Sacred for Windows

Diablo II has to be one of the best RPGs in the history of gaming – it has inspired countless of other RPGs and generated many clones. Sacred, at first look, might look like a Diablo clone thanks to it's simplicity and fantasy setting but look deeper and you will find a generally satisfying RPG which exceeds Diablo in many ways.

The storyline is the standard fantasy fare – forces of darkness have taken over the land of Ancaria and you must single-handedly defeat them. As the game begins, you'll have to choose from one of the six pre-generated character types – the Gladiator (close combat expert), Seraphim (a fallen angel), Dark Elf (assassins), Wood Elf (the light side of elves), Battle Mage (magic) and the Vampiress (which I think is the best character in the game). Each of these six characters have their own features and moves. For example, the Gladiator is skilled in close combat while the Wood Elf is more skilled at long-range attacks. Dark Elves, their dark side, are skilled assassins and are deadly in combat while the Battle Mages uses magic to pummel down enemies from afar. The Seraphim and the Vampiress, representing both the good and evil sides, are both deadly warriors – the Seraphim uses light to fight against opponents while the Vampiress has both a human and vampiric form. During the day, she stays in her human form and is an excellent close combat fighter, while at night she becomes a vampire and can summon wolves and demons to take down enemies.

Even though there is no character creation, these characters offer up enough diversity that you can actually play through the game six times with six different experiences. Special abilities/skills are gained by finding runes. These runes are spread out over the game world and offer the players to increase their abilities – these abilities can also be leveled up after you learn a special ability/skill several times. Each level you go up will gain you skill points, which can be assigned to your current skills.

The game world in Sacred is huge and, unlike most other RPGs, most of it is available to the player from the beginning. The rest of the world opens up once the player finishes the main quests and is powerful enough to face the rest of the world. Each character starts in a different place at the beginning of the game – for example, the Gladiator starts off in an arena while the Wood Elf will start off in a forest. There are 30 main missions to complete with locations ranging from the deserts to ice covered landscapes. Random side-missions are generated – over 200 of them – as you make your way through the game. These quests/missions vary from delivering objects to rescuing person or group of people. Some of these quests are given time limits – usually of a day – nothing too hard. This is also where the bugs in the game kick in, many times you will not be able to move forward thanks to a bug in the random quest (it has been fixed in the new patch) but these bugs only affect the random quests and do not occur when going through the main quests.

As with fantasy RPGs, Sacred features stereotype monsters – the undead, dragons and ogres are all here along with a few new ones. Combat is a bit more intricate than the usual mouse clicking – even though it is a click fest once the fight begins. The left button is mapped to interact with the world in ways depending n the situation – you can open a door or chest, attack a monster and other stuff. When you click on an enemy, your character engages in combat with him – this is where both the fun and frustration begins. Sacred offers a different combat system in a RPG – it lets you chain together attacks which will cause amazing damage if used properly. Another feature of combat is that you can simply hold onto the attack button to swing your weapon (when in melee combat) until the target falls. Horses, another innovation in Sacred, lets you travel quickly and also engage in combat while on them. This increases your defensive and offensive powers when in combat. Another new feature is the combat arts – these are character specific powers which can increase your defense against the monsters. These combat arts are gained through runes which can be found by exploring the game world and by killing monsters. Unfortunately, many of the runes you'll find are for other classes – thankfully, merchants at towns will be trading these runes for practical runes specific to your own class. Hotkeys can be assigned to combat arts which increase your chance of damaging more during combat. Another great hotkey is the "A" button which can be used to collect the dropped bounty or treasures automatically. You can store your "stash" in towns, which you can use to hire goons to join you on your quest. They help out quite a bit even though you cannot directly control them.

Overall gameplay is not as addictive and rewarding as it was in Diablo. This is mainly due to the fact that the skills tree is not properly used and the combat system is flawed. You have to constantly give commands to your character or else he will stand around getting hacked to pieces. The game also doesn't convey a satisfying feel of your character hitting the enemy, which can be very frustrating. Monster regeneration is also a problem as the same old monsters will be generated again if you leave an area and return to it again.

Multiplayer is an attractive portion of Sacred as it offers Co-op with up to four players via LAN or Internet, Hack n' Slash and PvP. The co-op mode is the best of the bunch as it allows you to team up with 3 of your friends to complete the whole game via the LAN or the Internet. Hack n' Slash supports 16 players in monster infested matches. Finding online games can be very tiring as Encore's servers are either down or are very laggy (in my case). Bugs also play a pivotal role in the small community (if any) as they crash the game at times (they have been fixed by the new patch).

Graphically, Sacred is amazingly detailed – right down to the small rabbits in the forest. The camera can't be manipulated much, as you can only zoom in and out of the action. When zoomed in, the environments and NPCs are amazingly detailed. Villagers will perform their daily duties while the deers frolic through the forest – everything is done in great detail. The main characters are far more detailed than the NPCs, as you'll be seeing, and their animations are superb. When in combat, your character will actually swing blows in different directions giving the game a sense of real combat. This also applies to the projectiles as they also move this way and that instead of just following a straight path. A nice touch is the fact that they actually stay on the enemy – for example, fired arrows will stick out of the bodies of enemies instead of just vanishing. Particle effects are great including spells, smoke from fires and more. Excellent weather effects round out the package as they give the game more mood and atmosphere.

Sound is also very well done as the soundtrack, which consists of orchestral music, is very well done. It is also dynamic as it rises and falls with each fight. Your characters also make sly comments from time to time depending on the situation, which adds more to their personality.

Sacred is a very well done RPG which could have used a bit more polish. The combat system, (almost) dead multiplayer community and the bugs are what make the game a little less desirable even though it's loaded with great characters, lots of humor and some great moments. Surely, this is a game I'd recommend to any RPG fan as it introduces new features to the genre and improves upon the old features. Just don't forget to install the patch before playing.

P.S. This is a review of the North American copy – the developers had cut down on the level of gore and graphical violence to get a Teen ESRB rating. The European version of the game is the way the developers intended it to be, so get that copy if you can.