(CNN) -- The Russians have given us another insidious computer game to zap our time and keep us up at night (do you remember Tetris?). "Rage of Mages" is a new role-playing game published by Monolith Productions, which combines RPG adventure with real-time action. Rage weaves elements like character type, weapons skill and magical spells with a complex real-time battle engine that will give both your keyboard and your strategic ability a beating. Though the graphics aren't cutting edge and there are some rough spots in the translation from Russian, "Rage of Mages" comes through as a fun, fast-paced adventure.

This game was originally released in Russia as "Allods: Sealed Mystery" and the CD-ROM icon still bears that name. I can't figure out why they changed the title. At least "Allods: Sealed Mystery" has something to do with the game, since the imaginary world you are trying to save is called Allods. This game was already a hit in Russia before Monolith decided to publish it in the United States. The translation from Russian is spotty. In some places there are Bee homes (instead of hives), and hearty adventurers will wonder why the strength attribute is called body or the dexterity attribute reaction. The manual is a pretty bad translation. Although most of the words are English, the grammar is atrocious and run-on sentences abound. Monolith would be well advised to get some battle hardened RPG fiend to proof the manual. I found it wise to play some and consult the manual later after getting some game experience. I'd rate the manual as poor, worse than a rusty -2 cursed dagger.

"Rage of Mages" gameplay graphics use a overhead point of view.
The graphics of "Rage of Mages" are pretty, but low tech compared to "Myth" or other new 3D titles. You get an overhead view of the world which is pretty much two-dimensional, except for some hills. Dynamic lighting and day and night lighting give the graphics some zing and the images of the armor and weapons really shine. Overall the graphics are medium, a 13 on a 20-sided die.

The RPG elements of "Rage of Mages" are excellent. It's organized as a series of quests, each one harder that the last, and each one containing more treasure and goodies. You can hire mercenaries to help you on your quest, but be forewarned: if you always let the mercenaries fight, your characters will never gain experience. All experience increases your hit points. If you are a fighter, you can increase your ability to hit and damage with blades, axes, bludgeons, pikes and shooting. A mage can increase experience in different spell areas, including fire, air, water, earth and astral. Although you start out as a single character, along the way you will meet other adventurers, who join your party.

An important foundation for any adventure game is a goodly assortment of challenging monsters. "Rage of Mages" succeeds. Although some more monster variety would have been nice, these nasties are quite difficult. It's a good sign when you can't send your fighters charging into battle but instead have to devise a plan, which involves your mages, a bowman, your fighters, and some mercenaries. If one of your adventurer characters dies during a fight, you lose the game. So as in "Diablo," you will find yourself repeatedly saving and starting over with new tactics.

The armory lets you choose from a wide variety of weapons, potions and protective wear.
As your adventure grows, you can buy many types of armor, weapons, magical items and supplies. The variety and number of items is excellent. You also need to decide what type and how many mercenaries to hire for your next adventure. I'd rate the role playing game elements of "Rage of Mages excellent," better than a +5 amulet of protection.

Back in 1983, I played "Ultima III" on an Apple II+ and cheated by wedging a pencil into my keyboard to skip turns in order to get more monsters to fight. I am ashamed to say I found myself employing similar tactics with Rage of Mages. I would find a particularly hard monster and use them to "train" my characters by attacking them with less than lethal force for hours at a time. I am not sure this is a sign of a good adventure game, but the game was challenging and absorbing enough for me to do it.

Here are some tips for game play. Always explore the entire map of every level, because you never know what goodies you will find. Have your fighters learn a variety of different fighting skills, because they will come in handy, and you will stop gaining experience if you get to 100 in any particular fighting area. Later in the game, creating stone walls with your mages can help keep monsters from bashing your skull in you while you kill them with fire walls and arrows. In especially difficult battles, you'll find that reducing the game speed is necessary so that you can control each character. And finally, for those who like to have every advantage, the game decides how much gold a monster will give you when the monster dies. If you save the game right before killing an ogre or a troll, you can reload several times and maximize your haul.

"Rage of Mages" allows you to play with up to 16 people over the Internet, local area networks and modems. So gather up your sword for slicing, kill the Orcs, avoid the booby traps, steal some gold and get your copy of "Rage of Mages." The game requires Windows 95/NT, a Pentium 100, 16 megs of ram (although it prefers 32), a fast video card, and 85 megs of hard drive space.