Given the fact that the roleplaying game sections of most game stores are overflowing with half-baked titles, new RPGs really have to stand out in some way or another to be successful. Last year, the situation was the same when SSI released Dark Sun: Shattered Lands. This game, which introduced psionic powers and a new barren world called Athas to RPG fans, was so good that I nearly got fired from playing it so much. Happily, (or not, depending on your opinion of my writing!) I'm still here to give you a sneak peek at Wake of the Ravager, which looks and plays as well as Shattered Lands.

	Mark my words: Ravager will be a hit. To answer your next question, it'll be a hit for the same reasons its predecessor was a hit: it has a near-perfect interface, and it's an SSI RPG. Don't believe the first part? That's okay . . . such a strong statement is bound to bring on a bit of doubt. Let me prove my case.

	Long before Shattered Lands was released, SSI had already established themselves as the premier publisher of RPG titles, due mainly in part to their exclusive license with Dungeons and Dragons publisher TSR. Players of the pen-and-paper game naturally looked for computer games bearing the Dungeons and Dragons trademark first, so SSI reaped the rewards. Always the innovators, SSI has had a reputation for creating new interfaces faster than ballpoint pens run dry. Their first games utilized an now-legendary interface called the "Gold Box" system. Successive releases pioneered first-person perspectives and mouse-only interfaces which inspired those used in such hit games as Doom and Castle Wolfenstein.

	Shattered Lands brought with it another new interface. This time, it featured an angled overhead view and revamped spellcasting system. The game was not only fun to play . . . it was also easy to play. Even the most complicated tasks required only a few mouse clicks. Is this sounding good to you? Well, it seems only natural that SSI would choose to utilize the very same interface in Wake of the Ravager. After all, how can anyone get enough of a good thing?

	A couple of minor changes have been made, but they're all for the better. New spells are available, since the characters you control in Ravager are more experienced than the ones in Shattered Lands. They'll stay alive longer and will prove to be formidable in combat early in the game. New monsters are here for the finding as well, although I wouldn't want to find most of them. They have serious butt-kicking potential even without psionic powers, and most of them have those too. In short, the intensity level has been increased throughout the game, a modification commonly found in sequels.

	Plots are probably more important in roleplaying games than in any other type of game. Ravager's plot certainly won't frustrate or confuse you . . . basically, your party is on a mission to save Athas from a really bad guy called the Dragon of Ur Draxa. He figures that Athas would be a keen place to wreak havoc, and the task of stopping him from doing so just happens to fall on your party's shoulders. How wonderful. Thank goodness for save-game features. Anyway, Wake of the Ravager really looks good. By the time it is released, it should be a finely-tuned bundle of program code indeed. If you enjoyed Shattered Lands, then you won't need any motivation to buy Ravager. If you haven't tried the Dark Sun system yet, take the plunge and buy this game when it comes out in November.