 Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is an action RPG in the vein of such hits as Diablo and Titan Quest. Set in the twenty-two square mile world of Ancaria, you are given the choice of playing as one of six unique characters through either a Light or Shadows campaign. Each choice offers distinct paths down the main quest while ultimately still revolving around the conflict over T-Energy, which is essentially the fantasy world equivalent of oil.
Considering that Sacred 2 is an action RPG, it performs exceptionally well in both of these areas, though whether or not you agree that the game is a strong RPG will depend entirely on your definition of the genre. While literally a role playing game (as defined by Dictionary.com) is, "a game in which participants adopt the roles of imaginary characters in an adventure," an RPG in video game terms is more often demarcated by loot, levels, statistics and skills. Sacred 2 leans very heavily toward this latter definition.
The game features gorgeous graphics, an intricate combat system and fresh humor, but still this isn't enough to draw in anyone that can't stand the idea of loot drops, no matter how interesting the world is to explore. You can expect to find a few bugs that still need to be worked out, and the character development is sparse at best. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for the innately limited appeal of the ARPG, the only real thing keeping this game from greatness would be the fact that quests are rarely more complicated than, say...
Hit the jump for more. Reward: 75 gold.
This boy is just one of several throughout the world who has lost his toy in a cave.
Although combat is a simple "left click and hold on the target," the action of the game is always interesting and engaging due to several factors. Easy to use features like the ability to collect all the loot in a radius around your character at the press of a key ensures that the core elements of the game aren't a burden. All the character and enemy combat animations look clean (particularly if your system is powerful enough to make use of the "Elite Texture Pack," included in the Collector's Edition of the game) which is great considering you'll spend the majority of the game swinging your sword. The enemy character models themselves have a good deal of variety and just when you've about reached the point where you tire of killing rats, elves or kobolds you'll reach a new area and face entirely new creatures like spiders, harpies, zombies and werewolves.
In a similar fashion, the combat has a certain curve to it as things start out simplistic, but increasingly powerful item drops and new abilities gained through level increases ensure that you always feel you have just learned something new and more intricate about the game. As great as this is, it contributes to one of the game's two greatest drawbacks, and that is that as you learn more and more about the combat system you will have a continually nagging feeling that any "new" aspect of the action was always there from the beginning, but you just never knew how to make the most of it. While this can feel fresh, it can also be frustrating to think you've wasted one of your precious skill slots on something you no longer intend to use.
All this confusion can be yours within the first hour of gameplay.
Clearly a great amount of attention has gone into the action, but what is enough to keep a hardcore gamer interested across six hundred quests is unfortunately too much to take in for the beginner. Evinced by the various arts, divine powers, skill slots, relics and buff enhancements to choose from and a combo system used by just a right click of the mouse, the second flaw of the game only exacerbates the one previously mentioned. Given very little guidance in pursuing quests and almost no time to character development, the only way you'll ever even know that you completed a "Tutorial" quest will be because it says so on your map, and not because you now understand how to forge items, use runes or purchase hirelings.
Quests themselves are easy to find and easier to solve, with every location appearing on your map. What you would consider the "main quest," or what feels more like a continuously moving goal post, is just a ring of a different color than the other quest markers. Eventually this develops into something more cohesive - particularly if you take the time to read through your log book - but in the beginning it just feels like you are chasing a carrot on a stick. While each of the six characters have their own initial motivations and starting points on the world map, the main quest ultimately heads in the same direction, and the only difference in any of the side quests is an automatically determined response by the "Light" or "Shadow" option selected in the beginning of the game.
Sure the Temple Guardian doesn't quite fit the fantasy world.
But gamers have been wanting to drive a giant wheel around since Axel first appeared in Twisted Metal 2.
There are occasional bugs, such as defeated enemies getting stuck halfway through the floor or your character getting stuck on absolutely nothing. But these problems are somewhat easily solved by saving and restarting the program (or just ignoring the enemies and moving on). The only frustration associated with this is that when you restart you'll spawn at the last resurrection monolith you activated, even if that monolith happens to be, literally, on the other side of the world. There are teleport gates scattered throughout the game, mostly in major towns, but this doesn't really make getting around the map significantly easier, as you will still have to navigate around sometimes mazelike cliffs and rivers just to get to a point you could have hit with a thrown rock two hours ago. That's a frustration you'll never experience if all you are interested in is aimless wandering, as there is always some new distraction just a click away.
The issues of feeling lost amidst the intricacies of the combat system could have been solved by a stronger narrative, but once you've played for awhile you will appreciate the depth found in the fighting. It cannot be said enough how impressive a feat it is to keep action engaging when you literally can't go the length of one screen most times without encountering multiple enemies. Each of the six characters is unique enough to warrant experiencing the game with, particularly the Temple Guardian, which is an Anubis looking cyborg that wields a laser pistol and drives around in a big monocycle once you've gained his class specific mount. Still, the differences between the characters combat-wise is mostly cosmetic and again, the lack of a compelling or emotionally engaging storyline is the major factor which keeps this game from having a broader appeal.
Ok, stop me if you've heard this one: a man and his horse walk into a bar...
The game has a good sense of humor, with a random line inserted into what looks like the coded boot sequence for the game - unless you think the loading process actually does include "Hiding Easter Eggs." Each player character has their own sarcastic one liners to throw out when they kill an enemy, and even though these aren't repeated so often that they immediately become annoying, after you've heard all the various comments they will feel repetitive. Additionally, there are some comments that will jar you out of the experience, such as killing creatures that say, "I knew I was just an extra," or hearing your avatar say, "My stats are getting stronger."
There is a multiplayer feature that comes in many different flavors, including LAN and drop-in drop-out gaming through the single player campaign or free play mode, and at least one of the skills your character can learn will help you specifically in the player versus player combat option. It would have been nice to see an integrated voice chat system, but it isn't too difficult for each player to hold their own in any given situation, so there isn't really any need for on-the-fly planning. Once I had finished the two hour patch download, getting online and playing with others wasn't hard, though I was never able to create my own game. Honestly, multiplayer is fun as it is, but I don't really expect it to take off significantly until Sacred 2 comes to consoles in February (assuming the combat system makes a successful transition).
Right now, the Shadow Warrior is literally saying, "I need better resistance to physical damage."
The massive world, sheer number of secrets to discover, the diversity of the environments and graphical flair every inch of the world is covered with make the game worth playing and can definitely be recommended for any fan of the Diablo series looking for another fix. The six hundred plus quests to pursue, hidden areas, respawning treasure chests and distinct enemy models makes exploring even familiar areas interesting and really gives the game a very long life. Anyone looking for something to fill the genre space between Gauntlet and Baldur's Gate should pick up Sacred 2 and click away, but anyone with a recent injury to their right index finger is medically advised to stay away.
Final Score: B-
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