Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor

What a splendid idea this must have been on paper. A massive, sprawling RPG that gives the player a choice of many races and classes to play, and otters a game universe enriched with the presence of a multitude of NPCs, all of whom can offer advice or information to the player as he makes his way through a mind-boggling number of quests and tasks in his goal to uncover the secrets of Might and Magic VII.

In practice, MMVII's a very different proposition. If you can live with the utterly appalling character graphics, you will find little of interest in this embarrassingly dated RPG.

There are some aspects of this game that are commendable - the character creation system offers a sufficient variety of races and classes to make tailoring your characters to suit your gaming preferences a worthwhile exercise, and the game is indeed very big, with a large number of quests to undertake. The problem is, I doubt if anyone will bother to complete any of them, given that the combat is spectacularly unexciting and, other than sheer dogged determination to wring some enjoyment out of the thing because you've paid good money for it, the game offers you no incentive whatsoever to explore its hidden depths.

Somebody once said some things are best left hidden. They weren't wrong.

In summary, Might and Magic VII is visually offensive, with neither depth of gameplay nor a gripping, involving storyline to save it from total obscurity, which is where I am going to send it forthwith. In fact, it's in the bin.