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To  lead into battle a people that has not first been  instructed 
is to betray them.

                              Confusius

SOFTWARE REVIEW: MOEBIUS by Richard Karsmakers

Origin,  well known for adventure-like strategy games like  "Auto 
Duel"  and  "Ogre",  has now launched yet another  game  in  this 
category:  "Moebius".  It is a strategy adventure located in  far 
Eastern territories,  through a complex Oriental world of  magic, 
mysticism and intrigue.

Evil  has  befallen the island kingdom of  Khantun:  The  Orb  of 
Celestial Harmnony has been stolen, causing earthquakes, droughts 
and  other natural disasters.  As the newest disciple of  Moebius 
the  Mindwalker you have been chosen to recover the Orb and  free 
the people from rebel rule.

Battle  through  the  realms  of  Earth,  Water,  Air  and  Fire. 
Brilliantly  animated combat scenes will test your  martial  arts 
and  swordsmanship  skills every step of the  way.  Wise  use  of 
sophisticated  magic systems is essential to overcome a  fearsome 
array of enemies,  including ninja-like assassins,  rebel  guards 
and wild animals.

Villagers  can help,  but the wrong approach will  frighten  them 
away, leaving you in a world where starvation looms ever-present, 
Go east to experience a new dimension in fantasy role-playing.

Having read the above text on the rear side of the  packaging,  I 
expected quite a lot. What I did find was not as stunning as this 
text wanted it to be,  but not bad either. There was a nice intro 
(with music,  which is unfortunately not really super) with  nice 
graphics,  and there I suddenly was: Fighting some evil Ninja. It 
turned  out  that I was in fact training under order  of  Moebius 
himself.  After training,  I should be able to quest through  the 
aforementioned lands of Earth, Fire, etc.

There really isn't much to tell about games like these. They have 
their  special kind of attractiveness,  but the graphics are  not 
thrilling  (though  "Moebius" offers the best Origin  graphics  I 
have  seen).  Neither is the music.  But the strategy element  is 
surely  there,  and one can easily see that quite a lot  of  time 
must  have  been spent in designing the game.  It  is  completely 
mouse-driven, which is really nasty when playing a combat scene.
The  packaging offers the "Book of Moebius",  a Player  reference 
card  and  a  Ninja-belt (one of those things that  you  can  put 
around  year  head and that get soaking wet when  fighting  -  in 
real, that is).

Many  thanks  must go to Microprose,  who sent  the  package  for 
review purposes.

Game Rating:

Name:                         Moebius
Company:                      Origin/Microprose
Author:                       Greg Malone
Graphics:                     7.5
Sound:                        7
Playability:                  7
Hookability:                  6.5
Price:                        £24.95
Value for Money:              7

Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s) was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes, bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.