Posted September 13, 2009
Excepting Shadowgate Classic, this is my first "real" dungeon crawler. With that in mind, I tried the demo of this game a couple of times, determined to get into it, but I was initially put off by the graphics and controls (why won't THIS do THAT!!). Turns out the manual is a huge help, though the in-game tutorial does an okay job too. Anyway, my point is I learned to really love the graphical style as well as the controls -- wouldn't have 'em any other way, now. So, even if you do find it rough around the edges at first, don't give up as the game is highly addictive once you get the hang of it.
I dig the story of the game pretty well, although Arkane does seem to have a real thing for the "who am I...world is in peril...chosen one talk...oh, I am the chosen one" plot (referring to its spiritual sequel Dark Messiah, if you didn't catch it). Nothing really the matter with this, anyway, and there's lots of lore if you want to get into that. The painting-style cutscenes add a nice touch, as well.
The meat of Arx is in its gameplay, though, of course. Basically it has all the elements you'd expect from this kind of game (hack/slash, lots of weapons and armor, magic, levels, stats, etc), but it's styled in such a way I find it irresistable and charming. Plus, the terribly innovative spellcasting system adds a whole other dimension to the game (and level of addictiveness -- must hunt down every rune!). While to the less "hardcore" players this could be tedious, I really didn't find it too bad, and enjoyed that it kind of encouraged me to whip out a pen and paper now and then. There's also a bunch of sweet secret spells to discover -- check the forums for those. After having just come from Dark Messiah (which I did really like), I do have to say Arx is an infinitely deeper game, and for me personally, much more enjoyable.
Audio is also great -- quite ambient, and used sparingly, which I found helped suck me in (that takes finesse). Mostly I much like the voice acting; dialogue is quite funny at times, a good contrast with the dark nature of the world here.
All in all, a highly immersive game -- in many ways you really feel like you're living in this universe...a tough thing for any developer to achieve, no doubt, but Arkane pulled it off very well, and so I say let yourself be drawn in -- highly recommended to any RPG or dungeon crawler fan, particularly for the insane $6 pricetag and extras.
I dig the story of the game pretty well, although Arkane does seem to have a real thing for the "who am I...world is in peril...chosen one talk...oh, I am the chosen one" plot (referring to its spiritual sequel Dark Messiah, if you didn't catch it). Nothing really the matter with this, anyway, and there's lots of lore if you want to get into that. The painting-style cutscenes add a nice touch, as well.
The meat of Arx is in its gameplay, though, of course. Basically it has all the elements you'd expect from this kind of game (hack/slash, lots of weapons and armor, magic, levels, stats, etc), but it's styled in such a way I find it irresistable and charming. Plus, the terribly innovative spellcasting system adds a whole other dimension to the game (and level of addictiveness -- must hunt down every rune!). While to the less "hardcore" players this could be tedious, I really didn't find it too bad, and enjoyed that it kind of encouraged me to whip out a pen and paper now and then. There's also a bunch of sweet secret spells to discover -- check the forums for those. After having just come from Dark Messiah (which I did really like), I do have to say Arx is an infinitely deeper game, and for me personally, much more enjoyable.
Audio is also great -- quite ambient, and used sparingly, which I found helped suck me in (that takes finesse). Mostly I much like the voice acting; dialogue is quite funny at times, a good contrast with the dark nature of the world here.
All in all, a highly immersive game -- in many ways you really feel like you're living in this universe...a tough thing for any developer to achieve, no doubt, but Arkane pulled it off very well, and so I say let yourself be drawn in -- highly recommended to any RPG or dungeon crawler fan, particularly for the insane $6 pricetag and extras.