Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
Review
Not quite M&M, but definitely dark
by jdarksun
reviewed on PC
Skilltrees
Of course, you are free to choose how to kill the hordes of Goblins, Orcs, Blackguards, Cultists, and Vampire Knights that stand in your way and you can groom your character to reflect your style of play. Dark Messiah's (somewhat limited) RPG aspect, gives you a choice between Might skills and Magic ones. There is also a 'Miscellaneous' section to choose from, which covers a handful of passive buffs and an incredibly short 'stealth' skill tree composed of Alertness (have hidden items revealed to you), Stealth (hide and sneak your way into backstab range), and Burglar (pick locks on doors and chests). The Might tree is a little more fleshed out, allowing the player to choose between Melee Combat and Archery - as well as a handful of passive buffs. Magic is the most diverse, giving typical RPG options including Fire, Cold, and Lightning based-effects. Mixing it up are Telekinesis (move small items!), Charm, and Sanctuary (temporary damage immunity). There are a few other spells, but... I didn't mention them for a reason. They are simply not worth mentioning.
If I seem a little overly harsh on the skill trees, it is because I was expecting a little more out of the role playing aspect. Dark Messiah isn't even really an Action RPG - it is a First Person Action game with RPG elements. We are not talking Deus Ex or Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, but it is somewhere between that and and Hexen. Once you get over that hurdle, the action is pretty enjoyable - it is easy to get lost in the satisfying swinging of swords or a deadly dagger dance. The enemies and environments are varied enough that, even though you have a fairly limited number of ways to interact with the world, it doesn't get old - at least your first time through. If you don't mind slinging around both spells and swords, Dark Messiah will likely hold your attention long enough to play through it twice.
The only part of the single player portion of Dark Messiah I haven't talked about yet is the interface... which is pretty unremarkable. Instead of the standard ten hot keys based on the number bar across the top of a keyboard, you only have nine. Your can hold a couple dozen weapons, armor, potions, and scrolls.
Multiplayer Twist
Dark Messiah also contains some multiplayer content - but it is a totally separate game that has been developed by a different company. It comes with your purchase of Dark Messiah, but you will have to download it over Steam even if you have purchased your copy in stores. The multiplayer mode has a neat twist to it, where each capture-and-hold map (think: Domination from UT or Conquest from the Battlefield series) was part of an overall back-and-forth battle between human forces and their undead foes. The catch is, the class balance (fighter, assassin, priestess, archer, and mage) isn't too great, and you join a game late, you wind up starting off behind - participating in the 'campaign' gets you experience, which is spent on skills - very similar to Dark Messiah's single player, but a little unbalancing in multiplayer. The pseudo- rock/paper/scissor attempt at class balance isn't well implemented, causing the majority of players to gravitate towards the priestess and mage classes. Admittedly, most of my multiplayer time comes from the beta from several months ago, so my experience isn't completely up-to-date.
Overall, I have found Dark Messiah to be like high school - difficult and awkward starting out, but rather thrilling once you understand how the game is played and you have worked out the kinks in the beginning. Towards the end, though, it can get a bit repetitive - and graduation leaves you feeling a little hollow inside, the ceremony itself not having the expected value. Still, it is the path that leads from the start to the end that is the most exciting and interesting, and if you are a First Person Action fan with a desire to inflict a number of creative deaths upon virtual opponents, Dark Messiah is probably for you.
As long as you can get over the initial bugs.
7.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
