Dark Messiah

The Might and magic Universe is very hard to defend. It is always under attack by some evil forces that have nothing better to do than to conquer an imaginary Realm. It remains a mystery how the people of that land can actually live a normal life. If I were to live there, I would definitely move. And now, with the Dark Messiah underway, it's going to be even more unbearable.

Being a gamer, I often had to defend this Universe too. It's hard enough with all the aliens and the constant threats made against planet Earth and I'm finding it quite difficult to squeeze in my busy calendar other rescues. The human race, wherever they are found, tend to always get in the most dangerous and bizarre situations. It's not enough that they are opening Hell's gates everywhere, but they also tend to rely in the end on a singular hero that has to clean up their mess. Dark Messiah is no exception.

Even if a lot of you will think that Heroes of Might and Magic is just another game in the franchise, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. This title is nothing more but a first person shooter disguised in a thin RPG robe. Many will turn their heads in disappointment and will immediately dismiss this title as a worthy and complete member of the family. I can also put at ease the other fans of the action genre saying that this game will satisfy even the most bloodthirsty and avid kid over 18. When I say bloodthirsty, I'm addressing the fetish fans of chopped heads and severed limbs; this is no innocent first person and even the magic is so violent that for a first time, it can satisfy more than the sword and bow.

Concept and Story Unlike the other titles, this one doesn't focus on moving pictures and lost artifacts. Well, actually, it does concentrate on finding something that will bring down the entire world as we know it. As usual, there is a prophecy that has to be fulfilled and there is someone that no one has taken into account: me or him (I'm starting to get all fuzzy here). Once again, the player is forced to start from scratch with nothing but a pistol in his hand or in this case, of a flashlight (or night vision, whatever you want to call it). This is all you'll get in terms of story because it deserves to be discovered.

Dark Messiah is not meant to be played by the regular turn based groupie and in the same time, it will not appeal to the regular Doom or Quake fan. The mix between RPG and first person combat will be too much for them to swallow. Also, it has nothing to do with the Elder Scrolls or Gothic base principle, which in my opinion is a good thing.

I thank God every day since the launch of this new game because Ubisoft, through Arcane, had the balls to shove under the carpet the turn based legacy and transform it into a continuous action title. In a way, it resembles with every kid's fantasy of going inside a small play house. Everyone has played with those moving pictures of dragons and archangels so I'm sure most of you have wondered what it would be like to stare in the face a small goblin or even a dragon. This game will fulfill your wish.

Gameplay Don't be fooled by the RPG-like features or by the skill points that can be distributed all over. The game is more like a first person shooter (to quote one of my colleagues that would be thrilled to have an ottoman shooter - whatever that is) even if there aren't any fire arms in the game. The principle remains the same and it applies perfectly in Dark Messiah. The gameplay is driven solely by the power of the story and guided by an undaunted linearity.

After completing various quests, you'll receive some points that can be redistributed in a skill tree with three main directions: mage, fighter and assassin. Many of you will make the mistake of believing that the entire arch of attributes can be unlocked but that's just an illusion. There's no indication or even a hint that we shouldn't follow that path and I found out this the hard way after I had to start all over again. Fortunately, the game is so well done that I've enjoyed replaying some sections for a second time; this alone is a commendable feature which underlines the replay value.

Now, getting on the existing classes, I have to say there isn't any obvious choice right from the start which makes the game a little more interesting but somewhat confusing at time. The skill tree is not self explanatory and the trial and error procedure will prevail in most choices. On the other hand, the player can't really go in an exclusivist direction because there are certain points of interest in every class.

The fighter needs no description. Kicking orcs while they're bending down is the highlight of any game and in this one, you get to do this a lot. Arcane filled the levels with tons of traps just waiting for stupid orcs to get impaled. They've also demonstrated that orcs can't fly, even if we already knew that. The right statement is that orcs don't know how to land. I could even claim that this is the first flying orc simulator. If kicking them fails, we're left with the simple melee action which is revolutionary in itself. I have to admit that this is the most rewarding single-player action in years. We've already been served some kind of a similar combat in "The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion", but the difference is simply too great to even stand such comparison. The fight is almost surreal and I found myself sometimes reloading even if there was nothing wrong with the ways I've played that particular scene. This class delivers the very foundations of the game with flying colors. The player can wield swords, knives and staffs, some of them presenting some sort of enchantments. The animations are exquisite and complicated and most importantly, extremely easy to use. The knives made me feel like a small ninja with its laborious handling and swooshing sounds. It's quite difficult to explain the feeling and even more difficult to describe the sound. You'll have to experience it for yourself.

The Mage is a lot of fun mainly because of the advanced physics system that come with the Source engine. Characters can slip on ice, get impacted by fireballs and they generally make a good impression as a ragdoll. This type of class has a weapon associated with it, the staff. This is the first game where I've seen this apparently harmless stick into the most destructive melee weapons. The sheer thirst of the player and the sound of your breath while you're making the orcs' heads one with the asphalt and splattering their brains all over the place take the Mage to a whole other level.

The assassin is self explanatory and it makes the trickiest class to handle mainly because the AI is not as dumb as we've gotten used to. They can hear quite well and they tend to scream for assistance as soon as they see you. They don't have a wolf's pack coordination but getting you discovered defeats the purpose of being an assassin. The game isn't balanced enough amongst the three classes and for this reason alone, this last one makes the game a whole lot harder.

As I was saying earlier, the physics is the best feature of Dark Messiah, even more prominent than the graphics and the Arcane's care to underline this in every level surpasses from time to time the common sense. They tried to show, even early in development, the importance of trapping the opponent in various contraptions like spikes, flames, heights and generally, almost everything that you can pick up. My feeling is that they tried too hard to turn this into an idiot proof game. I'm quite sure that the bulk of players felt that there were simply too many unwanted possibilities to kill. I never thought this could be a bad thing.

Video Valve's engine has failed to deliver truly amazing games outside the Half-Life franchise. We only have to take a look at the late Vampire: The Masquerade and Sin: Episodes. Although both of them had a lot of potential, they failed miserably: one with the tons of bugs that haven't been corrected until this day and second by going the wrong way in a game that was supposed to be a much better reiteration of the former title.

The engine wasn't able to provide by itself the necessary quality for the success of those games and it didn't even rise to the level of Half-Life 2. Ubisoft made the right decisions buying the Source engine but it also enlisted the help of Valve for a correct implementation, maybe at their request or maybe at the request of Gabe, who didn't want another half failure and half success attached to their name. In any case, they did a great job and the collaboration made the Dark Messiah a beautiful game, fulfilling our enormous graphic expectation.

I'm not sure how many of you remember the fuss and confusion that surrounded the partnership between Valve and ATI, at the launch of their famous game. Gabe Newell went on and on about how the engine is a lot more suited for that precise hardware and how Nvidia needed a special treatment because their shader code was too primitive and unfinished. It is more and more obvious that it was nothing more than a marketing maneuver and Nvidia was just as good as the direct competition. Proof of that is the logo we can now see right from the start: "The way is meant to be played".

The superb quality we saw in "Episode One" is perfectly reproduced here once more. The introductory level is somewhat deceiving because the same effects are not reproduced constantly in the game and I'm talking here mainly about the HDR (the most notorious effect and the cool thing to have in a game). It's only implemented in certain areas and maps and replaced with bloom in others. I have no idea why they've made this decision, but hey, it's their game.

I've avoided the comparisons with Oblivion because I don't find it relevant but for the commercial sake of this article, I'm going to take that extra step. It doesn't even come close to Oblivion's quality but in the same time, it's a lot better. The engine is not designed to deliver the open spaces of Oblivion and especially, the amounts of trees. On the other hand, the close quarter combat is a lot more cinematic and detailed than any other game. The facial expressions are by far the most detailed and they represent beautifully the latest installment of Orc Hate, version 2.0. Being a linear single-player experience, the producers made a tradeoff between wide open spaces and close emotions and I have to say they made the right choice.

Sound The franchise isn't renowned for its soundtracks or tremendous John Woo action sound effects and we all know why. The turn made by Arcane and Ubisoft was extremely sudden and needed the proper sounds. Body crashing, sidekicks, bashing staffs and the sound of orcs giving their last breath now had the proper setting. The music fills the void of silence left by the small pauses between kills and it does so with great success. I found some small problems on integrated sound systems but I'm sure these would go away on a semi professional card.

Multiplayer None whatsoever which isn't a bad thing actually.

Conclusion If they had done the Might and Magic universe this way right from the start, I would have been that extra fanboy they needed. Instead, they chose other approach and got a whole lot of fanboys that had no more than the intelligence of a computer mouse. I've always bashed the franchise for delivering a non-value game, similar in many ways with Counter Strike and I'm referring here to the damage done to the players and not about the gameplay (obviously they have nothing in common). Dark Messiah has presented the Might and Magic universe in a more appealing way for the rest of the profanes and heathens that thought the games so far were just a pile of turd, to put it mildly. This one is again a huge success for Ubisoft and I certainly hope they'll get to develop another one.