Although Magic Carpet 2's game play is very similar to what it was in the original game, the several improvements featured in the sequel greatly enhance the playability. Among the updates, you will notice an increase in speed while flying over landscapes and the smoother graphics which make the game look even better. But that is not all. As you visit worlds inhabited by cohorts of legendary and evil creatures, the bestiary of Magic Carpet 2 will surprise you with 20 beasts and demons. You will encounter some of the creatures you have already met in Magic Carpet like the archers, giant bees and worms, but you will also face new ones such as Spiders, Troglodytes or Devils. The Spiders throw web shots to temporarely paralyse you. The Troglodytes use boulders to attack you, and the quick moving Devils launch fireballs.
To get rid of these creatures of the chaos, you will have new spells at your disposal. A total of 25 different basic spells can be cast in Magic Carpet 2, but as each spell has three levels of power, you have access to a library of 75 spells, all more powerful than the others. Your spell experience can be increased with scrolls you may find or if you are successfull when you use a spell. Among the spells is the Tremor, a spell that brings to life a monstrous Earth Tremor that attacks any creature within a given radius. The second level of this spell increases the size of the radius and the duration of the spell, while the third level gives the largest radius and durations, but will also make the beast even more powerful. Other new spells like the Summon Army, Gravity Well and Magic Mine will help the player in fighting the forces of Evil.
More than just a sequel, Magic Carpet 2 offers new types of landscapes such as underground and night levels. They are both visually stunning with their light effects simulating the glow from lava streams, or the lights from the castles and houses shining in the cold obscurity. The caverns have tunnels haunted by spiders and fireflies, and huge rooms excavated deeply below the surface. Even the sea looks particular during the night levels with the pale moon reflecting off the dark waters.
The Netherworld is made up of several realms in which you will have to fight. Twenty-five missions await you in the game including the final encounter with the Dark Lord himself hidden in his fortress. The missions have a good variety of goals which avoids doing the same thing over and over. From retrieving spells to crossing dangerous seas through onslaughts and conquers, your missions will walk you through the vast and mysterious Netherworld. In specific levels, you will brave the terrible Vissuluth servants. There are seven of them, each more dangerous than the other, with great powers and no mercy. You will confront them several times in the game and find them alone or in groups hunting after your life.
Regarding graphics and sounds, Magic Carpet 2 is mesmerizing. The game supports a greater number of sound cards than in Magic Carpet and also the VR headset from Virtual IO. The sounds throughout the game are terrific with the wind blowing through the trees, conversations in towns, and the sound of waves along the shore. Even the humid caverns have a distinctive echo with water drops ringing in the surrounding silence. The music is in perfect harmony with the game and adapts to the situation when sudden actions take place for example. In normal mode, Magic Carpet 2 uses VGA graphics which may be changed to SVGA graphics by pressing a single key, but first make sure your machine is fast enough. There are many graphical effects included in the game such as shadows, sky, light sources, reflections, but each one can be turned off to gain some speed if your machine shows some weakness.
Of course, and I didn't mention it above, everything that concerned mana, balloons and the castle didn't change in the sequel. I invite you to read the review of the first Magic Carpet to gain a better understanding of these elements.
The interface of Magic Carpet has changed a little bit to make the player's life easier. The map is still available by pressing ENTER during the game, but you can also have it on the left part of the screen while playing on the right with a reduced sized window. It is quite useful and does not slow down the game at all. Another change is the spell menu which is accessible through the CTRL key. You can assign a spell to the left button mouse and another one to the right button very easily while playing with the game, which was not possible in Magic Carpet. The All-Seeing Eye displays the landscape of the realm with a view from above in which your position is always centered. The color dots represent the different elements you may encounter in the Netherworlds. With the All-Seeing Eye, you will be able to locate enemies, mana, castles, balloons, etc.
Some of you could think Magic Carpet 2 is just another sequel only released because the first episode was a worldwide success. Well, I'm afraid it's not true. Magic Carpet 2 uses the same innovative idea as in Magic Carpet, but there are so many improvements and new elements, that is almost impossible to make a sequel any better than what Bullfrog has just done.
486 DX2-66 MHz or higher,
Min 8Mb memory,
MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
Hard drive required,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
SVGA video graphic card (PCI or local bus),
Microsoft mouse and 100% compatibles.
Creative Labs Sound Blaster and AWE32; Adlib; Gravis UltraSound;
Roland MT32; General MIDI.
Joysticks, Gravis Gamepad and Joypad supported.
Virtual IO I-Glasses supported.
Electronic Arts
1450 Fashion Island Blvd.,
San Mateo, CA 94404.
In Europe:
In UK:
Electronic Arts UK Ltd.,
90 Heron Drive,
Langley, Berks SL3 8XP.
Technical Support: +44-(0)1753-546465
In France:
Electronic Arts France,
3 Rue Claude Chappe,
69771 Saint Didier au Mont D'or Cedex.
In Germany:
Electronic Arts GmbH.,
Verler Str. 1,
333332 Gutersloth.
In Sweden:
Electronic Arts,
Business Campus,
Johanneslundsvogen 2,
194 81 Upplandsvasby.
In Spain:
Electronic Arts Software S.A.,
Edificio Arcade,
Rufino Gonzalez 23 bis,
Planta 1a, Local 2,
28037 Madrid.
Overall: 91%
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