Recently I got a chance to review Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, a downloadable title for PS3. I knew going into the review that it was based on an old PC RPG, but I didn’t think much of it. I even wondered why XSEED would even release it in the US. But now I know why. An amazing thing happened after I posted the review: I got a TON of comments from Wizardry enthusiasts! When I got an opportunity to review some downloadable content for Wizardry on the PS3, I knew I wasn’t fit to review it. So I decided to have a Wizardry fan and online friend Tami B. take a stab at it. So here is her review of Wizardry’s DLC, Shadow of the Red Sister.

I have been a fan of the Wizardry franchise since before the days of computers being common household items. The first game I ever played outside of an arcade was the original Wizardry Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. While most of my friends were playing Atari games, I was stalking the dungeons of The Mad Overlord, slaying monsters and gathering loot. After I moved out and on to college, I took a break from gaming for a long time. Long enough that computers no longer use 5 1/4” floppy disks and I could no longer play my old favorite game. Fast forward to this past June when Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls was released on PSN. For the past two months, this has pretty much been the only game I’ve been playing. So when my friend Cary approached me about doing a review for the new DLC, I jumped at the chance.

The DLC is a new scenario that adds another dungeon called the Deep Levels to the game. In order to access the new dungeon, you have to go to the Guild, go up to the counter and talk to Buzz. He warns you that the new dungeon is extremely dangerous. Buzz is a master of understatement. The party of characters that I am currently playing with aren’t exactly low-level, and I have yet to make it more than a few steps beyond the stairs in the second level of the dungeon before having my party get completely wiped out. There are several new monsters added to the Bestiary, most of them being just palette swaps of monsters from the previous two dungeons, albeit bigger, badder, meaner palette swaps. New items are also available, but other than the map for the upper floors of the Deep Levels, they seem to be scarcer than in the two original dungeons. Some of the rewards for the quests may make it very worthwhile, however. The first quest that you’re given has a Priest Book and a Samurai Book as the reward, enabling you to change character class to either of those two classes without having to worry about alignment or attribute values.

While I love this game, I am under no illusions that it is for the faint of heart or for anyone who isn’t into truly old-school-style RPGs. My conclusion about this add-on content is that it is for after everything else in the game has been completed and you’re looking for a serious challenge and some new loot. The frustration level is high, so the levels of your party had better be higher.

Tags: Game Reviews, Reader Reviews!