This game is based on the original game for PC, which

I decided to reduce the amount of verbiage in this

review and let the screen shots speak for themselves,

   Well

Underworld features 8 levels. If a level is what I

think it is, this could offer hours of game play.

Level 1 itself took me well over an hour to complete;

note that this hour was a continuous one which says

really like the two ways of navigation through the

levels. The first one is with the stylus, where you

click different locations on the screen, which then

heads you in that direction. If you find this a little

annoying, then you can use the multi-directional pad

on your Pocket PC, although depending on your model,

this may be inconvenient and may slow you down. I

find, anyhow, that you can go faster if you use the

story line of the game is pretty interesting and motivating,

although when I play a game, I really don’t pay much

attention to the story. If you would like to view

the story in whole, check out the Ultima

   The program setup was easy and

just took a few clicks. You run the installation program,

it copies some files to a directory on your desktop

system, and then starts up the Add/Remove Programs

the game, you are presented with this screen. You

are required to create a character before you begin

your characters handedness (important when using a

the desired class of your character. These titles

are a little…senseless. A Mage is one born with

an ability to cast spells, a Tinker is a skilled craftsman,

a Ranger is a woodsman, etc. If you truly wish to

learn the meanings of each class, consult the manual.

can choose an image of your character, depending on

enter the name of him or her, using the keyboard on

the bottom of the screen, which will be there at all

you start the game up and click "Journey Onward",

you are presented with the above screen, so select

image was taken directly from the manual,

which explains the layout of the screen around better

than I could. As you can see, they pack a lot onto

your screen, so it will take you a good half hour

is a basic view of a hallway. Notice the use of shadows

to create a feeling of distance at the door at the

is this? Let’s talk to him and see what he has to

appears that his name is Drog. As you can see, you

can select a variety of things to say to Drog. You

can even barter objects that you find, (you can see

these objects to the left of the picture of my character),

by dropping an object in one of the circles to the

is the ignorant response I get after I come back to

as you can see, he lets me pass, since I choose to

nice screen shot taken of three platforms that you

can walk on. Take notice to the dark area of this

is one of my favorites. The pathway is very well defined,

and as you can see, one step to the right and I will

fall below, which, lucky for me, is water, (I chose

is a shot of water. So-so job with shading, but as

you move along, you kind of bounce, or wobble, which

your travels in the water you may come across such

monsters as this squid, which you cannot fight against,

since you are unable to draw your weapon while in

notice to the torch that I have in my possession,

found to the right of my character. Let’s use that

early game play, you’ll pick up a sac that contains

a map. Consult this often to track your progress through

the level. What you are seeing is just a little over

an hour of game play, so with 8 of these levels, you

I am about to enter a ramp, which looks detailed and

a flying red thing! No, it’s a bat. Watch out for

try to negotiate a trade with this goblin. It looks

oh, he’s getting a little mad. So why don’t I just

killing that Goblin wasn’t such a good idea, now all

the others want to kill me, uh oh, maybe I shouldn’t

Ultima

can see on the left of the above screen shot, here

on your particular device, you may want to adjust

detail levels accordingly. I found leaving it on "Very

can choose one of four slots to save your game in,

rest of the options are self-explanatory, and include

Underworld is a large game, taking up a whopping 14

mb of space on your Pocket PC. This game runs under

Pocket PC 2000/2002 operating systems, and can be

played with a MIPS or ARM processor. Specifically,

Ultima Underworld supports the following devices:

Compaq iPAQ 3600/3700/3800 series, HP Jornada 560

series, Cassiopeia E-125/E-200/EM500, Toshiba Genio-e,

Audiovox Maestro PDA1032, NEC Mobile Pro P300, O2

had no major problems with this game, although there

are a few items I would like to address. First off,

the music is cool when you begin playing, but after

a while, it gets annoying, as it changed suddenly

were several times when I experienced a "Runtime

Error" on my iPAQ in certain areas in the game.

I reset the device numerous times, but had no luck.

Perhaps this was due to an installation problem or

far as graphics go, the only complaint I have is pixilation,

seen above. When you get close to ANY object, albeit

a wall or a plant, it becomes VERY pixilated. Perhaps

my standards are too high for this game, which is

Also, going along with the suggestion of higher resolution

environments, I’d like to take note to the small area

of the playable screen area. This small window takes

up about 40% of the entire screen. I am sure it is

this size to save space, or perhaps to accommodate

And does that keyboard have to stay on the bottom?

I understand that you need it for game saving and

conversation with other creatures, but couldn’t ZIO

    Ultima Underworld costs

$29.95 and is available from the pocketnow

Store. An unplayable demo is also available, which

features a slideshow of screen shots, and can be found

   When I listed "Unprecedented

Graphics" as a Pro, I meant it. I haven’t seen

any Pocket PC game to date that gives the user such

a feeling of three dimensions. This could be considered

a step in the right direction, although I truly believe

that we are outgrowing ARM and MIPS processors. Note

that I didn’t cover ever corner of the game, some

dealing with magic and spell casting, mainly because

My complaints of pixilation and small playable area

size wouldn’t be valid if this game were being played

on an XScale processor, or even something better.

Right now this is as good as it gets as far as advanced

graphics on your Pocket PC, but it’ll be cool to see

what ZIO Software does with faster processor and higher