Have you ever wanted to jump into a fantasy world, and beat down on your fellow user in a 3d multiplayer slash-fest? Well, New World Computing has nearly completed its own version of that, Legends of Might and Magic. The "First Look" demo of the game has recently been released, and it features the basics of the full retail version.

The demo itself is 85mb compressed, and 115mb after installation. The installation itself went without a hitch, and when finished, it gives you a list of all the tests it ran on your computer and whether they passed or not, which is rare nowadays in games and demos. The documentation that came with the demo is surprisingly informative, and talks about the classes, the two different levels, even the default controls. Although it doesn't go into too much detail, it does have more information than what is normally included with demos, which is good considering there is no in-game help once you start it up.

One of the options in the demo is the gallery, which includes all the weapons, classes, and monsters in the demo available for viewing (everything that will only be in the retail version has a description to it, but no image). You will be able to see all the weapons except for each class' ultimate weapon, eight monsters, and six of the eight classes.  The descriptions are quite informative, and it shows that New World Computing put some care into the game, and aren't going to release it with only the bare minimums.

Hosting a game is incredibly easy, as most options are in the preferred position, and the biggest choice to make is what map to play (although - with only two choices in the demo, that isn't too hard). When hosting a game, you can choose whether you want monsters in the level, team balancing, voting, friendly fire, maximum players, map rotation, and how long each round should last. After that you just click on "Go", and the game is made for you.

The two levels in the game are different, but with very similar objectives. "Rescue at the Ruins" is a princess rescue mission, and "Temple of Bark" is a sword in the stone mission.  Both require the "good" team to find the objective (the princess or the sword, respectively), and take it back to the victory location to win the game, all before the timer ends. The "evil" team has to defend each objective to win.  Alternatively, you can just kill the opposing team to win. The two levels are approximately of the same size, not too large, and can be memorized after they have been played a couple of times. The maps themselves aren't very inspiring, without many interesting locations or features, but since this is only a demo, I suppose New World Computing doesn't want to put the best parts of the game into it.

Combat in the game is incredibly easy, and any player of Counter-Strike (or similar FPS terrorist/counter-terrorist modifications) will be able to get into the game without any problem. You start off a level with your class's basic weapons, one ranged and one melee; you can then buy weapons and armour if you have enough cash. You gain cash by killing monsters, killing the opposing team, and winning or losing levels. If you survive a round, the weapons and armour you have will get transferred to the next. Fighting is as easy as frantically pressing a button, and hoping whatever you shot connects with something, as ranged weapons outmatch melee weapons by a wide margin.

Fans of the Might and Magic and the Heroes of Might and Magic series will recognize the monsters in the demo, as they are exact replicas (although in 3d) of the monsters found in those games. The demo includes greatly modelled troglodytes, skeleton warriors, dragonflies, basilisks, evil eyes, terror eyes, lizardmen and lizardmen warriors. This sounds like it would be quite stunning to behold, but in game the monsters are incredibly annoying, mainly because most of them seem to have breath weapons, which can hit you from an incredible distance. What's especially annoying is when a dragonfly hides in the trees (they both happen to be of the same colour), and continually spits green balls of fire at you.

Considering this review was written after playing both levels for quite a long time, I must admit that when I booted up the demo and jumped into a game for the first time, it was the most fun I've had with an action game for a long time, and I only saw the flaws of the demo after playing it for a while.  I would recommend playing the demo only for a short period of time, not as something to keep you busy until the retail version is released. BTW, there is no release date set by now. 

If I had to give the demo a mark though, I would rate it 7.5/10, just because the replay value is very low.