Dungeon, Damsel and Diligence

Origin’s latest fantasy role-playing game, “Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss,” is a good adventure, but you’re going to have to work really hard to play it.

You’ll notice right away that this is no piece of fluff. The hardware requirements alone (386SX or better, 2MB RAM and an expanded memory manager) will intimidate most gamers right off. If you happen to have all that stuff, you’d better know how to use it because you’ll have to spend some time making sure it’s all set up right for running the game. Good luck!

Once you actually get the game rolling along, the opening is a dramatic animated scene that sets the mood very well. Once the music dies down, you are alone, locked in a dark dungeon.

Lucky for you, your night vision is pretty good. You can see just well enough to find the important inventory items that start you on your way--and light up the dark tunnels. Once the light goes on, the 3-D perspective lends an element of virtual reality not seen in other first-person adventures.

You’ve got lots of levels of dungeons to explore, lots of people to talk to, magic spells to cast, meanies to battle and a fair damsel to rescue--Ariel, daughter of Baron Almric. (The story line may be predictably sexist, but the designers make a nod to female gamers by allowing you to design the hero or heroine of your choice.)

A rich texture of character and story detail combine to keep a determined adventurer involved for hours.

But it’s tough to give this game a full endorsement because, in spite of the good stuff, it’s just a helluva hard way to have a good time. Character movement is very difficult and reflects none of the “point and click” improvements that other game designers have come up with recently.

It’s just too much work to fight the bad guys and the game too.

Ultima Underworld

Rating: ***

IBM & compatibles; 386SX or better; 20Mhz recommended. List: $69.95.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.