Role Playing Game > PC > Albion

Albion (PC)
Release Date: August 31st, 1996
Publisher: Blue Byte
Developer: Blue Byte
Genre: Role Playing Game

Last Updated : June 20th, 2005

Rating: Average rating: 4.64285714286 14 Ratings 5 4 3 2 1

On-Site Links Save Hacking (Hex Edit) Master Item Guide Trainer (German)

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Off-Site Links GameFAQs Entry GameSpot Entry Official Albion Website

Albion is an RPG like no other i've encountered before, it mixes 2d gameplay, with 3d gameplay, and even tactics or strategy gameplay while in combat. Albion's combat system is what really make this game very unique, although there is many other factors. This game was made by a european game company in 1996 called Blue Byte. They still have a lot of information on Albion on their site, please use Official Albion Website. It has screenshots, demo, storyline, requirements, and even a game tour.

I always love a game with a rich set of items, and this game has a very good selection of items. There's hundreds of different items, most of them useless, however it is still nice to see a good collection :). Since this is one of the most un-explored aspects of the game, I will tackle it in this master item list.

This game has unbelievable save features built in, I was really surprised. You can leave items in the 3d view (in container), exit the game, leave the area, do whatever, it will stay there. This also applies for the thousands of containers located in the 2d view as well, they actually stay in the container you originally placed them. But it doesn't stop at containers, picked up items are also saved in the 2d view outside of containers as well.

A couple of things bother me in this game is the 2d perspective, it's not really the look that gets me, it's the sprite movements (or lack there of). When the characters move, it seems not very well animated to the actual speed your going, and when you go in a diagonal (ex: North West) it doesn't have a separate sprite, so it just uses North or West walking sprite. It doesn't really effect anything, just the "look and feel" aspect of the game. When you start playing this game you may also wonder why there is no clock or compass, this is because you have to get them first, so don't worry, they are in the game, just not at the start.

While we are in the topic of the automap, i'd just like to say this is a very well thought out, and very well coded aspect of this game. You have a line of sight in the automap, that extends as you walk around, and it actually saves if you leave the area, or go into a house or something, it becomes static. Also a very handy feature is if you go in a particular place of interest, it saves it as one, and all you have to do is click (on the automap) to that place, it it will automatically teleport you there, saving you the effort.

One thing puzzled me while looking at the game box, and after that checking the game's rating. It's rated as Kids to Adult, but not more than 5 minutes into the game there is nudity. On top of that, I heard a couple swears, and of course there's the violence and blood thing. It doesn't really matter, I just thought i'd point out this strange rating.