Eye of the Beholder is a port of the popular PC game from FCI. The game continues a long-standing series of Dungeons & Dragons games that have been developed over the years on numerous consoles. This game is near the top of that list.

GRAPHICS: There isn't much eye candy in this one, folks. The actual game window is kind of small and the action moves kind of framey. The colors are your typical Genesis fare, although the soft earth tones of the game are easy on the eye. The dungeon levels each sport their own color, and it seems to fit. I especially liked the level with the Drow guards, its purplish hue went right with the action. Players of the paper D&D games will know what I mean without even having to play the game. The enemies are nicely drawn and are very accurate to their paper RPG counterparts. Needless to say I was eager to make sure that everything here was accurately represented.

GAMEPLAY: This is the part where many people simply walk away from this game. If you have the Mega Mouse, then you can play EotB just like the PC version, using directional icons for moving. Sadly, this doesn't work at all on the Genesis pad. What many people don't know is that by going to the options screen in-game and choosing mode two, you can use the D-pad to move normally by pressing start! When you want to move the icon around the screen, simply press start again. This little known fact has made many people miss out on this wonderful RPG.

SOUND/MUSIC: Ahh, what can I say about the soundtrack to this game? I never thought that I could play an RPG to techno tunes, but EotB's music is a joy to play to! Crystal-clear and well composed, the music enhances the action greatly. The fact that it's red book audio doesn't hurt either. Crank it up!

The sound effects are nice too. Old doors creak open and arrows shot at walls clank when they hit, like they should. The voice acting needs a little work though. It sounds a tad scripted for my tastes. Nevertheless, sprinkled throughout the game (along with some nice cut scenes), it adds to the package.

STORY: EotB's story is pure D&D. Heroes must venture below the city of Waterdeep (yes, Waterdeep) and destroy the evil Beholder. The story is developed through pretty cut scenes that occur periodically during important events. Both novice and seasoned players will be able to get right into the story. The character interaction is non-existent though. You get to create four characters from a number of races and classes, and later on up to two NPCs (non-player characters) can join, but they never interact.

OVERALL: Anyone with a Sega CD should track down a copy of this game. I got mine a K Mart for under $5 and I have played it to death. RPG and Sega CD fans have a nice little game here that will keep them occupied for at least 20-25 hours. I enjoyed Eye of the Beholder very, very much and can't recommend it enough. If you can get past the dated graphics and sometimes stiff gameplay, you've got yourself a game!