The sequel to Betrayal at Krondor is somewhat disappointing.

A good year or two ago I heard there would be a sequel to Betrayal at Krondor, the best single player RPG I had ever played. Also being a huge fan of Feist, I was really looking forward to seeing how the game would turn out. Unfortunately I was rather disappointed.

When I think of Feist I expect great story and a good amount of it. Return to Krondor didn't really deliver this. There was good story, but not very much. The game starts with you (Squire James) who has been sent out to meet with the new court mage. As you go along you may meet up with various people who want to fight you, usually inside houses along the way. This I found rather strange. While I can understand some people hating you and wanting to kill you merely because you work for the King (and they probably see you as a stupid little dandy), it just doesn't make sense that almost everyone you meet with wants to kill you.

Interested yet? You really should be. The game can be quite a bit of fun. The game looks great without 3D acceleration and even better with. While graphics are very important, I believe a game (especially an RPG) is nothing without a good storyline. This brings me back to my main complaint with the game. In Betrayal at Krondor there was tons of story everywhere you went. When you started a chapter there were pages of story to read before you started it, and reading it wasn't a task, it was fun. You really felt immersed in the game, that you really knew the characters. The story continued while you played as well. Every time you met up with someone along the way it was part of the story, and there were interesting sub plots with interesting stories of their own. In Return to Krondor there is a tiny little bit of reading at the starting of the chapters which is written by Pug. The voice acting is in my opinion cheesy at best. Throughout the game there is not much interesting talk with people, and when there is you usually have to pay for it (in cash) or it's very short.

Now for my second complaint. Size. Betrayal at Krondor was huge. You had a whole great big country to travel (continent perhaps?). You could travel all over a huge map and there were things everywhere. One chapter was even set in another world. In Return to Krondor there is only one city (Krondor of course), and the sewers of Krondor.

My last complaint is small since it happens in most games. Many things in this game can become very tedious quickly. One big problem I had with it was a lack of keyboard use. You couldn't just press a macro button for most things -- you had to go through screen to screen. Also selling items was a serious pain. You had to do everything once at a time; you couldn't select a bunch of items to sell at once. I found this very annoying.

I've only been hard on this game because I know the story in and out and I expected more. Complaints aside I really liked the game and I would recommend it. The fights are fun, and it has an option that if you don't feel like thinking you can just press the C button and the computer will fight for you (nice.) The graphics are great. Great models, and great lighting make for good fights. The environment graphics are really nice as well. Lots of thought went into detail. There is a good amount of things to see (although much of it is in chapter 3 just like in Btk where you get lost in the sewers.) Above all, if you're a fan of Raymond E. Feist get this game just for the coolness factor.

My closing suggestion? Go out to your nearest software store (support your local small business), and pick up this game. Make your own opinions; I think you'll like it.

Reviewed by Aaron Goselin aka Nakor, PC Gameworld.