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• ASIN: B0002TSQXW
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,716 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still one of the very best games ever released, May 22, 2006

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

In terms of playability and downright addictive fun, Magic Carpet 2 ranks up there with the best of them, despite the fact it was released way back in 1995. Today's young gamers have probably never heard of this game or its maker (Bullfrog), but Magic Carpet and this, its stellar successor, blew the critics out of the water. Back in the day, long before anyone ever heard of Blizzard, Bullfrog was a name you could depend on to put out quality, bug-free games - until Bullfrog was swallowed up by Electronic Arts, that is. For reasons I cannot fathom, however, Magic Carpet 2 did not enjoy the phenomenal sales success of its predecessor - despite the fact it is a far more impressive game. To me, this is easily one of the top three games ever released.

Back in 1995, the Magic Carpet 3D engine was spoken of in reverent tones, especially after Magic Carpet 2 revealed its true wonders: wonderful lighting effects in both outdoor settings and underground, lava-filled caverns; magnificent reflections; and smooth, rolling graphics throughout. The game's visually incredible atmosphere was further amplified by terrific audio effects such as dripping water, exploding volcanoes, the gentle lapping of waves rolling ashore, and distinctive sounds alerting you to the presence of numerous monsters and foes. Even if you closed your eyes, you could still pretty much figure out where you were and who you were fighting at any given time.

Here's the whole concept: you're a wizard's apprentice who, with the help of your deceased master, must take on Vissuluth and all of his minions (including a number of evil sorcerers and 20 different breeds of monsters) in order to rid the Netherworlds of the demon lord's destructive evil. The monsters come at you from land, sea, and air, from lumbering giant centipedes to monstrous sea creatures to the wickedly formidable hydra. On many a world, you'll also face up to a half dozen powerful wizards eager to destroy your castle and banish you from the Netherworlds for good. If you somehow make it through the game's 25 challenging regions (and a handful of bonus worlds there for you to discover), you then face the enormous challenge of taking on Vissuluth himself (and he's a pretty hard nut to crack).

You start out with two little spells and your magic carpet. On each level, you must create a castle and collect all the mana you can so as to expand your HQ and increase your spell-casting powers. Your main sources of mana are the creatures who keep attacking you - spiders, wyrms, vicious dogs, really annoying bees, etc. Kill them, possess their mana, and try to keep any other wizards from possessing your newly claimed booty before your balloons arrive to take it back to your castle. Each world holds hidden, well-protected spells that will aid you greatly in your quest. There are 25 spells in all, which is a lot, but each spells has three different levels, basically giving you an amazing 75 ways in which to take care of business. There's nothing better than your own private meteor shower raining down on your opponent's castle, but you can also unleash volcanic eruptions, vicious windstorms, earthquakes, gravity mines, fierce lightning strikes, and assorted other nasty surprises. You can also steal mana from your opponent, lock him in for a one-on-one duel, zoom away at super-speed, etc. Magic Carpet 2 pretty much has it all.

The interface does a lot to make things easy on you (there's a constant localized map on the screen, a complete map is always available at the touch of the Enter key, you can quickly switch spells for both the left and right mouse buttons using the Ctrl key, and the relative strength of your opponents can also be viewed at any given time), but there is one caveat to the game. It can be devilishly hard to get the hang of controlling that magic carpet of yours. It requires you to use the mouse and keyboard simultaneously (I'm not sure how or even if a joystick would work) - the arrow keys control your movement forwards and backwards, while the mouse controls your vertical orientation and helps you to turn. When you first play the game, you may well feel as if you have no control whatsoever. Have patience, and resist the urge to just give up. Eventually, you'll develop a feel for the controls, and a world of wonderful gameplay will await you.

This is a DOS-based game, so you'll either need a PC sporting an old, DOS-supporting operating system or a DOS emulator running on your modern pride and joy - I use Dosbox, and Magic Carpet 2 runs just fine in that environment.

I have to add an additional word about the controls. Back in the mid-90s, I played this game for hours on end with no ill effects, but my recent return to the game has resulted in some tingling and numbness in the last two fingers of my left hand (which I use with the keyboard). It's a lot like the feeling you get after you hit your funny bone, but the strange feeling persists for up to a week or more. Odds are, this won't happen to you - but then again, it might. It's worth it, though - this game is just incredibly fun to play.