After a PC RPG legacy that has spanned almost twenty years, much longer if you count the online offshoots, the Ultima series finally comes to an end. Yes it’s true, Ultima: Ascension is the very last single player Ultima game that Origin intends to release. This sad revelation is even further reinforced when you consider that the creator behind the series, Richard Garriott has left Origin to pursue other projects. As if things couldn’t get worse, the final Ultima is plagued with bugs and performance issues that threaten to ruin an otherwise great game.

The game opens with a well-directed intro involving giant black columns that erupt from the ground.  The Guardian, the always-faithful antagonist is up to his old schemes again, planning to destroy Britannia.  The columns have somehow corrupted the shrines of virtue, causing all of Britannia’s inhabitants to act strangely.  Compassion is replaced by selfishness and honor is replaced by shame.  As if to add insult to injury, the columns are also interfering with the moon gates, magic use, and they’re affecting the orbit of the two moons above Britannia.  What’s Lord British, the king of Britannia, to do when things look so glum?  Call upon the Avatar of course.  After the player is granted control of the Avatar, you must get dressed (literally), get equipped, travel to Britannia via a moon gate, restore the shrines of virtue, and defeat the Guardian once and for all. 

The graphics can be described in a single word: awesome.  Walking around Britannia you can make out small children playing in the center square, a street sweeper calmly cleaning the walkways, guards parading around their posts, and other activity.  Origin also added other environmental details such as fog floating around cemeteries, time passage (with a setting sun and rising moon) and rainstorms that begin with the buildup of clouds in the sky.  Unfortunately, these effects come at a cost, as it seems that this title is heavily optimized for Glide based 3D accelerators.  Running on relatively newer D3D hardware, such as a GeForce, is an exercise in frustration. Ultima: Ascension runs extremely choppy with D3D and, even with Glide, it can be similar to a slide show at times. One can’t help but wonder if a few more months were spent optimizing the 3D engine, the game would run much better with any D3D and Glide hardware. Alas, this is only the first sign that this game was hurried. 

Control in this game seems to teeter along a fence between greatness and pure sloppiness. The interface in which you control your inventory and spells is quite nice. You have a tool belt that is basically a shortcut system to objects in your inventory.  Each tool belt slot corresponds with one of the function keys -- an ingenious design.  Spells can be placed in your tool belt too.  Instead of opening the spell book every time you want to toss a fireball, you can place it in your tool belt for easy spell casting.  Of course in the big world of Britannia, you’re expected to get in a few sword battles.  This is where the controls take a nosedive.  Ultima: Ascension was designed for exploration and problem solving, but there is a ton of fighting in this game. Unfortunately, the control scheme doesn’t make hand-to-hand combat very easy.  Control is so stiff that more often than not, battles consist of you standing next to your enemy throwing blows while he/she’s doing the same. If you try to move or run you’ll most likely get stuck on something only to be an easy target for your enemy.  This is a serious oversight as the controls are very good for exploring but absolutely atrocious for fighting. If they just added a second, more efficient fighting control scheme things would be better. Unfortunately, they don’t even give the option to customize the current control scheme. 

There isn’t much to complain about in the sound and music department.  The music generally has a depressive tone when you enter a town that has been corrupted, but after the local shrine is cleansed the music picks up and is lively and joyous. The music is also dynamic to the situation as more tense, “fighting” music comes up when an enemy spots you and attacks.  The sound effects are unremarkable although, much like the graphics, the difference is in the details.  Walk next to a talking couple and you can actually hear the discussion. Walking next to guards will usually warrant a shout of  “Hello Avatar!”  Birds and people whistling near a rocky canyon will have a noticeable echo to them.  One thing to note is that the voice acting is quite good compared to other similar titles. Unlike games such as Omikron, the actors do a fine job of portraying the characters and don’t sound like they’re reading a script. 

Ultima: Ascension seems to be a mixed bag between good and bad.  That’s quite possibly the best way to describe this title really.  It’s pretty close to being one of the most ambitious titles to come out in years but it has some serious flaws that keep it from achieving excellence.  This title is a joy to play when you’re not falling through floors, getting stuck inside rocks, dying because the control is inadequate, and squinting because the frame rate drops below 10.  One can’t help but wonder if this could have been a candidate for “game of the year” if it wasn’t so loaded with bugs and flaws.  If only Electronic Arts and Origin had spent a few more months spit-shining this game, they could have had a real winner.  However, even with the most recent patch (v1.18), this game still comes with a wide assortment of flaws. Only the most patient players as well as long-standing Ultima fans should play Ultima: Ascension. If you’re new to the Ultima series then perhaps this isn’t the ideal title to begin with. This last adventure just might turn you off from the previous games. If you do find the courage to play this game, I only have one tip for you.  Save and save often. There’s just no telling when the game might crash, run into a plot line error or somehow get the Avatar stuck inside an object.  

System Requirements:

MINIMUM:
Windows 95 or 98, 266 MHz or faster Intel Pentium II processor, 64 MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM drive (1200K/second transfer rate) using 32-bit Windows 95/98 CD-ROM driver, 8 MB 3D graphics Accelerator with DirectDraw and Direct 3D or Glide compatible driver, 640 x 480 screen resolution, DirectX 7 compatible sound card, 600 MB free hard disk space, plus space for saved games (additional space required for DirectX 7 installation), Keyboard, mouse

RECOMMENDED:
400 MHz or faster Pentium II processor, 128 MB RAM, 1 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games, 16 MB 3D graphics accelerator using the Voodoo3 chipset, DirectX 7 compatible sound card with EAX and DirecSound3D support.

Reviewer's System:
Celeron 450A MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, Canopus Spectra TNT, Voodoo2 SLI, Sound Blaster Live! Value sound card.