Fate, Part Three (The Traitor Soul)

"Honey, are you playing that stupid game again?" my wife clamors.

"It's not what you think, dear," I sheepishly reply. "I'm writing a product review. I'm actually working right now." Thus, I save face with an impromptu rejoinder that is somewhere in between the Gospel truth and a boldfaced lie.

Fate: The Traitor Soul is the third, but far from the final, installment of the popular, palm-paining computer game by WildTangent ™ . Why palm-paining? Try playing for three and a half hours, or harder still, try to play for only ten minutes! The sequel offers more choices than the original, with the same basic premise. You are an adventurer who, with your trusty animal sidekick, is ready to rid the multiple realms of whatever plagues them.

Expansions come in the forms of character race, types of pet, monsters encountered, additional spells and more venues in which to adventure and gain fame and fortune. Different character races start with different advantages. Humans begin with nine points in Magic (one of the ability scores), as well as five extra skill points in no less than five discrete skills. Half-Orcs automatically have 15 extra Strength points, and the five bonus points in five skills, as well. Shadow-Elves and Coggers (don't ask!) have their unique advantages, too. A drawback of this game is that there are no specific racial disadvantages to balance the assets. Let's face it: Half-Orcs are not the brightest torches in the sconce!

Instead of choosing between a cat and a dog for you animal companion, you can now opt for a fox, a boar or a drone, as well. But while different pets possess unique qualities, you will want to feed your pet a magical fish as soon as you can to turn it into something like a Flaming Mustang, Brain Beast or Scorpfeline! (You don't want to mix it up with a Scorpfeline!) So whatever animal your pet starts as is pretty much irrelevant.

As with Fate, spells in Fate: The Traitor Soul are categorized into Attack, Defense and Charm Magic. Even characters who are primarily warriors need a modicum of magic to survive. Essential spells are Town Portal, any of the various heal spells, and Identify. Town Portal will save you the trouble of having to use a scroll every time that you want to return to town, heal will save your life, and Identify will allow you to assess the full value of an undetermined magic item. Even if you have a heal spell, you would be wise to purchase one or several charms designed for that purpose. In the heat of battle, a quick right-click on a healing charm can restore 500 life points much faster than five cumbersome healing spells.

Players of the original Fate likely opined "There should be group spells for Spectral Armor and Haste," or "There should be a wider variety of weapons," or "There should be more than just one dungeon." Now there are. Players initially have three milieus from which to choose -the Chamber of Trials, the Outpost of Druantia and the Outpost of Typhon- and can switch back and forth between quests issued from all three. Quests can be bestowed by the villagers in each realm, or by the realms' guardians. As you gain in power, you will be issued progressively harder quests, at progressively deeper levels. Buried in the bowels of the Chamber of Trials, a mysterious, formidable foe awaits you. You will be quite surprised to discover who he or she is, and quite well-compensated if you defeat him or her.

An interesting fact about the villagers, as well as the realm guardians, is that mostly all of them are monsters, whom you would battle if you met in a subterranean setting. In the light of day, the vampire in the Outpost of Druantia sells you potions and magic trinkets, and the Demonling gives you gifts in exchange for Fate cards which you collect. I personally find Fate cards to be a waste of time. You cannot sell them, only redeem them for minor items from one of two soothsayers. (In Fate: The Cursed King, you can swap them for one or two additional ability points. But I'll review Fate: The Cursed King another time).

The graphics in Fate: The Traitor Soul are just as good as in the first Fate. In fact, some of the colors and design schemes are more evocative, like the fiery portal blazing into the Caverns of Fire, or the shivering sense of doom which flickers from light blue emanations of creatures like the Yeti or the Ice Elemental. The sound effects generally go well with the ensuing screen action, but your pet, as well as any creatures that you summon to fight for you, constantly emit their distinctive screech, snort, wail, bark or whinny. This can be annoying. Combat can get pretty loud, but that is to be expected. A graphical glitch present in the first Fate remains in The Traitor Soul: monsters occasionally protrude from adjacent walls. I admit that I do like the ability to strike with a lightning bolt, or similar destructive emission, monsters dumb enough to linger near the wall. Surprisingly, most recoil at first, then stupidly move back into range, where they can safely and effectively be extirpated.

Purchasing a fishing rod at the onset of the game is a good idea. This way you can catch piscine prizes to transform your dog or cat (or boar, fox or drone) into something useful. But there is a slight change in the fishing experience. When you catch a fish, instead of proclaiming "Great fishing! You've caught a fingerling bass (for example)!" the message reads "You've caught a fish with a fingerling bass inside it!" No you haven't! You've caught a fingerling bass (possibly with a worm inside it). Not infrequently you catch very valuable magic items.

The system requirements for Fate: The Traitor Soul are as follows: 800 MHz or higher Pentium 3 processor, a video card with 32 MB of RAM and 3-D hardware acceleration, Internet Explorer browser of at least version 5.5 or ActiveX of at least version 8.1, and 256 MB of RAM for Windows XP or 512 MB for Vista. Fate: The Traitor Soul runs with Windows XP, Vista or 7 (WildTangent ™ ).

Fate: The Traitor Soul is as addictive as its forebear, maybe more so. But the game offers a little more variety, a few extra splashes of color, and a slightly more interesting story line. Check it out, but try to limit your playing to fewer than three hours at a time.