PC Games – Dungeons & Dragons EOB

The Dungeons & Dragons Eye Of The Beholder series was one of the most popular PC adventure games that ever came out. It was one of the first really big ones and started what would become a very long line of other similar types of games by a number of companies. But Dungeons & Dragons was the pioneer.

The series was issued in three installments, simply titled Eye Of The Beholder, Eye Of The Beholder II and Eye Of The Beholder III. There were sub titles to each game but most people only remember them by their version number. In all honesty, the version number was all you needed as each game was so much different from the one before it.

The original Eye Of The Beholder was a very simple and rather crude game graphically speaking. It came on one floppy disk, which should give you an idea of how simple it was. But in spite of the old fashioned graphics this game was as exciting as it came. Around every corner was a new challenge. The puzzles in the game itself were so complex that unless you were an expert at these games you couldn’t get through them without the clue book. Clue book sales were very big for all three games.

The concept of EOB was simple. Your team of adventurers was given a mission by the king of the land. You then went out on the mission and tried to complete it without getting killed. There were 12 levels in the game so it took quite a long time to get through the whole thing, even with the clue book. The creatures were many, including skeletons, goblins and of course the evil Beholder himself, one very dangerous creature. In order to ultimately win the game you had to get by him, which was no easy task.

Eye Of The Beholder II was a vast improvement over the original. The graphics were a little cleaner and it was much harder. There were many more levels and the final battle itself, against the evil dragon, was even harder than the one against the beholder. In this game you also fought not just one beholder but many. Again, the clue book was a must for this game as the puzzles in the game are mind boggling to say the least.

Unfortunately, Eye Of The Beholder III was a step back from number two. Yes, it was even more involved and the final battle was so hard that your hands could go numb trying to get through it, but the game itself was very disjointed. Things in it didn’t seem to go very well together and many of the puzzles seemed thrown together. Plus, they changed the battle mechanism. In an effort to make it easier, they only made it not as interesting. The game itself just had no real heart to it. Oddly enough, it was the least popular of the series and after number three the Beholder series was done.

In spite of its disappointing finish, this series was still one of the most popular early adventure games of all time, even to this day.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to PC Games