Action RPG Archive

Fable 3 – Review

By
Lawrence
 – April 7, 2011Posted in: Role Playing Games, RPG Reviews
Fable 3 Throne

Fable 3 pretends to be RPG royalty, but is actually just the Fool.

Fable 3 streamlines the RPG to the point of absurdity, retaining almost all of the annoyances of its predecessors, and introducing a laughably broken kingdom management simulation.  But damn if Albion isn’t fun to explore.

Universal ammo in Mass Effect 2.  Linear paths in Final Fantasy XIII.  Streamlining the RPG may be all the rage these days, but when a developer feels the need to dumb-down the pause menu, you know you’re in for a rocky ride.  Enter Fable 3, the latest edition to Peter Molyneux’s action RPG franchise.

Apparently, Lionhead discovered that the reason more people don’t buy Fable games is that menus are too befuddling for your average Joe.  Mainstream gamers are confused by convoluted menu choices such as Map, Inventory, and Skills.   These concepts are so complex that they must be illuminated through the use of metaphor.  A virtual room with a map table, a wardrobe closet, and an armory.  A road lined with treasure chests, each of which contains a skill, and each of which can only be unlocked with experience points.

Wait … there’s skills … you unlock…. Hey, now I get it!  Thanks, Lionhead!

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Infinity Blade – Review

By
Lawrence
 – December 15, 2010Posted in: Role Playing Games, RPG Reviews
Infinity Blade Title Screen

Infinity Blade -- an Unreal Engine-powered action RPG for iPhone

Infinity Blade is the first of its kind – an on-rails role-playing game.  And it’s good!

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter recently predicted the imminent demise of handheld game systems as gamers migrate to smart phones.  Infinity Blade, the new action RPG from Epic and Chair released last week for iOS devices, is beautiful and wildly fun.  It also perfectly demonstrates why Michael Pachter is wrong.

The greatest strength of the iOS platform is its processing power.  Infinity Blade looks and animates better than any game on any other handheld (including the iPhone), and even outshines many full retail console and PC releases.  But the platform’s weakness is its controls, a shortcoming especially evident in a game in which console-quality graphics and art stand in stark contrast to gameplay restrictions, necessitated by touch-only controls, that would never be tolerated on any other gaming system, handheld or otherwise.  Will I play and enjoy Infinity Blade?  Definitely – but I won’t surrender my Nintendo DS anytime soon.

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ArcaniA: Gothic 4 – Review

By
Lawrence
 – October 31, 2010Posted in: Role Playing Games, RPG Reviews
ArcaniA: Gothic 4

ArcaniA: Gothic 4 -- Here you see the hero, fetching something.

ArcaniA?  More like Obviouso.

The best thing that can be said of ArcaniA: Gothic 4, the new RPG from developer Spellbound and publisher JoWooD, is that it makes a good first impression.  You are dropped into the prologue as an interesting character – a tortured king – in a unique setting – the cavernous tunnels of his own demon-infested mind.  You spend the first twenty minutes of the game learning the combat system, which is pretty good for an action RPG.  The blocking, rolling, and striking controls are responsive and permit for tactical and fun battles.  The graphics are crisp and detailed.  The monsters are frightening and move with lively and brutal grace.  The sounds of the cavern are subtle and ominous, a nice change from the rousing music that greets you at the title screen and menus.

But as soon as the prologue ends, so does the fun.

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