By: Data East

Genre: RPG/Beat ’em up

Platform used: Arcade

Rating: 4/5

Does it surprise you, the reader, that Orcus the Vile owns an arcade? For one who has accumulated more than a single lifetime’s worth in plunder and wealth, one who despises idleness, and one who longs for those defiling days – having an arcade is the logical next step. This specific box was a gift. I said unto one of my underlings that I missed being the one who stops evil – before I became the evil myself. And lo and behold, from the last excursion, some of my acolytes brought me wizard fire.

It’s an altogether great game, though i must say, their portrayal of Gaul is not how I remember it. With this game we see gameplay similar to the Mystara D&D arcade games, which apparently Wizard Fire is often compared too. There are some key differences though. In wizard fire, treasure chests holds items worth points, not items with utility in-game. Your armor you pick up does reduce damage though – which was a good touch. The controls are very responsive and its simple enough. One attack button plus move, and the magic key to worry about when your magic gauge is filled up. I did like how for the none spellcasting classes – at times the spellbook will have unpredictable results. For example, after the dwarf’s trademark stoneskin spell is cast, the next spell might show a question mark and then when cast make him a pig. Its an excellent in-game implementation of the idea that dwarves struggle to cast spells and little flavor elements like that are nice touches as they appear throughout the game.

It is a good thing Wizard Fire’s controls are so simple, as the game is fairly challenging. Expect to die a lot as wave after wave of high fantasy monsters swarm you. Sometimes it is better to simply progress to the next area rather than picking fights with the growing swarms of enemies. The boss fights are excellent too – there is even one where the implemented the horror undertones of the game well by making the bosses so damn tough that you don’t even know if your abilities are having an effect or not. And you can only damage one of the two enemies.

On the topic of horror, there is a tense, high stakes spin on it with the standard plague riddden horrors, shambling mummies, and environments that look to be straight out of the plaguelands. It adds an additional layer of immersive flair to an already good game. The story is tied very closely to the gameplay and though the cutscenes look very nice art-wise they are voiced very awkwardly.

In the small sub-genre of beat ’em up RPGs, you can certainly do worse than Wizard Fire (at least for arcade). If you ever find a copy of this game its well worth burning a quarter or two on and I would personally recommend the elf and the dwarf for novelty unless you want to be the unstoppable heroic tank that is the knight.