annoying. Sometimes I just wanted him to fall, but the guy kept flipping back to the opposite wall. It just took a little getting used to, as did inventory management. Using Macally's iShock, it was easy to get mixed up as to which button cycled the inventory, which jumped, and which attacked. When battling spiders, bats, goblins, giant mutant frogs and what have you, I often accidentally cycled to a health potion and drank it when all I really wanted was to chuck some fire seeds. But as I rapidly approach yet another milestone birthday, perhaps that's just my old age setting in.

And perhaps it's old age that causes my interest level in games to drop after a while. If I had to make any complaint at all about Ferazel's Wand, it'd be that it does get somewhat tedious. The power-ups and new villians add spark throughout, but not enough to keep you up all night like games of this type often do. Ferazel's Wand is a game best played in bursts, I think, an excellent way to kill time between projects, or an excuse to put them off until tomorrow.

Ambrosia Software has made a science out of taking used-up themes from games long gone (indeed, the gameplay in Ferazel's Wand is not too far removed from Warlock, a game by Three-Sixty Pacific, Inc. that I still sometimes play on my Apple IIGS) and--by adding a tweak here, a feature there, and a kick-butt soundtrack--improving them well beyond our expectations. Ferazel's Wand is proof that they aren't showing any signs of slowing down, and the Mac gaming community is better off because of it.

Hmm. I wonder if Amy Dyer is showing any signs of slowing down. I shouldn't think so. Sometimes it still rains.

.

October 14, 2008