THE TOP 10 NON-ADVENTURE GAMES OF ALL TIME – Welcome to Just Adventure + – Articles — Part 11
Articles
THE TOP 10 NON-ADVENTURE GAMES OF ALL TIME
Article by Agustín Cordes and Michal Necasek
October 3, 2003
9. Ultima Underworld – Origin, 1992
Despite the ‘Ultima’ part of the name, Ultima Underworld had very little to do with the Ultima universe. Not only it put a 180 degree spin on the series but also had a huge impact on the RPG genre, if not games in general. As an Ultima chapter, its single-character party and first-person view made it barely recognizable as part of the series. If it wasn’t for the mention of Lord British at the beginning of the story, you wouldn’t even think this was an Ultima game. The state-of-the-art engine was an impressive achievement. You had total freedom to explore the underground world, looking up and down (a first!), and interact with the breathtakingly animated creatures that populated it. How to forget the water effects that had to be seen to be believed! And all of this sporting a clean and friendly interface that allowed players to perform actions such as casting spells and fighting, simply by clicking buttons that could be accessed directly without the need to switch screens. If you take into account this technical marvel was released one year before Doom, you have to wonder what was on the mind of people who called the latter game “revolutionary”. Ultima Underworld was Warren Spector’s first big project – if you don’t know about this man, keep in mind that three of his games are featured on this list. ‘Nuff said.
