Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent when on full graphics, otherwise avoid., 5 Aug 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Admitted, the game requires higher system requirements than it should, but with 2g ram and a good 256/512 graph. card this game is excellent. I personally had no problems with installation, or indeed came crashing, and while the game isn't the best looking, its still pretty good. Once you get used to the controls and the numerous ways to kill your foes, will you then truly appreciate this game for what it is. Game balancing issues are a minor problem, but nothing to complain too badly about (mostly the magic side of it.)
Some of the reviews are not fair, as the give the game 1 star having never played it, but in my opinion, if your computer is up to the challenge, this could become one of your favorites.
So in conclusion, don't avoid this game like the plague, at this rock bottom price, its an excellent bargain. Sure hope this changes a few minds.
|
|
|
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Messiah - RPG/FPS combined., 30 Oct 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Messiah attemtps to merge semi RPG with FPS-style gameplay and successfully creates an new type of game.
Most of my gaming time is taken up by my passion for Guild Wars, in fact most of my time is taken up by Guild Wars! It's about the only game that could have pulled me away from Battlefield 2, which I did play for quite a bit, but got drawn back to GW, which I have been playing solidly for over a year now, as well as run my Guild site and small community.
You may think that GW and Battlefield 2 (and games of it's ilk) have nothing in common, and until now that would have been true. Let me introduce you to Dark Messiah - part of the Might and Magic series. I know nothing at all about the MM series so I won't go into that here, rather I'll just tell you about the Dark Messiah game itself.
The game is in First Person perspective, one connection it has to other FPS games, although as it has no guns etc, it's not really a first person shooter, more of a first person melee or combat game. It's set in a fantasy world, where their advertising blurb tells you don't play as a warrior, or a wizard or an assassin - play as them all! As you follow the exploits of Sareth in the single player storyline you will learn new skills and get new items/weapons which will enable you to become proficient in a specific area or jack-of-all-trades. It's a skill 'tree' if you like, where if you choose one particular branch, you may be weaker on another.
The storyline itself gives you the role playing aspect, and what holds this up apart from other similar games is that it uses Valve's Source engine. For those of you who have played Halflife 2 will know how good that is - infact it's even better because it's an 'enhanced' version to boot. What this means is that the whole 'world' you play in will be very interactive, pick up barrels and throw them at enemies, move boxes around to get at hidden items and so on.
In what basically amounts to a seperate game (but within the same scenario), there is also an online multiplayer aspect for up to 32 players. This is where it becomes more like an FPS game similar to BF2 etc (although without tanks and planes!). There are 5 classes to choose from: Warrior which is your basic soldier, fastest on the field and most powerful when it comes to dealing direct damage as well as taking it; Priestess can be considered the medic of the group with her healing and protective skills; Assassin with his ability to cloak (looks like the Predator!) and stealth attributes can be considered your covert ops specialist; Ranger can also use stealth and ranged attacks (sniper maybe?); and the wizard has been compared to artillery with area of effect attacks etc. The online aspect of the game has been developed independently of the single player game (by an English company!) so should be a good indication that it will play well not just look nice.
Gameplay modes include your standard deathmatch and team deathmatch but also introduces the Crusader mode, where you start off in the middle map of five and depending on whether you win or lose, you will go either forwards or backwards onto the next map until you hopefully reach the enemies stronghold and conquer it to win. Another aspect of gameplay that is similar to BF2 is the use of various spawnpoints and the map on which to select them as well as change you class.
During the campaigns you will earn new skills and become more powerful with better weapons etc, and these will be saved over all the maps until the campaign has finished, when it will be reset - sort of an xp save type of thing. Should you switch to another class mid-battle, you will start that class from scratch but will keep any skills learnt on subsequent changes. Skills that can be gained vary depending on the class but include things like better stealth, zoom attack when using a bow, shield blocking and so on.
Technically, the game ran fine on my low/medium spec system, with both an ATI Radeon 128 Mb 9600 All-in-Wonder card, and now on my nVidia 128 Mb 6600GT, although the video setting will need to be low to medium unless you have a reasonably new card, this is especially important with the Texture setting which can be found in the Advanced section of the video settings.
The game itself has fairly slow loading times, but nowhere near as bad as BF2, in fact I would say they aren't too bad at all. During gameplay I only came across one bug which happened during a cutscene so didn't affect the game at all. The game ran very smoothly on my mediocre system and is a joy to play - it is a genuinely refreshing take on the RPG/FPS scene.
So, if you fancy a bit of swordplay (and be honest, which of you guys didn't have a sword and shield when they were kids!?) in an FPS setting, then this may be right up your street.
One word of warning - as the graphics are so good, as well as the physics of the game, there is a lot of dismemberment and decapitation to be seen, as well as various methods of stabbings and impalements.
If you're interested in this sort of blood and gore, check out the demo which is out now on Fileplanet and other good sources. The game is out now in standard and limited Collector's Editions.
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I always said i hated RPGs until Dark Messiah, 23 Oct 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I have been able to play both the singleplayer demo and multiplayer beta extensively and not only is the singleplayer the most immersive and visceral melee combat I have ever played, but possibly the best use yet of the source engine.
Physics are used effectively to give you an advantage in combat situations and quickly despatch foes, rather than rely on a possibly lengthy one on one combat. The joys involved in kicking an enemy to their death, be it into an abyss a fire or onto spikes could possibly not be entirely legal or moral, but they still raise a smile on my face every time they happen.
As for multiplayer the beta was well balanced and each class was both fun and effective to play as. Experience points earnt through combat, capturing objectives, healing and other useful actions can be invested in gaining extra skills and abilities, or simply improving those you already have. They can instantly be reinvested as the whim takes you, switching points from the electrical tree to the fire tree as a mage for example. It's all about making sure you invest points wisely early on so you can level up at a sensible pace.
But don't let the issues of having top level up when you join a server put you off. Within 20-30 minutes you can be level 5-6 easily with practice and the crusades allow you to level up over a series of maps for a long period of time, so join the right server and you should reach max level long before the crusade ends and points are reset. Don't worry if you join mid way through, it's always possible still to level up (the first level or 2 are achieved very quickly).
As for the gameplay style it is rather like the battlefield series, with capture points/spawns dotted evenly over a map, with both teams aiming to take and hold the majority and drive the enemy back. the ability for assassins to take on the disguise of an enemy soldier or become invisible allows for captures behind the current frontline objectives to put the enemy on a backfoot, so games tend not to get too stagnant as there is always a way to advance.
All in all this game is a must have purchase as far as I'm concerned, and coming from a gamer who previously claimed he despised all RPGs is saying something. It may not have the depth of WoW or the range of singleplayer missions as Oblivion, but what it does provide is a wonderful fantasy FPS with RPG elements and a new benchmark in melee combat along with a very solid and rewarding multiplayer experience.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Suitable for 15 years and over. Not for sale to persons under age 15. By placing an order for this product, you declare that you are 15 years of age or over.
