To Odin, Fenris is a cute little pet, sort of a cross between a Jack Russell terrier and a beagle. The dwarves see the creature different – imagine a huge werewolf with the personality of Cujo, and jaws that would make the Alien (the movie monster) proud.

The crux of the matter is that, while on a walk, Odin lost Fenris (it ran away) and he wants it back. The Norse god has asked the dwarves, who are adept at working beneath the Earth’s surface to find it. To the clan that returns Fenris goes a wealth of treasure: ale, gold, they will become demigods, and – the bribe that sealed the deal – they will be granted beards, like the Vikings.

Diggles: The Myth of Fenris, from Innonics and Strategy First, is a clever program. Part role-playing game and part real-time strategy with civilization features, the game places players in charge of a clan of dwarves, or Diggles, and asks him or her to overcome the childlike attitudes and overall lack of direction (you will have to give them direction by building their work schedule), and guide the clan through a number of quests to the ultimate goal. This game has four different worlds, with more than 100 quests spread across them – which make for a wealth of gameplay.

In the program’s prologue, the long-winded Odin promises the game will be one of treachery and traps, magic and mystery, foes and friends, among other things. To occasionally offer guidance, a winged elf (think full-size version of Tinkerbell from the movie “Hook”), with a bit of an attitude, will fly in.

The game does have a tutorial, which will teach players the basic program controls while under the pretense of winning a tournament for the right to represent the dwarves in Odin’s mission. If you take the full tutorial, be prepared to spend some time with the program. The tutorial is long, and not everything is explained that well. You may end up referring to the small manual for the right hot keys.

The first quest is relatively simple in nature – recover the rings that Fenris was wearing at the time it disappeared. You must establish a camp by setting up your fireplace (it is portable and also akin to a research center), develop the technology for grilling mushrooms (the main nutritional fare of the dwarves) and building tents for shelter, then start tunneling beneath the Earth to begin the adventure.

The rings are important, because your clan will have to forge a chain to restrain Fenris.

Diggles presents a visual treat. The game can be somewhat two-dimensional, though the rendering is three-dimensional and a moveable camera helps create the 3-D feel. But when moving through the ground, there are only horizontal and vertical planes. You can build a cave, which has depth, and which also helps to recover core elements – which help advance your technology.

The animation is quite amazing, and the environments are delightful. This game is loaded with eye candy. Even when zooming the camera all the way in, the graphical elements hold very well without pixelizing. Some of the environmental elements, like trees, are a little sharp-edged, but they have very little to do with main portion of the game.

The Diggles will have indicators above their heads, which will relay what jobs are at hand, what their health is, if they are hungry or tired. In that manner, this program borrows from The Sims. And the character interaction is very well done.

The special effects, like the flashes of light surrounding the fairy, and lighting elements are exquisite.

The sound isn’t as rich, but does a nice job supporting the graphical elements.

The control interface contains a variety of mouse and keyboard combinations. Some of the controls will be familiar to RTS players. You can group the Diggles by dragging the mouse around all of them. However, don’t expect them to respond immediately to your commands. These little characters do have minds of their own, and while the task may be waiting, they will get around to it in their own good time.

Diggles is one of those games that, at first, is merely fascinating to look at, then becomes addictive. Some of the banter and jokes are lame (for example, the winged elf quips “I could teach you more, but let’s leave the thinking to the trolls – they have bigger heads”), but that is forgiven in the overall scheme of the game. And overall, this program is a delight – unique enough in storyline, and visually wonderful to entreat players who launch it.

This program is rated Teen.

Install: Hard
Though only a one-disk installation, this program takes a long time to load, and eats up 943 megs of hard-drive space.

Gameplay: 7.8
The action can be slow to develop (because of the nature of the Diggles), and the game seems to have a linear storyline (as in, while you can move in a number of directions, and create different skills for your Diggles, there is only one solution to problems), but the overall play structure is solid.

Graphics: 9
This game looks very good. Though essentially a two-dimensional program, it does an exceptional job of providing a three-dimensional feel.

Sound: 7
The audio portion of this game is solid, but contains nothing that will surprise players.

Difficulty: 7.8
The tutorial provides some teaching, but fails at other points leaving the manual to fill in the details (which is to be expected).  The game has a standard array of options, and the interface is easy to navigate through. The learning curve is about 40 minutes – with the tutorial taken into account.

Concept: 8.4
This program contains a fresh storyline, and wonderful characters.

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 8.5
Diggles is a wonderful program. It might not be as strong in the action format as other RTS products, and the humor is a little flat, but this program does make up for both those in terms of visual appeal, game depth and story.