Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

04/01/2008

What will it be? Make your way through the world of Ashan as a swordsman, archer, magician or assassin. You can use different weapons and equipment, depending on what persona you choose. You will play the role of Sareth and have a set character, which cannot be customised. You will see a significant difference from the PC version, which is obvious from the first level up. You cannot upgrade your skills at will; you simply receive the skills allocated to you, corresponding to your class. This could save you lots of time and thought, but also means you have less decision-making to do, so the game becomes more of an action experience rather than a role play, which was already the case with the PC version.

Like in the good old days of role play, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements sends you on a magical, sinister trip in the first person. And this first person perspective can be seen. The body of your hero is visible from chest to toe, and from the start, the Source Engine will impress you with realistic, fluid motion sequences. This is good because what your warrior uses to launch attacks, acrobatic moves, tricks and kicks, requires a certain level of agility. The control is stable and gives you a variety of close-range attack options by using various combinations of the trigger and direction controls together.

The most important and innovative element of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements is probably the interaction with your surroundings. Your surroundings are your ally and you should make good use of it if you want to save energy and lives. Why get involved in a long fight with your enemy when you can give him a hefty kick from behind and send him down into the abyss? Why waste all your arrows on an armoured enemy when one well-placed shot at some rotten beams will bring him to his grave with an avalanche of barrels? Why use up your valuable spells when you are standing right next to a rope that can drop a massive rock on top of your unsuspecting cronies in an instant? Because fighting, archery and spells are fun too. Either way, everybody can run riot here with their preferred style and means.

Work definitely needs to be done on the graphics before the final release. Some rough textures, elements such as chains or ropes in 2D and messy clipping errors blemish the otherwise convincing aesthetics. Beautiful, vivid external areas, impressive buildings, as well as bleak catacombs with low light exposure and dark corridors bathed in weak torch light provide a good basis for a fitting atmosphere. So at the moment Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements looks good in some areas and not so good in others. A few sound effects are also out of place and cast a cloud over the predominantly good sounds and convincing background music.

However, you can definitely await the version of the Xbox 360 with bated breath. Not least because of the eagerly awaited multiplayer function and extended scope. If everything runs smoothly, in February, there will be one object after another to fling at the heads of the crafty opponents in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements. The enemies will be given a hard kick up the bottom, battled with and clawed and some shaky installations will turn into deadly traps.