A typical hack and slash based in the Forgotten Realms universe. No real gripes but nothing to write home about. This version supports ultra-wide monitors and controllers "out of the box", but the in game does not reference the controller buttons at it will still say "Press Ctrl to...". It makes reference to "the black button" so you can assume this is a port of the Xbox version, if that matters. The game has no real fatal flaws but is ultimately shallow as well. Monsters show up, you mash the attack button until they are dead. The characters each play slightly differently but ultimately utilize the same strategy of "Hit it unless it's about to hit me, then block it". My biggest complaint though is that I've either gotten better at Beat 'Em Ups or this game just really isn't that difficult. I'm playing on Hard and enemies just seem to be more numerous rather than actually more difficult.
I don't know if I'm more disappointed in the low production quality or the game's stability. If it were one or the other, I'd be able to at least choke this title down but about 8 hours in, I just couldn't take it anymore. I played this game not long after launch via retail disc and I remember being excited for a 3D Might and Magic title. I didn't get very far as I was in early elementary. Even as a child, I noticed some stability issues such as Drake's walk cycle not completing before resetting but I was still able to hack skeletons apart and that was all I cared about. Now that I'm older and more skilled, I got much further in to the game but not without grudgingly pressing on. Crusaders features a minor platforming element and this is terrible for one specific reason: invisible walls. This is specifically dreadful in the catacombs where you need to hop your way across several stone pillars. Time and time again, I'll jump to the next one only to be bounced back in mid air and fall to my death. If these walls were at least consistent, I could adapt but it seemed like they were in a different place each time I loaded the save file thus forcing me to jump at the same places and just pray that I would make it so that I could save my game and do the same thing with the next jump. After Corantha, you're sent back in to Duskwood to retrieve a sceptre. There is a group of three ogres, one of which has the sceptre. Simply slay him, pick it up, take it back to Corantha according to a walkthrough I found. I slay the first two but then I slay the third and the game reloads the area. I'm standing exactly where I was when I killed him but all three ogres are no longer there, nor is the sceptre. I cannot proceed past this point. I took this as an opportunity to just stop playing. The game isn't great, but it wouldn't be do dismal if it just ran properly. I understand what New World Computing and 3DO went through at the time. Pass this title, and purchase the others.
