Before you ask, no I haven't beaten the game yet. But I figured seeing as this is quite a large game and will take many many hours to complete, I'd post my review of it for those who may be on the fence about whether they should buy it or not. Like a "game for lunch" type deal but after say 10-12 hours in or so. I suppose this could even apply to the PC version as well to some extent.
First let me bore you with some personal insights. I'm a huge fan of RPG's, with a big soft spot particularly for "Western RPG's" (RPG's made outside of Japan). KOTOR, Jade Empire, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, you name it I love it. The chief reason I own a Xbox 360 is because I await and/or own games like Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Oblivion etc. So needless to say I was excited about this game from it's first unveiling.
Now let me get the negative aspects out of the way first: The game has a stuttering framerate, voice-acting can be really bad sometimes, bad draw-in of textures at times (especially going from underground to outdoors) and sometimes the voices disappear altogether for no apparent reason.
Now, stuff that is mildly annoying but can be ignored:The game sometimes loads frequently and at inconvenient times, the graphics look a bit dated and the physics for bodies are a bit odd. The menu system takes a bit of getting used to and the map screen/quest screen is tricky and takes patience and practice.
And finally, what I like about this game:Although the
graphics seem outdated for a new game it does offer advantages. Stand on top of one of the 5 Black Towers in the game and you can see for miles in every direction. It's even better than Oblivion because since the game isn't pushing the limits it has a much greater draw distance. You truly have to see it to appreciate it. The markets and villages are more active and are more filled in terms of things to see than most games tend to be. The character animations for combat are fantastic, if you don't believe me take a character with dual weapons out for a jaunt. Also the weapons, armour look somewhere between say Morrowind and Oblivion is scope and magic effects look nice also.
The environment is huge and different parts of the game are unique in landscape. Forests, sand dunes, coastlines, meadows, rocky cliffs you name it. With plenty of wildlife both friendly and hostile and many species of plant for your alchemy needs. Like Oblivion or Morrowind it has that feel of exploration that few games of the past have offered.
Sound is excellent in this game. The voice acting though lame at times, still has a certain uniqueness about it, especially in the NPC and characters use of old English words. It also makes you laugh at times. I get a chuckle every time my character says "Say hello to death" or laughs heartily while in the midst of combat or any number of other sarcastic remarks towards the weather or enemies.
Walking through the streets of the cities you hear a light melody much like the kind you hear in any movie that has a medieval marketplace, in dangerous lands an ominous instrumental that keeps you alert and tense. The environmental audio is filled with chirping birds, roars and growls of animals, screeches and unnatural sounds of monsters and a haunting sound when your in a graveyard.
Even the attention to detail of things like weapons swooshing through the air, footsteps, horses, rustling of bushes as you walk through them are all greatly appreciated and make the game more epic and more immersible.
Control is a mixed blessing of sorts. I don't care for the horses at all because I don't like the feel of control when using them, though it may be more realistic and I applaud them for that if that was the developers intention. Because of this I haven't tried combat on horseback yet nor have I run into an enemy on horseback to test out my "un-horseing" skill.
Combat on foot is simple, right trigger for your weapon(s), left for your spells. D-pad selects spells in a mini-menu in real-time and you can also jump up and jump backwards on two separate buttons, handy if you need some space to avoid an incoming strike. All combat is in 3rd person and when your walking in 1st person if you wish to do so it switches to 3rd person automatically for battle.
Finally
the quests themselves. Most of it is standard RPG fare, fetch this, find that, rescue this person or assassinate that one. I haven't beaten the game nor have done much of the main storyline but it's cookie cutter basic stuff as well. It doesn't matter anyway since the game has so many other fun aspects who needs a story?
So I've ranted long enough in my so-called "mini review". If you've made it this far you've probably gotten a better idea of what this game is all about and what I personally think about it. Need a score for a conclusion? Well so far it's one of my favorite Xbox 360 games and I'm hopelessly addicted to it, so I give it a
8.5/10, bugs, glitches and annoyances notwithstanding.
