PLOT -

The Guardian has been defeated in Britannia and the Black Gate destroyed. But a scroll is discovered that was sent from the Guardian to Batlin ordering him to pass through the Serpent Pillars to the Serpent Isle. Lord British orders you and your companions to follow him.

Upon arriving at the Serpent Isle you are caught in a teleport lightning storm and all your equipment and companions are teleported away. A monk appears and explains to you that the Serpent Isle is at war between the forces of Order and Chaos because Balance has been lost.

Can you restore balance to Serpent Isle and defeat the Guardian and Batlin?

FEATURES -

Serpent Isle uses a improved version of the Ultima 7 engine, so most of the features are found in that. There are some improvements though, including -

• Paperdoll models so you can see what Armour weapons your carrying much more easily.
• Keyring feature so you don't have to try every key in every door

Serpent Isle is played on a smaller map than the Black Gate, one of the problems with Black Gate is that sometimes the game was just too big and you could get lost or never find what you were looking for, there are only 3 major cities in Serpent Isle so at first it can seem quite small, but later in the game more places become accessible and the game is structured very nicely so there is never too much at any one time.

There is also a expansion pack for the Serpent Isle called Silver Seed. Most modern versions of the game that you find will come with this as standard, this adds a new area to visit that is accessible through a necklace that you get the first time you die, you then just use the necklace at a Serpent Gate. The Silver seed is basically one big dungeon divided up into different sections, it will take you a good few hours to play through but doesn't add anything new to the game, although the ring of reagents can come in useful later on.

GAMEPLAY -

Using the Black Gate engine the game play is very Similar to part 1 of Ultima VII, the main differences are less exploring to do and less companions. Its not generally as popular as Black Gate for those reasons, but I have always preferred it as it is more structure and far less random than the Black Gate, it also has some lovely set pieces.

As with most of the Ultima games the action is few in a near top down perspective, you can see the area around you for a few meters but not inside buildings, the interactive with the game is what makes Serpent Isle stand out.

You can't do as much as you can in the Black Gate but its still one of the most interactive games you will play and makes modern RPG's look sparse by comparison, fancy some bread? The get some flour and water, mix it up and put it in the oven!

There is a large selection of weapons to equip your party with including Swords, Hammers, Bows, Crossbows, Daggers, Spears and Maces.

You don't find your spellbook until quite late in the game which helps to make the game more interesting, once you do find it the normal selection of spells is present, and the Ring of Reagents that you get from the Silver Seed means that you don't have to collection Reagents to cast spells which is very useful.

VERDICT -

Most diehard Ultima fans prefer the Black Gate, by my favorite has always been the Serpent Isle. A much tighter and structure plot which retains the exploration and fighting elements but neither ever get too much and you rarely end up wondering about trying to find something to do which was the trouble with the Black Gate.

The Plot and storyline are probably the best of any of the Ultima games, the Cities are all different and have unique challenges.

Ultima at its finest, it's probably the greatest RPG game ever and is unlikely ever to be better.

WHERE CAN I GET IT? -

You might still be able to find Serpent Isle as the "Complete Ultima 7" pack. In the UK you can try searching Ebay or Shopsmart.

I don't know of any Abandonware sites that currently have Serpent Isle for download, if anyone knows one then mail me.

MISC -

For hints, tips and and a complete walkthrough, check out the Serpent Isle section on The Spoiler Centre, Dan Simpson's is my favorite.

Serpent Isle is near impossible to get working normally in Windows, so you have 2 options. You can either use a program called Ultima in Windows which you can get here.

Or you can use something called Exult, this is a completely new program that uses the data files from Serpent Isle, it has new features in it and is updated almost weekly, it also works fine in Windows XP. It is now possible to complete Serpent Isle using Exult, but there are still bugs, you can get it here.

If you use Ultima in Windows you might also want to use Moslo to slow it down, I have it here.