2.5 stars -- It's not a bad game, but it very much fell short of my expectations. Gameplay like Zelda? Sure. Magic like Magicka? No way. I heard it had a huge variety of magic customization. But instead of saying "here are a few things, now combine them freestyle" (ala Magicka), it says -- "you have four spells, and you can customize their properties". Sure, you can customize the 4 spells in many ways... but... four spells (okay, there's a modifier button to increase spell options a little). Seriously, in a magic-focused action rpg that's halfway about going and learning runes to modify spells... I shouldn't be locked into just a few spells. The biggest reason I wanted to play this is because I heard there was a lot of spell versatility. Unfortunately, I wanted and expected more than just configurable spells. Graphics are okay but more cartoony than I personally like. Puzzles are okay. Very dependent on simply going places in order and having the right runes rather than a puzzle itself (which is okay, but it's not exactly cerebral). Story wasn't *bad*, but for supposedly being written by an old-school experienced author... it falls short. Very short. It seemed more like modern simplistic wish-fulfillment fantasy than reasonable progression. "You're a mage! Now go beat the bad guy and save the kingdom! With no training! (Even though there are actual fully-trained mages in hiding)." Also, I don't like checkpoint saves -- the tedium of repeating a whole section just to get to the actual challenge part is just a waste. Overall, it was actually pretty fun -- until I just got tired and stopped playing suddenly and didn't miss it.
