Dark Messiah of Might & Magic review

Arkane has taken the Might and Magic franchise on a different path with Dark Messiah. Whereas previous games in the series have been mainly Role-Playing or Real-Time Strategy, DM has a go at a fantasy hack 'n' slash First-Person adventure, and to a certain extent it pays off.

First Steps

You are Sareth. The lowly apprentice of the wizard Phenrig. With his guidance you must steam full pelt into a wide variety of challenges like climbing ropes and kicking relatively broken pieces of wood, with the odd 'save that person's life' or 'kill that dragon' thrown in for good measure. These challenges are not fought alone, though. Before you set off on your journey of self-discovery, Phenrig creates your in-head guidance as a beautiful if bitterly witless seamstress called Xana. She'll be the one telling you what to do next if you ever find yourself without direction.

Which is highly unlikely, may I add. In terms of the story and missions, DM tries just a little too hard to be epic. As much as people disdain comparisons between it and Oblivion, the only reason to disregard them (irrespective of the genre) is because DM does seem to attempt emulation and yet has the narrative consistency of a bog-standard run-'n'-gun FPS. Xana's presence is practically pointless because the types of missions require little more than kill them, steal that, turn this, etc. Mind power has no place in this fantasy.

Mind Over Matter

Well, apart from telekinesis, that is. Being set in a stereotypical fantasy world, DM's weapons are the stereotypical swords, bows and magic. As you upgrade your character via the skill menu, more and more spells, magic and abilities become unlocked. Unlike other RPGs the way in which to develop is not sought by fighting or excessive agility, but by completing the set tasks. Once a challenge is completed you are rewarded with Skill Points, limited to the varying difficulty of the objective.

From then a swift press of your tab key and you're faced with your whole inventory and a skills menu on the right. These are broken down into categories that correlate with what you want to excel in; strength, stealth or magic. There is a substantial amount of items you can augment your character with, but as a whole the system is rather pointless. The manual sells the game just like most other RPGs as a 'Who are you going to be?' type game, but it's more than possible to just max out every aspect of your character once you have enough skill points which takes away the personalisation element in an instant. Still pretty fun, though.

Have Mouse, Will Stab

A fraction of the fun that can be had with the melee combat, however. Magic feels a little too weak and stealth is just, well, boring, but once you've taken hold of a longsword and shield, DM really comes into its own light.
Quick and low-damage attacks are administered by clicking the left mouse button. While these are relatively useless against hard enemies, if you can land a lot of them your Adrenaline bar fills quite quickly allowing for some slow-motion instant kills. However, if the LMB is held down your character retracts their weapon in preparation for a hard-hitting hack or stab – depending which directional button you press before the mouse.

These attacks are incredibly useful during long and intense fights because of their raw power, but the way in which it's balanced is twofold. With your weapon retracted you're very vulnerable to attack and if surrounded by enemies it's highly likely you'll perish. Additionally, the enemy AI is rather spectacular in its varying degrees of difficulty. Many-a time they dodge your lunging stab with a side step, but sometimes you'll find yourself face to face with a foe, swords grinding together as you mash LMB to disarm them.

Buggy Boy

If this isn't your bag, though, Arkane has made good use of Havok 2 physics system by placing most enemies under or near a destructible platform loaded with heavy barrels or at the side of a cliff, just waiting to be kicked in the back. It's quite entertaining to see enemies get crushed or plunge to a grizzly death, but it's clearly only a novelty aspect and Arkane has placed too much attention on it with practically every area in the game having such opportunities.

It would help if the game was playable, though. In all the years I've been playing and writing about games, not once have I encountered a game even half as buggy and error-ridden as DM. I'm comfortable in saying that this game should not have been released in this state. I have experienced endless crashes, graphical glitches, total lock-ups ending in BSOD's and overall bad performance. The game has been patched twice now and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. It's fortunate that I managed to get what I need for this review because my copy is totally unplayable now – and it's a retail version. No laughing matter.

Noises Off

But there are upsides. If you can get the game to run with more than 30fps, DM is quite spectacular to look at. Running on Valve's Source engine – with a few updates – you're treated to a plethora of beautifully rendered scenery and objects. Ignoring the aforementioned physics gags, the level design is one of the best attributes of DM. While it's typical RPG, there is a good variation in maps.

Additionally, NPCs are caked it excellently made textures, even more so on your character, and when it's all combined with rather delectable bump-mapping and HDR, the fantasy tends to come alive. DM suffers greatly from repetition when it comes to sounds. Enemies say the same things repeatedly and there's little diversity in combat, but for what they are, DM rarely lacks in atmosphere.

If it weren't for DM's mundane storyline and the stability of an alcoholic with an inner-ear infection, it couldn't been a pretty good change to the Might & Magic series and a decent addition to the crowded FPS genre.

However, these blazing errors are impossible to overlook and so drag the experience down with an almighty force. When I previewed the game in September it oozed potential greatness, but somewhere along the line Arkane and Ubisoft have lost their way and we're left with what I can only deem as half a game.