The Game of Fate: Doomed to Repeat It:

Fantasy role-playing games are huge, both those more conventional systems that utilize books, dice and miniature figures, and those designed for home computers. A good example of the latter is Fate, developed in 2005 by WildTangent®. The concept is simple: a rustic, Medieval village conveniently-situated next to an ancient dungeon stocked full of malicious monsters and tons of treasure. The challenges and the rewards increase in proportion to the depth of the dungeon level. Level one is infested with sewer rats and gelatinous blobs, and scattered with a few gold pieces and minor potions. By level 30, players are facing foes like spell-casting vampires and half a dozen animated swords, while prodigious piles of loot litter the floor. Level 50 seems unfathomable from the perspective of level 40. As much as Fate is fueled by desire for adventure on the part of the player, so is it fueled by lust for gold and power, if only imaginary.

Fate is fairly easy to learn. A lengthy set of rules is available for anyone who wants to read it, but play is basically intuitive. The game also features helpful hints, which appear in text boxes when characters are ascending or descending to different dungeon levels. More experienced players can disable these hints if they choose.

Those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons will see many parallels. The entire premise of Fate, though over-simplified, is the crux of the original D&D game designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, both recently deceased. Many of the monsters and the magic spells are derived from D&D, which drew from folklore, mythology and the literature of J. R. R. Tolkien. Where D&D and Fate diverge is in the area of character classes, with D&D offering much more specialization. In Fate, players choose whether they want to lean toward spell-casting or combat, although there is overlap.

Fate's graphics are good, with some notable limitations. By using the wheel in the center of their optical computer mouse, players can zoom in or out. One specific flaw results in monsters sometimes protruding from behind dungeon walls, or in the character's pet, which accompanies him or her on the dangerous dungeon expeditions, occasionally pausing and sticking its head through a wall, without displacing any of the masonry, of course! Although the graphics are touted as three-dimensional, this is not readily apparent. A very helpful toggle feature shows a miniature map of the dungeon in the lower left corner of the screen, with stairs going down or up clearly indicated with red or blue arrows. Unexplored areas appear on the map as the character enters them.

The sound effects consist of simple phrases and sentences spoken by townsfolk, examples of which are "You look like you could use a bargain," or "Hello there!" The dungeon denizens snarl, hiss, roar, squeal or moan, and upon expiring, gasp, groan or whimper. The constant stomping of the character's feet as he or she ambles through the tenebrous dungeon corridors is annoying enough to cause players to mute the sound.

The object of Fate is simple: kill monsters, collect treasure, become more and more powerful. Repeat. The game offers a tantalizing array of choices, though. At the start, players can choose their character's gender, hair style and facial appearance, as well as invent a name, or have one randomly selected. Fate offers four levels of difficulty, too: page, adventurer, hero and legend, with adventurer as the default. Players choose a dog or a cat as their pet, and although they cannot create their pet's appearance, they can invent a name or have one selected for them. A player's pet is his or her best friend, and although the pet looks cute and cuddly, it is a formidable fighter, increasing in skill and power along with its master or mistress.

When embedded 35 levels below ground, the character will have to expend considerable time and effort to find the stairs going up and ascend every single level until emerging. Town Portal spells, found in scrolls or in books of ten, are widely available in the dungeon, as well as from several town merchants, and expedite town forays to a matter of seconds. In the event that a character has no Town Portal spells, the loyal pet once again comes to the rescue, and can be loaded down with goods and magic items to sell in town. The deeper into the dungeon, however, the longer the pet takes to return.

This brings up a quirk in the game concerns carrying limits. Both the character and the pet have 40 one-inch by one-inch square spaces in which to store items, spaces which can be accessed by clicking on a treasure chest icon. Smaller items like potions or scrolls take up one square, while larger items like pole arms or war clubs take up to eight. When these 40 squares are occupied and the character tries to stash an additional item, a deep voice rumbles "Your pack is full. You cannot carry any more." But there are no restrictions on the number of gold pieces, and at deeper dungeon levels, characters may easily accumulate ten or 15 million with absolutely no impairment. But this is relatively minor.

Although having a cute dog or cat as a dungeon companion may seem quaint, far more desirable is transforming the animal into a creature with greater strength and durability, like a dire wolf, an ebony stalker or a vile tarantula. This can be accomplished by feeding different kinds of fish to the pet, fish which can be purchased or caught in town or in the dungeon. Some fish bestow temporary effects, like morphing Fido into a creeping widow for five minutes, while other fish can permanently change Fluffy into a brain beast.

The feisty pet is also immortal. While characters reduced to zero life receive an onscreen message reading "You have perished," the pet simply runs frantically back and forth across the screen, "fleeing." This can be remedied by dispensing healing potions to the pet, or by simply sending it back to town, in which case it returns not only fully healed, but with gold from the sale of any items that it may have been carrying. Generally, giving one's pet healing potions is a waste of valuable resources, unless it begins to flee when the character is in the middle of a difficult combat.

But even the character's death does not mean the end of a particular game. Players can simply select "Quit," and the system will start from the last dungeon level completed. If a character begins a previously-saved game from level five and perishes on level seven, selecting "Quit" will start the game at the start of level seven the next time, at a point prior to the character's demise. Also, there is the option of being resurrected at the current dungeon level but sans gold, at a lower dungeon level sans gold, or at the current location, but with a gold and experience penalty. The last choice leaves the distinct possibility that whatever killed the character is still there and will do so again!

The biggest choice that a player makes is whether to lean towards magic or muscle. All characters have ability points in strength, dexterity, vitality and magic, as well as over a dozen specific skills -sword skill, shield skill, charm magic skill- which they accumulate as they see fit. Warriors can possess considerable magic, and wizards can be skilled at hand-to-hand combat, but specialization is the key to a successful character. A player's choice of character class determines whether he or she will focus on collecting weaponry and armor or robes and staffs.

Slightly confusing is the fact that characters in Fate have two sets of levels indicating power and prestige. There is simply "level" and a second parameter known as renown. The renown level advances much slower than the generic level. Certain items require a certain "renown level" to use -e.g. "distinguished," "legendary," "respected"- but nowhere is the order listed, so the character may purchase a great axe requiring a certain renown to wield, and then discover that he or she lacks the renown to wield it! This leaves the player with the option of selling the item back for considerably less than the purchase price.

The proximity of town is a great feature, and this little hamlet of less than 50 people has everything that an adventurer needs. The healer will restore all a character's life points and cure all diseases free of charge. The innkeeper provides gambling as a means of purchasing magic items at much lower prices. For a modest fee, an enchanter who stands in the center of the town graveyard imbues mundane items with magical powers, though occasionally this process is ineffective or backfires. And dangerous as the place may be, the dungeon is also a tremendous boon. A player who goes too deep and finds that he or she is being slaughtered repeatedly can return to town, start again from the first level of the dungeon, and accumulate experience and treasure by killing weaker monsters, in effect plundering the dungeon until he or she is powerful enough to go deeper again. Admittedly, this may remove the challenge for some players.

The ubiquitous loot is both a benefit and a bane. There is the compulsion to pick up every single saleable item, encouraged by another toggle feature indicating all items of potential value. In combat, this feature can be a serious hindrance, as text marking treasure items obscures the view of the screen, especially when character is mobbed by monsters.

While Fate is tremendous fun, the game is extremely addictive and ultimately mind-numbing. Going on quests to retrieve arcane relics from the dungeon gives the game a bit of purpose, and results in increased renown, but becomes repetitive after a while. A player who achieves a level of 100 and a renown of demigod still has nothing to show for it after dozens of hours of play except for a sore hand from using the computer mouse. In moderation, Fate is great, but very difficult to stop playing.

Fate is available from WildTangent® for $20, or from the gaming consoles of some HP Pavilion PC's for about $7, following a brief, free trial period. System requirements are Windows 2000, XP or Vista, 256 MB of RAM, a Pentium 800 MH or faster processor, a 16 MB 3D accelerated video card and DirectX version 8.0 or higher (WildTangent®).