Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds

North American box art.

Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds is a first person shooter set in a fantasy Middle Eastern setting and sequel to Magic Carpet. It was developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts for DOS and Windows in 1995. Like the first game, you control a wizard who rides on a magic carpet and uses magical spells to destroy monsters in an attempt to restore harmony to each world you enter. Slain monsters leave behind mana which you can collect and bring to your castle to increase to power of your spells so you can defeat more powerful monsters. Other wizards also inhabit the land and you must compete with them at collecting mana. There are many spells to learn and 50 worlds to save. The game introduces new spells, monsters, and two new environments, night time worlds and underground worlds.

I first played Magic Carpet 2 at the same friend's house where I played the first. He had gotten it for Christmas, and we played it quite regularly for awhile, but never finished it. Later, I bought a discount copy for myself and played it through to completion.

Status

I own a Windows copy of this game on CD, and have beaten it.

Review

• Overall: 7/10
• Best Version: Windows

Good

• Like the first game, it has great graphics, sound, music, and animation. The real-time landscape changes are amazing, the theme is great, and so on.
• The new spells and being able to level-up your spells was a nice addition.
• The new terrains (night and underground) add an interesting element to the game, and so do the new monsters.
• The added over world map is a nice framing device for the levels.

Bad

• The main villain, Vissuluth, who appears in cut-scenes, never makes an appearance in the game, and you don't defeat him directly. The last level is just a difficult normal level that ends when you kill all the monsters.
• The game is only half as long as the first.
• The controls are a bit difficult at first, but you quickly become acclimated.
• The 3D doesn't work very well.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Box Art

• 

  The American box art shows the player riding the titular magic carpet while casting a huge fireball with Vissuluth reaching out toward him. While the CGI doesn't hold up, it's still a good action scene that gets the game's message across. I prefer this art.

• 

  The European art, for some reason, eliminates the player on the cover showing only Vissuluth now hurling a fireball. This loses the message and also focuses on a villain that you never fight.

Documentation

• 

  The UK game manual.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/dos/magic-carpet-2-the-netherworlds - MobyGames.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Carpet_2 - Wikipedia.
• gamefaqs.com/pc/197836-magic-carpet-2-the-netherworlds - GameFAQs.