A very detailed and flexible RPG.
SSI during the eighties and nineties produced great tactical games. You can say that they are the masters of their domain for attention to detail and Wizard's Crown is no exception. The games itself boasts many choices for character creation, magical items and combat however the story is nothing to write home about.
The game starts out very typical of a fantasy story. An old Wizard mumbling to eager adventures about a lost crown that needs to be delivered back to the City of Arghan. Of course there are perilous dangers ahead as this is no walk-in-the-park.
Being SSI, expect attention to details. You have your typical fantasy arch-type characters being the fighter, sorcerer, priest, thief and ranger. SSI however made one-step better that you can mix-match heroes according the character's intelligence. That said, if your character is super intelligent it's possible you can be a fighter, sorcerer and priest hence can wear heavy armour and cast spells of all types. Experience points can be allocated to any skills at the same rate as everyone else however certain skills are not available to certain classes (eg sword skills won't appear if you choose a non-fighter class yet the skill 'scan' will be available for all). However there are no races to choose from so for all the non-elves lovers, he's the game where no elves are allowed!
The stronger points in this game is the combat system. You have two choices being 'quick combat' which the computer will determine the outcome in no time and the very detailed 'normal combat' mode which can take a very long time (I had a combat that lasted 35 mins). The AI in normal combat is surprising impressive as enemies will attack your flanks if left opened and will home in your weak areas. This mode will test your strategic mind as character placements are important (similar to a turn-based strategy game).
The game itself balances out for all types of characters. Yes there are many hack-and-slash moments however there are times that a thief is needed as a point man (and hopefully surprises the enemies), the ever-reliable priests with their healing spells, the ranger and their ability to locate magical items and the sorcerer's skill in evaluating magical items. SSI definitely developed the perfect team-based RPG as you will not survive with a team of fighters.
The choices of spells are a let-down. Both sorcerers and priests have a limited range to choose from however the flip-side is that both characters can cast these spells many times as it's all in the points allocation. More points (experience) placed in spell-casting the more times you can cast them.
The sounds of this game are also a let-down. To be honest, there are very little. There is a 'hit' bleep, the occasional shield block and the random bleeping of spell-casting. That's it! No title song, no battle music, nothing. However that's very typical for SSI.
The magical items in Wizard's Crown are memorable. Items like Death Broadsword, Flaming Crossbow or Wizard's Scale Armour are very imaginative and for a price you are able to increase the magical power by one step. Also you can create your own potions (based on the sorcerer's skill in alchemy). This demonstrates the marvellous flexibility of this game.
The game itself is extremely stable however there is one annoying bug. From time-to-time your character can simply die with absolutely no damage made. This can be annoying however thankfully your priest can raise the dead at an early stage of the game (with the right point allocations) with no side-effects and hope that the priest itself does not die unexpectedly!
The game mechanics is a mixed-bag. The simplicity of transferring items is to be appraised (as many games during the mid-eighties make this a chore); the menus are well placed and easy to navigate however the disk swapping is a nightmare. The game itself comes with five disks totalling approximately 280kb (obviously this is insignificant in today's environment but remember we are referring to a 1985 game and a typical Atari XL 'PC' is between 48kb to 64kb) and where the nightmare begins is ironically at it's strength; the tactical combat. If you decide to choose 'tactical', swap the disk and grab a coffee whilst it loads up and of course when the combat ends, swap the disk again, grab a magazine and wait for the menus appear; and again if making camp and again if entering a dungeon...you get the idea.
Overall, Wizard's Crown even though a lame story is very strong in game play (save the disk swapping). RPG is about choices and flexibility and Wizard's Crown is just that; perfect character creation, well-balanced arch-types, great magical items and of course the superior combat system. I definitely recommend this game for any serious RPG, strategy player however newbies might feel this game a little daunting.
One last note: The time spent on this game is not including wait times for the game to load :)