The Game Of The Decade Is Here!

The original Witcher was a great game, whereas the sequel was even better, bigger and more beautiful in every aspect. Following on this trend of building upon and improving their achievements, CD PROJEKT RED, the small Polish developer that has humbled gaming behemoths for years, released their best game yet. And what a game THE WITCHER III: WILD HUNT is!

THE BEST VIRTUAL WORLD I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED

Yes, the world of The Witcher III is huge, far larger than Skyrim. Far more importantly though, it feels more real and it is full of life.

The game throws you in a world of unparalleled beauty with details that keep unfolding the closer you observe it. Every spade of grass and every pebble looks real and obeys the laws of physics as set by the new REDengine. From the night and day and weather cycles to gear that gets damaged and needs to be repaired by blacksmiths and from growing facial hair to NPCs with real lives, the world of The Witcher absorbs you in and never, ever lets you go. The flames of Igni feel absolutely real as do bodies of water. Beasts and humans will do the unexpected whereas the skies sheltering your travels are absolutely mesmerizing. One can easily spend hours in the game simply observing the gorgeous world around him.

There are some concessions to absolute realism one can take advantage off (quick traveling and in-battle repairs for example); however, purists can ignore them and sink in the extra hours to go old school. 

Now, all these come at a price. A couple of weeks ago, I made sure to upgrade to a nVidia 960 (pouring with a brand new 352.86 driver) and 12GB of RAM just for this game (at some point, CD PROJEKT has to ask ASUS for dividends!) and the game runs smoothly at Ultra. 

(Also, no save-files crashes this time around. So far).

AN EPIC SCORE FOR AN EPIC STORY
Once more, the music is an essential part of both the atmosphere and the gaming experience. The composers are different than those of the previous games and this translates into a novel approach to the world of Geralt of Rivia. You will recognize a number of variations on themes from the previous games and it feels like meeting old friends, matured yet still dear to you; however, I found the music more subtle and effective and not less powerful.

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION WISELY
Remember the days form the very first Witcher when you basically finished the game with the same sword and kept saving every last oren to buy the 5,000O leather jacket? Well, Geralt not only yields an extra crossbow but he also enjoys an ever growing choice of armor and weapons. Combine this with a huge library of books and an endless supply of potion and bombs ingredients and you will soon find your hero to be overburdened. And then you realize that there is no storage chest! Not to worry, the game now employes Roach's saddlebag (buy it as soon as possible and enlarged it). This way your storage is always close by. And, take my advice, do not sell anything! From ingredients to older swords, you will need them for crafting. And even find loot is abundant, it always feel great to gather all the ingredients to finally forge a sword or a piece of armor whose schematics you had been carrying for some time.

IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTROLLING THE WORLD AROUND YOU
Some people have been complaining about the PC controls and, up to a point, I can understand why. As with all games, I remap almost everything so that I am able to use only the right end of the keyboard (arrows for movement are default here but I use the Num-keys 1-5 to select my Sign, Num-0 to use it, / for the steel sword, * for the silver one, and so on). The game is enjoyable when set at the highest difficulty one can survive at so having quickly accessible controls are essential. That is why I hope to see a key-rebinding option Menu soon and not have to dive in the input.settings file.


The Expansion Pass will cover the Expansion (as per CD PROJEKT RED's practices, all DLCs are to be free). And if they are known for anything is offering a more than fair value for the released products.

WITH MY HIGHEST RECOMMENDATIONS!

Nothing Is Sacred Anymore...

The original Sacred was a great game that, although not exactly groundbreaking, it offered many hours of action-cRPG fun. What is more, its publisher had the good sense to price it reasonably from the start and thus fight piracy in the most effective way.

Sacred II, although enjoys more demanding environmental graphics and spell effects, is just another victim of clueless gaming industry executives. Instead of learning from the history of their own game, they'd rather idiotically jump on the "SecuROM/Limited Activations" bandwagon. After all, if they can hide behind the "everyone is doing it" excuse, who can blame them when the game does poorly?

They are obviously under the illusion that selling at full price a game that is actually rented will fail to be...noticed! Respect is a two way street - and underestimating gamers' intelligence is not a good start.

It is a shame that Sacred II got shot in the foot by its own publisher. Now, instead of being another success, it will simply be another game sacrificed on the alter of corporate Greed and marketing incompetency.

Avoid.

A True Prince Amongst Thieves

There was an extra reason for gamers to rejoice Holiday season of 2008: draconian DRM schemes appeared to be on their way out. First Bethesda striped SecuROM to the bare minimum for FALLOUT 3; then DRM-free World of Goo (an indie game!) outperforms Spore - a 45-million flop; and, finally, UbiSoft decides to walk the narrow yet honest path towards customer loyalty, by releasing a DRM-free game. Yes, Prince of Persia is DRM-Free!

This was either a very decent and brave decision (after all, only a month ago, Far Cry 2 came with a fully activated SecuROM 7.xx and Limited Installations) or it was an experiment: the executives wanted to see whether games do indeed sell good either with or without intrusive DRM.

Either way, UbiSoft deserved to be congratulated.

I was one of the first to chastise their decisions to ruin good games with heavy-handed DRM schemes. It is only fair to be one of the first to congratulate them on a customer-first decision. And because talk is cheap, I bought my copy the moment it was released. I would advise anyone who would care to listen to vote with his or her wallet and support such a gutsy decision. Because it sure takes guts to go against the current and brake ranks with the other greedy game publishers. And, this time, the Canadians at UbiSoft (Montreal) proved they have brass ones.

The game itself is simplified fun. The graphics are clear and fresh in a comic-book/retro way (known as cel-shaded) and the gameplay enjoys (or suffers, depending on your point of view) a number of assists that make it easier and flowing. Probably, too easy. You will not get the frustrations of repeated deaths but neither the satisfaction of finally making it through a hard boss.

The game does give off a platform feeling (combos on a PC game always give me an awkward feeling as they are much easier with a gamepad - but that again, this is an action game, it is to be expected). 

All in all, a good game that still deserves our support.

Gaming Is Still Crossing The Dark Mines of Moira

"One ring to rule them all, 

one ring to find them, 

one ring to bring them all 

and in the darkness bind them."

Well, it sure is more honest than the vapid..."Challenge Everything!"

Darkness still spreads on the land of gaming. The number of games that get ruined by the bundled DRM schemes keeps growing. Lord of the Rings:Conquest is just another edition. Burdened with SecuROM 7++, OnLine Activation requirement and Limited Installations it is bound to follow in the steps of Red Alert 3 and Spore: yet another expensive EA flop.

In the spirit of the Tolkien epic, EA is the Dark Lord Sauron that tries to watch everything from its tower of power. Greed in the heart, contempt in the nostrils, arrogance in the eye. Unfortunately for such entities (and contrary to board-meeting projections) not every gamer is either an Orc or a Troll. Some of us decided to take a stand. And fight back. And our numbers are growing.

No matter how many Nazguls EA releases this time around, in the end, the Ring of DRM rule will be cast in the burning heart of Mount Doom.

And the land of Gaming shall be free to dream again.

Three Times The Fun

These are the years of PC gaming that will be known as the Underdog Era: full of indie masterpieces and megapublishers flops. World Of Goo, iFluid,Crayon Physics, Defense Grid: The Awakening, all released by small independent companies, were rewarded by much better financial returns than overhyped behemoths of the likes of Red Alert 3, Anno 1404 and Spore. It was not unexpected; after all, just like Limited Installations, greed only pays for a limited number of turns.

Trine is an excellent physics action/arcade game. You control three interchangeable characters (a thief, a wizard and a warrior). Each has his/hers special abilities, from shooting griping hooks to levitating objects and smashing things up. At any point, you can select which one suits you best. Obstacles have to be turned, balanced, jumped over or simply smashed. Enemies have to be wiped out. And vials have to be discovered and collected before reaching the goal.

Between levels there are checkpoints but, annoyingly, no regular saving is possible (hence the star withheld). If a character dies you are only left with the other(s) to finish off the level. If it is impossible without the missing character(s)' abilities you can always revert to the last checkpoint.

The graphics are just beautiful! PhysX is required however, so nVIDIA gamers rejoice. The sounds and voices are nicely done and clearly add to the enjoyment of the game. Overall, I have been playing this gem for almost a week now and apart for the checkpoint saves I can only say good things about it.

Trine comes with STEAM (in fact it was released first on that platform) and you will need to be online to post accomplishments - but there are neither limits on the number of installations nor any RootKits of the likes of SecuROM.

A Chest Of Gems. Some Polished, Others Raw

I have a confession to make: when the first IceWind Dale came out I bought maybe the first copy and rushed home to immerse into it. It was summer of 2000 and I had just polished off the excellent Baldur's Gate and the incomparable Planescape: Torment. A day into IceWind Dale and I absolutely hated it!

The graphics were comparable (all three games share the same engine) and the gameplay was almost identical. The music was excellent and certain tunes stayed with me ever since. The storyline was nothing to complain about - after all, any story set in "the spine of the world" can hardly go wrong! What I did not appreciate was the rushed feeling of a job on an impossible deadline.

In order to prolong the duration of the game, much smaller maps were stuffed with a far greater number of powerful foes - and almost nothing could be solved without combat. As a result, what was expected to be an enjoyable experience turned into a chore of endless autopausing, retargeting and constant battling.

Having said the above, I must admit that, in hindsight, my complains seem trivial. Little did I know at the time how far into hell greed would drive the gaming industry. Compared to 3-4 hour games, extra charges for essential content, Limited Installations and RootKits (of the likes of StarFORCE and SecuROM), well, games such as the IceWind Dale saga stand out as landmarks in PC-gaming history.

The expansion (The Heart of Winter) improved things somewhat but the series did not find its stride until the very good IceWind Dale II. I remember spending endless hours with the sequel and can compare it to the original Baldur's Gate.

A Good Old Soul Can Only Learn A Few New Tricks

The original Fate was the PG version of Diablo: cartoonish graphics, simplified quests, very limited gore and a cute child/hero running, fighting (and fishing!) in armor. The dungeons were endlessly random, the beasts well deserving their fate and the weapons and trinkets imaginative (and surprisingly expensive!). Overall, very fun to play!

Its first sequel, Fate: Undiscovered Realms, offered more of the same in a second set of dungeons. And now the second sequel improves little beyond offering yet another set.

Very few things are new in Fate: The Traitor Soul, this new standalone incarnation. True, you can now choose amongst four races (Human, Shadow Elf, Half-Orc and Cogger). The best one is still Human, a true Jack-of-all-trades: Elves are agile but have a very hard time defending themselves; Orcs are clumsy tanks, strong but with low dexterity; whereas Coggers are strong geeks but with no magical abilities.

There are new armor sets, new weapons and spells and new pets. On the other hand, I could discern no change in the graphics and sounds compared to the previous installments.

Finally, the two previous dungeons each get twenty extra levels to explore and plunder. This is a steal because for the price I remember paying for the first game you now get both the original game and its first expansion. On the other hand, you may find exploring all three dungeons and completing one run-and-fetch quest after another a bit tedious. Nevertheless, it is still good casual fun.

Risen From The Dead

The Gothic series had more bugs than a soft-drink spill in a hot summer day. These games had great potential as First/Third-Person RPGs but the quality control problems was what prevented the series from ever becoming Morrowind. And what is worse, the game developer (Piranha Bytes) did not learn from its mistakes: as the series progressed, the problems only got worse.

So notorious had the Gothic series become that the name itself was all but abandoned. Risen is what Gothic III was supposed to be (a Gothic 3.5 if you will) and Gothic IV will actually be named..."ArcaniA: A Gothic Tale"!. Although it was not completely able to escape its pedigree, and it may not be at the cutting edge of developments, Risen is a good game and it is (mostly) fun to play.

You start off a castaway with no history but endless potential. There is some wreckage loot but do not get too greedy: veering off to far into the sea will bring a sea monster upon you.

The progress is slow at the beginning and your character's initial weakness will tax your patience: expect quite a few deaths early on. However, if you weather out the initial steep incline you will be rewarded with a great cRPG that unfolds as you go on.

The graphics are not top drawer but the environments are very tastefully made. And the game designers at least tried to avoid endless repetitions: most environments are original, with a lot of effort put into them.

Like The Witcher, combat can be very engaging (but without the timed-clicking skill requirements). Where RISEN shines is the quality of its quests, the number and gravity of the choices offered and its story. And any true gamer will attest that those are the aspects that matter most for any cRPG game. After all, the greatest cRPG ever, Baldur's Gate, hardly had graphics to phone home about.

I bought this on the strength of its demo and the mostly positive reviews it received at Amazon (downloading and trying out the Demo is always a good idea). I was not disappointed.

Diablo III: The PG Version

Torchlight comes with some serious pedigree: Travis Baldree, designer of Fate, and Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, co-designers of Diablo I & II put their heads together and came up with an action hack&slash isometric RPG game that can appeal to all ages. The result is a good game that will keep us hacking and summoning - until the ...3rd coming that is.

In fact, the game developers made sure to often pay tribute to the Diablo Series: from the background music while at the town-camp (you would recognize those Tristam guitar riffs anywhere!), to the draining health and mana fountains and to the voice announcing & warning, you cannot miss the timeless Diablo influences. Having said that, I found Torchlight to be something between a Diablo and a Fate game.

If you have experienced any of the Fate games you will be reminded of them often, although the heroes here are not children. The village NPCs will keep giving you straightforward quests (usually a go-and-fetch excuse to dwell deeper into the dungeon). Extra dungeons, however, can be accessed by accepting the extra quests of the male NPC in the south and by purchasing dungeon maps of various levels from the local merchants. Also, sometimes a spectral animal appears while in a dungeon: slaying it will open up a bonus dungeon where better equipment often becomes available. There is no traveling to/from town while in a bonus dungeon, so you better keep an empty inventory before entering it.

Yes, you do get a pet (a dog or a cat - but you can interchange them by purchasing and feeding them a special fish) and, yes, you can transform them by feeding them different types of fishes. Fishing is carried out in pretty much the same fashion: you wait for two concentric circles to merge and their color to change from pale blue to purple but it is less important than it was in Fate (so far I brought in nothing else but fish - no equipment or valuable items).

Now, when not playing an AD&D RPG (where I always choose to be a Paladin), I like to play other RPGs as a warlock, a fighting mage. The Alchemist class allows you to both cast powerful spells and exchange blows in the midst of the action (the other available classes is the Destroyer and the Vanquisher). The Destroyer is the up-close-and-personal tank warrior whereas the Vanquisher is the ranger.

When leveling up as an Alchemist, make sure to get both the (steampunk!) golems and the Ember Strike spell. Together with some good shielding spells, nothing can stand in your way.

Try not to go broke. At first I though, "finally, an RPG that is not stingy with its money". But that was only at first. Items are less expensive at the shops but (surprise!) they also sell for a pittance. The good news is that money drops like rain from slain foes. The money-hole is the enchanter: attempting to further enchant your equipment will deplete your funds faster than you would imagine! And you also run a considerable risk of having all of its enchantments removed. No post-dated checks are honored. No credit cards accepted. I tried.

You will get swarmed so be prepared. Place healing potions, defensive and knockback spells on quick-slots (1-0); equip your pet with self or group healing spells and a powerful summoning spell; and never forget to first stay alive and then keep pounding on your enemies. In the heat of the battle it is best to deactivate (Alt-key) the fallen-items labels (more on this later on) and to always keep an eye on your health and mana levels. Respawning is not free: it will cost you either time, money or experience.

The inventory seems small but, in fact, it is more than adequate. Potions and scrolls are stackable up to 20 and (more importantly) every item takes up only one inventory square (no, you do not have to carry your fishing pole, it is just there).

You can send your pet to town to sell off its inventory and the time it needs to return is much less that what it did in FATE.

And there are treasure rooms you can only access by finding and pulling levers (sometimes in specific sequence) to open doors or turn bridges.

Now, some negative points: first, the game is only a dungeon crawler, there are no outdoors locations. Moreover, the graphics of the the spells are very impressive but they can become really confusing as well. Even at maximum settings, unless the fallen-items labels are deactivated you will not be able to actually see much of the battle. That means alternating between fighting and looting - but it also means missing some important interactive objects (levers or ballistas). Also, when electric, fire, ice and poison spells get mixed the result is not something one can discern friend from foe in. It makes no tactical difference (you cannot harm yourself or your company) but it sure would be more enjoyable if you could aim more than...80% of the time.

Finally, the environments are beautifully designed but your path is often blocked by obstacles that visually you could easily bypass. Sometimes you find your hero running in place, stopped by a ...pebble.

Finally, some closing suggestions to the developers for a future patch: add the possibility to order our pet to bring back potions and identification scrolls when sent into town, and make it possible to change class in mid-game (keeping the level and redistributing the skill points).

All in all, Torchlight is a very enjoyable experience. It is easy to master, it is beautiful and it is fun for the whole family.

An Excellent Mythology RPG

Yes, this is what Diablo3 would have looked like (had it been released in 2006) - but this cannot be a bad thing. This is a beautiful game that goes well beyond being an eye-candy.

Titan Quest offers quite realistic graphics achieved even on medium range PCs (a 5-year old system I used to have with only its video card upgraded to a nVIDIA 7600GT, can run it easily with everything on high). I particularly liked that you can see the exact armor and weapons on your opponents and, after you killed them. Fighting a hard opponent is rewarding because everything drops for looting.

I am a great fun of AD&D RPGs. However, in Titan Quest (and its expansion) there is no deep background - except lots of excellent Mythology (correctly told for once). Sure, there is no "official 20-sided dice" getting thrown somewhere in the background - but do you really care?

Hack, slash, zap, burn and destroy. Loot, sell, buy and equip. Repeat as needed, until satiated.

You will surely enjoy it! A game that is is great to look at and great fun to play.

The Magic Of The Twilight

The last Zelda game I had played was The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on my good old GameBoy. And I still remember how much fun that was. Since, I had been an exclusive PC gamer - until last Christmas. So one can imagine how very pleasantly surprised I was when I discovered that this is a whole new ...sword-game.

In The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess the world is immense and beautiful and mostly open-ended. The graphics may be inferior to the latest PC games (Wii graphical capabilities are not one of its strong-points) however, I cannot remember when cutting-edge graphics were essential in the enjoyment of any cRPG. Having said that, the environments (from the grass and the creeks to the trees and the skies) have been designed to maximize the console's potential in most instances.

Not so with the sound: good music but low quality sound. And the dialogues are still scripted, not voiced. It makes no sense to hire top talent to compose the themes and sounds - only to present them badly.

The use of the motion-sensing Wii-Remote together with the Nunchuk follows a steep learning curve. Once mastered though the real fun begins. Moving with the Nunchuk and fighting with the Remote make the game such an immersive experience. Swinging the Wii-Remote actually swings Link's sword - and aiming in the screen will ail your arrows and projectiles.

It surprised me and brought back memories at the same time - and I had not have so much fun in years.

And never forget: It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.

The cRPGs Are Back: Another Good Addition To The Genre

From Moses and Oliver Twist to Baldur's Gate and Fable, the story of the gifted orphan who has to fight hard to eventually find its niche has been told again and again. Avencast: Rise of the Mage turns out to be a mage...Not that original a story but they manage to pull it off - as it gets really fun!

You may have no choice on your character and only limited customization options, but the novel gameplay and innovative controls will reward you. Tapping sequences for combo attacks and dodging in a PC cRPG?! Brilliant! You can opt for either Blood Magic (melee) or Soul Magic (ranged), but to mix-and-match from the skill trees is a solid advice.

As with another cRPG gem to come out of Eastern Europe the same year (The Witcher), loading-delays are a minor nuisance; surprisingly, though, they are shorter than those encountered in games developed by much larger studios. The BALDUR's GATE Saga had long loading times as well, yet I hardly ever noticed.

What WILL get on your nerves though is the...camera. If you thought that NWN had bad camera movement, well, this is worse: it moves in a very limited range and will take some time to get used to and find a comfortable setting.

Graphically it would be placed just above Dungeon Siege: the spells have been impressively designed and the cut-scenes have been done in stills of exceptional taste. Moreover, one has to appreciate the fact that all dialog is spoken, not just written. The music though is a collection staple cRPG themes that are neither annoying nor unforgettable.

This is a long cRPG, spanning for over 20-25 hours if one undertakes all possible quests (ranging from funny to quite intense). Both cRPG fans and novices will undoubtedly enjoy this one!

When cRPGs Touched The Sky

Baldur's Gate II was the longest the most fun games I have ever played!

The original Baldur's Gate was excellent in all of storyline, gameplay, music and stability. Now, nowadays, sequels usually mean a graphically-improved expansion (at best). Baldur's Gate II is a rare exception of the sequel clearly surpassing the original. And in the case of such great original, this means a lot!

Words fail to describe the perfect harmony of brilliant ideas, emerging story-line and detailed coding that makes this game an unsurpassed classic! Do not let the slightly outdated graphics discourage you. They were cutting edge only some years ago - and you will be able to unleash their full potential even on mid-range PCs!

I have yet to meet anyone who has played it and not raved about it! Hard-core D&D fans will find the character building, fighting checks and balances and overall experience very close to the actual pen-&-paper games.

Casual computer gamers will notice none of the tedious stuff of other cRPGs as the gameplay runs smooth and beautifully.

You even have the choice to turn it into either a turn-based or an action game by tweaking the auto-pause options! I am telling you: this is how computers games should be!

You will let yourself get lost in the deep dungeons of the labyrinthic story; you will be laughing out loud to the humorous dialog; you will be surprised as to who is a double and triple-agent.

There is an evil beyond imagining unleashed and only you with your party can stand in its way.

Party members offer a multitude of unpredictable balancing points and diverging story-lines of their own: side quests, conflicts and love affairs enrich the story in so many original ways!

An unsurpassed classic!

From Prince To Pauper

It was only 2008 when UBISOFT was praised as a gamer's publisher, a company that respected and listened to its customers - while the usual villains (eh,...EA and 2K GAMES) found themselves at the receiving end of their wrath. Well, what a difference two years make!

BEEN THERE. DONE THAT

The gameplay of Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands, this new installment of the Prince of Persia Trilogy, is as stale as pita-bread found in Baghdad ruins. Running on walls, twirling around poles and jumping from handhold to handhold has been done again and again. Innovation may be in short supply in the current gaming industry but why was there a need to add yet another game to the series since no new ideas were available? It feels like yet another cookie from the cookie-cutter.

AS NOT SEEN IN THE MOVIES

Seen the blockbuster movie and loved it? Well, do not expect the game to have anything to do with it. Instead of a Jake Gyllenhaal you get a cross between Jack Black on a crash-diet and an aggravated Marky Mark (yeah, no matter how much he tries, he will always be remembered as Marky Mark). And, it may be just me, but I do not remember Princess Razia having such a pronounced...underbite!

More importantly though, the graphics are not up to par and they make the game look like a much older title. The cut-scenes look great - but this only emphasizes how much wanting the gameplay is found visually.

CATCH THE SOAPS - PERSIAN STYLE!

Selective amnesia and evil siblings must be the most overused plot trick in soaps. True, most games do not require a great background story to work and be fun. Some rare masterpieces do but it is not an absolute requirement.

Then again, at times, Mario saving Princess Peach over and over seems to have a deeper plot than Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands. I do not want to keep making perfectly timed jumps only for the purpose to...reach the next power up which will allow me to simply...jump higher.

DO YOU HAVE ANY DIABLO IN YOU? NO? WOULD YOU LIKE SOME?

Diablo III was to be coming out the same year this game was released (it did not, it came out two full years later). However, anyone who could capitalize on the hype it was creating, tried to do so. Prince of Persia games always had some hack'n'slash action in them, however this installment feels hack'n'slash -heavy as those sequences are not only longer but they also consist of repetitive battles with identical foes. Even the Bosses are nothing more than ...larger versions of the minions you had been slaughtering by the dozens earlier.

LOOK 'MA! I CAN FREEZE WATER!

Not to mention climb on and jump off it. It is a neat trick but all it adds is a few more moves to a game that, essentially, is tough platformer in 3 dimensions instead of the side-scrolling 2D. Of course being able to move in 3 dimensions means you depend on the camera to see where you are going. And the camera placement, more often than not, will be grating on your nerves. Especially when precision timing makes the difference between moving on and jumping to your death - and you start exhausting the number of attempts allowed.

LOST YOU GENNIE CONNECTION? SORRY, YOU ARE OUT OF WISHES EFFENDI!

That's right, someone at UBISOFT, once more, has been laboring to substantiate the "SOFT" part of the company name - as in "SOFT in the head". How else is one to explain the publisher's recent obsession with the most inconvenient DRM scheme ever imagined? Not only does it never lets go of the game we paid for but it also requires a constant online verification to play even a single-player game - in perpetuity!

And before anyone mentions the word "piracy", please check if the same scheme had any effect in protecting Assassin's Creed II from piracy. All this scheme prevents from is legitimate gamers from buying this DRM-ruined game.

Forgotten in the Sands indeed.

Unconsecrated

The original Sacred was a great game that, although not exactly groundbreaking, it offered many hours of hack'n'slash-action/RPG fun. What is more, its publisher had the good sense to price it reasonably from the start and thus fight piracy in the most effective way possible. Apparently its common sense run out.

SACRED II: Fallen Angel, although enjoys more demanding environmental graphics and spell effects, is just another victim of clueless gaming industry executives. Instead of learning from the history of their own game, they'd rather idiotically jump on the "SecuROM/Limited Activations" bandwagon. After all, if they can hide behind the "everyone is doing it" excuse, who can blame them when the game does poorly? 

They are obviously under the illusion that selling at full price a game that is actually rented will fail to be...noticed! Respect is a two way street - and underestimating gamers' intelligence is not a good start.

There were no reviews for this edition (obviously most gamers have been ignoring this game) yet I was informed by the only discussion thread that it still sported the same DRM scheme. Nevertheless, the price had dropped so much it was irresistible. Unfortunately, it was not even worth the bargain-bin price.

The graphics have improved since the first Sacred of course, but they look dated and limited (especially for a game that takes up...12GB of HDD space!); and yet the animations still seem amateurish and stiff.

There are no new ideas, it is hack'n'slash by numbers. Inventory, LogBook, potions, loot...There are all there and yet there is no flavor. And what is with not being able to change the gender and the race of the classes? Who says that a Seraphim cannot be male, a Shadow Warrior female or an inquisitor African?

Now, the game also comes in a (supposedly) "Gold" edition. And I say supposedly because when a commercially flopped, 2-years old game is released in a "Gold" edition, one would expect to include not only its expansion but also all of its its patches. It does come with an auto-patching utility that informed me I have "the latest version" - which disappointingly did not include the Elite Graphics Pack.

Since it is a (extra!) 9GB archive and most PCs are now more than able to handle them, I see no reason why the improved graphics should only be available with the (obsolete) Collector's edition and not the "Gold" edition released years later!

DEEP SILVER could learn a thing or two on how to support and market one's games by the people who published The Witcher.

It is a shame that SACRED II got shot in the foot by its own publisher. Now, instead of being another success, it will simply be another game sacrificed on the alter of corporate Greed and marketing incompetency.

Only For Its Most Faithful Disciples

It has been eight years since the previous installment of the Disciples franchise. Although this new gospel is, most probably, bound to be branded apocryphal and anticanonical (if not outright heretic), it still offers hours of a good old Turn-Based RolePlaying/Strategy Gaming.

In Disciples III: Renaissance, the graphics have been improved significantly, the gameplay has been streamlined but there are no major deviations from the beaten path. Experience points can now be attributed to either the hero or its units. Buildings and units focus more on quality rather than quantity. The ability tree of the hero can now branch into three specialties (Warlord, Archmage & Guild Master). And, contrary to what we had been used to, only three factions are available (Empire, Legion of the Damned & Elves). In step with the industry's greed, I am guessing the rest of the game will be sold as...DLCs.

Finally, I will refrain from spoiling it for anyone but the story twists do not always leave a pleasant aftertaste. RPG purists prepare to be exposed to some ...ethical variations.

If a TB-RPG gamer, I would suggest Kings Bounty: The Legend instead. However, completionists and hardcore DISCIPLES fans cannot miss on this third installment.

The (Almost) Complete NeverWinter Nights Saga

NeverWinter Nights must had been the most anticipated RPG ever. Following in the wake of Baldur's Gate games' artistic and financial success, our appetite was whetted for a third-person cRPG set in the Sword Coast of Faerûn. Because there are tons of reviews on the individual games (links provided), I shall focus mainly on this NWN Collection itself.

NWN SAGA: This collection contains the original NWN game together with its two expansions, Hordes of the UnderDark and Shadow of UnderTide as well as Kingmaker a collection of Premium Modules, (namely Kingmaker, ShadowGuard and Witch's Wake).

Note that the Premium Modules collection is not complete. Three are missing: Infinite Dungeons, Pirates of the Sword Coast, and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr. They are probably missing because they came with DRM that required ...always OnLine authentication (they have been pushing this for years!) - and EA took the servers down once they had been hacked at least once. Still, one would expect, after almost a decade, that the missing modules could be included in a DRM-free version. Disappointing.

NWN II SAGA: This collection contains the original NWN2 game together with its two expansions, Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir as well as its adventure Pack, Mysteries of Westgate (previously only available via digital download).

NWN2 was initially released with a number of problems, the camera being one of the most annoying, and it was not until the release of the Storm of Zehir that most of them were addressed.

These are all great games and, even if they series did not quite meet the expectations, I would recommend this Collection to any gamer. Completionists, however, should keep in mind that the collection is almost complete.

A Vast World Of Soaring Dragons

The end of this decade was a small Golden Age for cRPGs. Oblivion, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, Risen, even the humble Torchlight revived the genre with fresh ideas and renewed vigor. And Divinity II: Ego Draconis comes as the cherry to this cake.

If one remembers the (excellent) Divine Divinity, well gone are the days of isometric gameplay. Larian Studios started with a clean state and the result is a beautiful third-person action cRPG. The graphics are not cutting edge and yet they are gorgeous. Imagine what a cross between Titan Quest and Fable would look like today [by the way, ..."thank you" Peter Molyneux for snubbing PC gamers with Fable 2!].

The trees and flowers move slightly to the wind; the skies change in beautiful colors; the sunlight and shades play tricks to your eyes; the characters and gear are very artfully designed; and the fighting moves are impressive. If only the animation of the Non-Playing Characters (NPCs) were better I would be talking about one of the best-looking cRPGs ever.

Nevertheless, what grabs you from the beginning is not the imagery but the story. The first PC game to introduce flying like a dragon was Drakan: Order of the Flame. But a dragon-slayer who can shape-shift into a Dragon and back? That's some table-turning.

What is more, character development runs parallel to your Dragon development, on different skill trees. Diversification may satisfy your curosity but do not specialize at your own risk: as you advance you better have some well honed skills if you wish to survive and fight yet another day.

In the best cRPG tradition, there are quick-slots, inventory and life/mana/stamina levels as well as a small local map. Other than that the screen is free of unnecessary clutter.

What is more, I particularly appreciated the music, subtle or emphatic where appropriate. The same care was exercised to the sounds of battle, from unsheathing your sword to letting go of an arrow. As to the English dubbing (the original game was in German) it was very nicely done.

This Divinity II (Dragon Age Saga edition) includes both the (remastered) original Divinity II: Ego Draconis as well as its expansion Divinity II: Ego Draconis - Flames of Vengeance. Patch 1.497 is already out and I heard it to be especially useful for Win7 users (I cannot speak from experience on this one, I am sticking to my reliable WinXP until Win7 SP2 is released). Nevertheless, after (too) many hours of gaming I found no major bugs.

Now some more good news. The original game came with SecuROM 7 DRM - but that has been patched out. The game still requires OnLine Activation, mind you. Even if bought through STEAM, it will still ask for Activation when installed and you will have to de-authorize your copy when uninstalling. This may just barely clear my DRM-tolerance threshold, however, it is still much better than most triple-A games today.

The graphics are exceptional, the world is endless and beautifully designed, the battles are absorbing and the gameplay immersing. All in all, an excellent game and a major addition to any cRPG collection.

The Heir That Lost The Kingdom

The original Dragon Age: Origins was a true masterpiece that marked gaming history forever. It was an epic cRPG that not only absorbed you into a world of scheming nobles, romantic witches and invading darkspawn but it was also an exercise in morality choices and balancing the clashing personalities of your companions. Following in its success, everyone and their grandmother is waiting to play the sequel (for some reason, the grandmother usually opts for a handsome rogue character). However, the question is this: does the sequel prove worthy of the original?

Well, like an embellished Varric's tale, Dragon Age II seems to be a mix of good-news and bad-news.

LEVELING UP THAT MAKES SENSE

In most cRPGs, leveling up involves adding points to strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, charisma, what have you - which, in turn, have an effect on health points, dialogue options, defending ability, damage dealt and so on. By reading the manual you know what affects what, however, in most games, you cannot readily see those effects as you level up. Not so with  Dragon Age II. Every point added to an attribute will increase the derived statistics on the same screen.Seasoned RPGers may not need it but younger players will find this quite helpful.

COME FOR THE LOOT. STAY FOR THE STORY

Your hero, Hawk, lives during the times of the last blight, fleeing Lothering as it is burned to the ground. Your decade-long story is narrated by Varric Tethras, a companion of yours. How the story will twist and turn is supposed to be dependent on your actions and choices. The story will absorb you the first time around and it may even impress you with its bifurcation points. Sadly, though, it makes little difference in the end. It feels like you are told a story in which you are allowed to finish a number of phrases. 

THE FREE MARCHES COULD LOOK BEAUTIFUL

In a nutshell: you are never actually playing the promo CGI video but the graphics are beautiful.

The armor and clothes could use some more work in depth and texturing but the environments, the warrior moves and the spells look spectacular (keep in mind that said moves and spells will also start to look familiar after a while, especially since they look much more impressive than the actual damage they inflict - and have to be repeated again and again in every battle).

What I truly missed though was the isometric tactics perspective! The camera does zoom in and out and it pans around but it is no longer possible to get a bird's eye view of the battlefield and plan your attacks accordingly. And this was not the only thing I found missing.

FEWER OPTIONS ARE HARDLY EVER AN IMPROVEMENT IN AN RPG

In Dragon Age: Origins I favored a dual-wielding warrior, building up both strength and dexterity, equipping him with both Maric's blade and Starfag and giving him all the cool moves of double-yielding. Well, although Dragon Age II is hardly short in cool moves, it offers less specialization options in order to make warriors and rogues visibly distinct on the battlefield - hence a warrior in DA2 cannot dual-wield.

Do you find being human in a fantasy game trivial and prefer to play the role of an elf or a dwarf? Sorry, Flemeth did not see that in your cards: EA decreed you can only play a human in DA2 (and I am laying the blame on EA simply because something tells me it was a cost-cutting decision).

Personal preferences aside, the number of abilities and skills has also decreased - and some, like coercion, I outright missed.

WHAT'S NEXT, RPGs WITH EMOTICONS OVER THE NPCs' HEADS?

What I also missed was real dialogue options. If, like me, you found DA:O laconic, you will sure find Dragon Age II almost, well,...illiterate. Sure, your hero now has a voice but did the dialogue options have to consist of such short summary-phrases that give you only the gist of what is to be said? And why did those options have to be presented on a (Mass Effect!?) dialogue wheel with...visual hints on the attitude of the responses available? More often than not, you end up saying a completely different thing than what you intended...

Give some credit to your customers BioWare: we can read!

WHEN WAS I BEAMED ONTO THE BRIDGE OF NORMANDY?

This is the first thing that hits you actually. Playing, and enjoying, a fantasy cRPG requires immersion - and the graphical interface plays an essential role in this. It was not by mistake that Baldur's Gate had menus designed as if chiseled in stone, whereas Icewind Dale's were as if carved out of dark wood. The interface sets the mood of the game. Now, can someone please explain to me what are ...SciFi (again, read Mass Effect) menus doing in a medieval fantasy game?

Not only does one expect to find himself in a spaceship whenever the skills-tree or inventory menu is closed, but the in-game information is now displayed in smaller portraits with horizontal bars for health-&-stamina/mana. The portraits have moved from the upper to the lower left side of the screen; however, if opening up the screen for gameplay was the aim, well, they now seem to take up more space than before. Not to mention that they are harder to see.

WHAT GAME AM I PLAYING AGAIN?

Watch a gameplay video of Dungeon Siege III and Diablo III and try to answer this: can you really tell a difference in the gameplay? Sure, their stories and graphical styles are bound to be somewhat different but action games, hack&slashers and RPGs seem to have merged into a single hybrid-genre of quick cinematic moves, looting, bartering, re-equipping and leveling. And Dragon Age II did not escape this.

Whereas Dragon Age: Origins had lots and lots of character, its sequel appears to have clearly favored style. I am sure it tested better on the teenage (console-seasoned) target groups - but I am also sure that said target groups did not include any RPG purists.

(ALMOST) REASONABLE DRM ADDS EXTRA POINT TO FEALTY

EA dropped the ball with the recently released and over-DRMed Dragon Age: Origins (Ultimate edition) so, hopefully, they learned a valuable lesson. Going the draconian way of UBIOSFT & 2K GAMES only manages to shoot your own sales on the foot. Surprisingly, Dragon Age II, although not perfect, sports a reasonable DRM scheme.

The game requires initial activation and it will re-authenticate every time it is run and it has access to internet connection - but it will not require to do so in order to run. In other words, once activated at installation you can block its internet access and it will run fine. Moreover, it contains neither disc-checks nor any form of SecuROM - at least not according to the official EA/BioWare announcements. Let's only hope this customer-friendl(ier) trend holds when the DLCs start rolling out...

Dragon Age II is a good-looking game that relies more on its stylish hacking&slashing than any uniqueness of character and on the appeal of giving the impression of forging a personal story rather than following a deeper preset one. Because of how much I had enjoyed the series overall, I was very eager to like this game. However, as I progressed I realized that I could not honestly recommend it to anyone.Without any hesitation, I would choose the original game over the sequel. 

Nevertheless, Dragon Age II is still a game fans of the series would want to experience at least once. It is just that, after the last blade has been swung and the last spell cast, there is very little that stays with you.

Fighting More Bugs Than Darkspawn

I recently completed yet another run in the Dragon Age Universe and I realized that I had never reviewed this expansion by itself. Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening certainly deserves its own review. Even if for the wrong reasons.

ONLY THE DARKSPAWN HOLD THE STORY TOGETHER

You can either start with a fresh character or import your hero from Dragon Age: Origins (for issues with this, please read on). The problem is that of all the characters from the the original game only...Oghren is available as a companion, you are roaming a completely different map and the story feels like an afterthought. The expansion takes place in a completely different map and the red thread that holds the story together, quite ironically, are the ...darkspawn.

The original game had a solid story with twists and turns and interesting characters. Don't get me wrong, I was eager to experience more Dragon Age too, however, neither the story nor the companions meet the high standards of the original game. I mean, you get an apostate mage, the rogue son of your father's murderer, a warrior spirit incarnated into the wrong body, a murderous elf who is constantly angry (I am guessing extra chromosomes), a dwarf with a death-wish - and Oghren.

CONTINUITY ISSUES

As mentioned above, you can import your character from the original Dragon Age. Disappointingly, this does not include any DLC items(?!). So, say goodbye to your Starfang sword and beautiful Warden Commander armor set among other things. You will get even more powerful equipment in the expansion (although I still think the Sentinel armor set makes my hero look like Darth Vader!).

My advice: do a few test-runs to see what is or not imported and then sell everything you cannot bring into the expansion. You will need the money. Trust me.

BUGS. BUGS. AND MORE BUGS

Armor sets that do not complete because crates do not spawn or spawn empty. Equipment that is downgraded if left in your personal storage trunk. And you better enter the Silverite Mines...naked because most often than not all of your Hero's equipment will disappear - forever. And, no, neither the Ultimate edition nor the latest patch fixed most of these bugs. Save often (new saves, not quick ones) to avoid the grief of having to start over.

GRANDMASTER RUNE OF ANNOYANCE

Runes gain two extra levels, Masterpiece and Paragon and, besides weapons, they can now be slotted into armor as well. There is also a new skill, Runecrafting, to go with this. However, either the required ingredients are too rare or you have to decide to strip your weapons in order to augment your armor. I ended up slotting only the runes I looted and kept everything I brought from the original game.

Come to think of it, by importing a level-25 warrior (with a well-stocked...potion-cellar) I rarely had to craft any potions either.

NEW SKILLS & TALENTS

Almost every talent group gets a new tier of talents. So do Specializations and Skills. The talents are the most important as they offer new spells or warrior and rogue attacks and defenses. There seem to be more Tactics slots as well, a good idea, to accommodate the increased number of talents.

Most of the talents are well thought, useful in battle and beautifully realized on screen.

The original Dragon Age: Origins was a masterpiece of a game so if you played and enjoyed it I know you just have to play the expansion as well. However, if you don't, you are not missing much.

Keep your expectations low in order to enjoy the extra leg of the ride and to avoid being disappointed.