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Temple of Elemental Evil: A Classic Greyhawk Adventure, The

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7.1 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
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Based on 20 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Atari

Developer: Troika Games

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: September 16, 2003

Summary

Many years ago in the land of Flanaess, an evil demoness founded a cult dedicated to elemental evil, the four elements as symbols of true evil, and based it in a temple outside the village of Nulb. Eventually, after years of tyranny and chaos, the good armies of the nearby lands, headed by the infamous Circle of Eight descended into the temple and razed it, imprisoning the villains inside. For years thereafter relative peace ensued, as daring adventurers slew the remaining monsters that ravaged the land above and the temple itself faded into but a distant memory...until now. [Atari]

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

GameSpy

A rock-solid RPG that faithfully re-creates a classic adventure. It's only a few interface issues, lackluster storytelling, and a limited scope that keep it from being among the best in its genre.

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GamePro

The lack of multiplayer options is a shame, but TTOEE is the best D&D title in recent memory, especially since parties of different alignments (good, evil, neutral) all face unique plots. This all adds up to one monstrous nonlinear RPG packed with plenty of replay value.

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GameZone

A little typical in terms of graphics and sound, but what this game does bring to the fore is depth of gameplay. It is immersive, and challenging.

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Quandary

This has been quite an enjoyable trip but not one of epic proportions. More story would have gone a long, long way.

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Armchair Empire

It is simply a purity of attempt to re-create the D&D experience that they share, a purity I ultimately appreciated despite the rushed-out-the-door feel of parts of the game.

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PC Gamer

One of D&D's best adventures gets an endearing, if not spellbinding, rendition. [Nov 2003, p.138]

ActionTrip

The sheer complexity of the game clearly guarantees some serious RPG fun. But, the problem is that there's a great deal of gamers out there that never bothered to research the intricate 3.5 AD&D rules. The fact is that during the game, newcomers will surely find themselves tangled up in a sea of RPG details.

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GameSpot

Despite its bugs, The Temple of Elemental Evil stands as one of the most authentic PC Dungeons & Dragons experiences of the past few years.

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IGN

One of the most accurate computer renditions of AD&D ever with an amazing manual and well-detailed in-game encyclopedia.

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PC Format

As close as you can get without pen and paper, but for diehards only.

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Game Over Online

A little boring. There are only two towns and two dungeons in the game, there is absolutely no story to drive things along (when I got to the end boss, I didn’t even realize who it was), and the quests are a joke.

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Game Chronicles

The music is better if your turn it off and the tinny sound effects are a bit disappointing, but at its heart there is a fun and substantial gameplay experience to be had if you have the perseverance to tough it out.

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Computer Games Magazine

Which brings us to the game's greatest flaw, a smorgasbord of bugs, glitches, and blatantly missing features. [Dec 2003, p.82]

Gamers' Temple

Fans of the dungeon crawling genre will have a blast getting lost in the world of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Those virgin to this type of game may be overwhelmed by the wealth of options and complexity of combat.

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Yahoo! Games

Ultimately what we have here is an excellent back-end and a beautiful graphics engine, with a combat-heavy, plot-light module and a few nasty bugs.

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GMR Magazine

The turn-based combat is fast paced, precise, and brutal—they throw the whole freaking Monster Manual at you, and the numbers these monsters roll are crazy deep.

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Game Informer

From the graphics to the gameplay, in the eye of this beholder, Temple of Elemental Evil screams mediocrity. [Nov 2003, p.174]

GameShark

It's definitely the best translation of the traditional D&D game to the PC format. The incorporation of the D&D 3.5 Edition ruleset is great, and works a lot better that the severely lacking and awkward Ruins Of Myth Drannor, released earlier this year.

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PC Gameworld

Promises great things and delivers them patchily. Playing for any length of time is an exercise in frustration - especially since the concept is a great one.

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netjak

Incomplete, plagued by gameplay bugs and experiencing more technical difficulties than any other game since the infamous "Pool of Radiance 2."

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Computer Gaming World

Yet another in the seemingly endless procession of PC games released before it was properly finished, with an unacceptably huge pile of bugs, imbalances, and performance problems that needlessly and stupidly obliterate any goodwill the game itself engenders.

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Game Revolution

A good RPG brought down by the very thing it touted as a feature: complexity. Buggy gameplay and a distinct lack of plot turn this promising game into a lesson in mediocrity.

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G4 TV

With copious patience and enough time, a path through the bugs and design flaws might lead to an enjoyable experience for some persistent players of ToEE. However, digging through garbage to find a gem is still digging through garbage.

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Edge Magazine

Nasty, brutish and short - and that's once you've got past the interface problems. Temple of Elemental Evil is a huge disappointment by any measure. [Christmas 2003, p.124]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Siegfried T gave it an8:
An unerrated classic that is awesome at what it wants to be, although compromised by its bugs. Unfortunately it is often judged by what people suppose it should be rather than what it is. It's a pity that the very qualities that make this game exceptional are often looked upon unfavourably.

Cristiano M. gave it a9:
I want to first point out that my rating is for the game patched with Circle of Eight's unofficial 5.0.5 patch that solves many, many big problems/issues that the game has had (and unfortunately some remains) by also having reworked the main temple.dll file. Said that, I can say that this is a great RPG. But first, things I didn't like: some part of the game seemed a bit amatourish (dialogues, some voices, a rather clumsy AI for moving around) and the game has certainly been released with an awful amount of bugs, with only a small minority of them corrected by the official patch. But the game atmosphere is very good and the rules implementation (mostly combat-wise) are absolutely the best I met in a role playing game. The decision of having turn based combat is certainly a successful one. The graphic gives its best for the interiors and the good 3D animations. A punch in the eyes is the choice of adding those "doors" that would take you to a next location. The game is deep enough and enjoyable with a special care given to the character generation (here too, ToEE is the best RPG I played). Sound-wise, the special effects are good while the music seemed a bit uninspired to me. Nice to hear a tune while the bard plays his/her instrument though (it might have been a Co8 5.0.5 addition though...). Too bad Troika ended up being dismantled. The two games I played (this one and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines) were great products and will always be part of my videogame collection. Full 9 out of 10 (without Co8 patch: 6 out of 10).

Polar Bear gave it a9:
This is one of the best digital expressions of dungeons and dragons ever, it includes most of the skills from pen and paper. It does have a few bugs tho.

Anson G. gave it a4:
I cant figure it out how to play this game. Its too difficult. It maybe a good game but the battle system is hard. Those who gave a 10, means u are professional in this game. But those who gave below 6 u should play neverwinter nights. It will be much easier for u.

S V gave it a3:
After playing Icewind Dale and Baldurs Gate I was looking forward to some new D and D style play. I was woefully disappointed! The interface for this game is so lame that combat takes FOREVER and the graphics are so dark I frequently couldn't tell where all of my characters were. I junked this disk and decided to replay Icewind Dale. Avoid!

Bruno gave it a9:
This game is not for everyone. Players that grew up on platform rpgs like kotor wont like this. This is much deeper game with intelligent dialogues. The amount of non-linearity is just amazing. All Troika's games are excellent (arcanum is one of the best RPG's ever made, and vampire is great as well). TOEE is getting back to the rpg's roots. But i'm sure all those kids that their first experience with rpg was NwN or kotor shouldnt even try it. Cause you will hate, this game is for serious and patient players.

Cristiano M. gave it an8:
The game is released with unacceptable bugs that seriously compromise gameplay. Luckily, there are now patches out by Atari which don't cover everything anyway. As usual the unofficial patches (Circle of Eight) do a great job raising dramatically the enjoyment of a solid RPG which is unfortunately lacking a good story. My vote refers to a game patched with the official and unofficial patches! Unfortunately no patch will improve a weak storyline. Great combat system!

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Temple of Elemental Evil: A Classic Greyhawk Adventure, The

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