For those new to the genre, Greyhawk is a role playing game where players take on the roles of fighters, wizards, thieves and clerics. Their goal is to battle all kinds of monsters and mythological beasts to accumulate treasure and magic items while gaining more experience. In it's traditional form it is a table top game played with dice and rule books as well as model figures representing each player or monster.

The Temple of Elemental Evil begins with the player selecting a team of adventurers. You can either select from some pre-thrown characters or elect to create your own. There is a comprehensive character generation system that allows you to build up a party of differing professions. Like the tabletop game you have to make choices as to the levels of different attributes (strength, wisdom, dexterity etc), skills (open locks, hide, move silently etc) and feats (such as two weapon proficiency). All of these follow as closely as possible the 3.5 rule set of Dungeon and Dragons. Careful selection is required at this point as later on in the game mistakes made here in selecting the right skills can make the game all the more difficult. Unfortunately the on screen description of each skill and feat is very minimal and either prior knowledge of the rules is required or constant reference to the manual.

Tip: When selecting attributes for your characters put the maximum points you can into the prime attribute for the character (strength for fighters, wisdom for clerics etc). Greater points in the prime areas allow for more effective characters.

There is also a small degree of customization available for the on screen characters with the ability to adjust character height and also hair color. More of an after thought as your characters change throughout the game as they acquire better armor and weapons.

You can have up to 5 members in your party at start up (all start at level 1 in experience), however you can acquire some Non Player Characters (NPCs) as you progress through the game.

Tip: Go for the maximum amount of characters right at the beginning. A good balanced party is required with at least two good fighter types, a cleric to heal the party, at least one spell caster (2 if possible) and a rogue. Although some of the NPCs you pick up are good you have limited control over them and some can be more of a liability than a help.

Right at the start of the game you have to choose between a 'normal' game and an 'Iron man' game. The difference being that in the latter you can not re-roll unfavorable statistics and you can only save at certain points in the game.

One other important aspect of party creation is the choice of party alignment. Alignment determines if your party is bunch of do gooders, mostly good, a bit dodgy or an out an out under arm bowler. If you have an evil party, only party members of an evil or near evil bent will associate with it. The same applies to NPC characters and the various traders and villagers you meet. If you are on the side of good then you may find certain people more willing to talk and trade with you.

Tip: The choice of party alignment fits the style in which you will play the game. If you chose an evil party then you can earn extra cash by stealing and stand over tactics, while a good party will gain cash by completing certain quests. It's important that you play within each style to benefit most out of chosen alignment.

The game also has a very basic tutorial that you play through that will give you a very high level view of the game mechanics such as how to fight, open doors and interact with different characters. It is very simplistic and may help those new to the game concept however it is ultimately of limited value given the huge amount of choices available to players.

Players start in the village of 'Hommlet' which is your basic medieval farming village. After a little bit of exploring you soon find there is an incredible amount of depth to the game environment. Unlike the usual staples of these types of game like a blacksmith and potion come magic salesman (or woman) this village is like it's own soap opera. There is the weaver and his family, the cheese maker (bless em), jeweller, a druid (who is the black smith) and many more people populating the village. Each has their own story to tell and this can be learnt through the simple interface of clicking on the character in question and using the list of suitable replies. Some have their own voice overs which are done very well and the choices of replies are such that it does take some time to get the gist of what is happening here abouts.

Tip: Although it can seem monotonous at first it is important to talk to as many people as possible. Some conversation can effect later event in the game.

As you move about you can note your progress on the map interface button. You have the choice of either a town view which will show you in some detail your immediate surrounds and there is the world view where you can travel long distances between the major areas of interest.

Once you have picked up the story line it is off on your first adventure and without spoiling too much of the story the game starts with a little side dungeon to the moat house. This introduction dungeon is obviously to allow you to gain a few levels of ability for the main event and pick up some suitable equipment to hold you in good stead for the things to come.

Once you start adventuring proper some of the features and short falls of the game become apparent. In the first instance there is the character interface. This is bought up by left clicking on the character to select them and then right clicking to pull up a wheel overlay for some basic functions which drill down further more options by creating a further layer of spokes in the wheel. At first this can be a bit awkward to get the hang of and in the heat of battle you can sometimes find yourself selecting the wrong options. The amount available can be bewildering as well. With the desire to stay true to the original game rules players can not only attack, there is also faint, blocking and tripping options to name but a few. The amount of options also means that the wheel gets so big that you can't see all of it on screen without readjusting the viewing area.

Spells are also accessed from this same wheel then a further ring of spokes for the spells themselves. In true D&D fashion you have a limited amount of spells you can learn at the beginning and this slowly increases as you gain in ability.

Tip: Spell selection, especially at lower levels is critical for success in the game. A good stable for magic users is the sleep and web spells. The latter is something you will find yourself turning to time and again even at later levels. Look to use combinations such as sleep and web. A fighter with a free action ring then can happily go to each slumbering monster and make it a permanent sleep while those that saved from the sleep are generally caught in the web and can be 'bowed' to death.