Is Dark Messiah worth a try?

[TheAnyKey]

What's your opinion on Dark Messiah, is it worth a try?

I read on gamespot.com:

"Dark Messiah wraps a dull story around repetitive combat. It's not a bad game, but its technical glitches really bring it down."


Thanks

[Angelspit]

The GameSpot review sums it up well.

Personally I really liked the melee combat, and having the chance to explore the "new Might and Magic universe" from another point of view. But some characters are annoying, the links with Heroes V are far and few, and there is a lack of balance (kicking enemies will get you out of trouble often and feels cheap). There are much better 1st-person action games out there, especially for multiplayer, but Dark Messiah is dirt cheap these days.

[Macros the Black]

I don't completely agree with that. In my opinion, Dark Messiah needs to be viewed as a game very loosely connected to the Ubisoft Might and Magic series, and completely seperate from the New World Computing Might and Magic series. The storyline, that has almost no ties to Heroes 5, is bad. It's cheesy and extremely predictable. The different endings are obvious and opposites of each other, you won't find any surprises in them.

However, the combat is close to how good Oblivion was, imho. The skill system is not so good, but does a fair job of giving you a bit of choice and an RPG feel - just don't expect to be replaying the game to choose a different path. Having the ability to kick enemies into the over-abundant death traps or cliff falls is not necessarily cheap because there are still plenty of times when your skills will come in handy. So it boils down to quick descision-making of when to use what skill, and when to just kick an enemy to his death. There's also still plenty of times when you're facing quick enemies and need to use your stamina on sprinting and dodging, and won't have any left to use the kick attack. You could of course wait for it to recharge, but by then the enemy might not be in the right spot for it anymore, so you'll still have to use your skills. Of course, I did play it on the hardest difficulty, and I can imagine that on lower difficulty settings you'll have less trouble kicking them to their deaths. But all in all, I liked the combat, and executing enemies with adrenaline, kicks or stealth+daggers felt very satisfying to me.

One thing I do have against the game is that's is way too short and linear. But if the game's dirt cheap, than you get what you pay for right? So yes, as a game it's worth buying. As a connection to the might and magic universe, though, not so much. Even Might and Magic 9 is better for that.

[Tress]

If you like action games, sure go for it, it is not bad for action game. It's rpg component is hardly RPG, it is more like choosing which weapons you unlock.
Length of game compared to modern FPS games is quite long and also it offers bit of re playability since game play as stealth class or mage differs significantly.
Must keep in mind that game was created at age when physical engines was relatively new toy so they use it to full(and maybe even to an extent it seems cheesy at times, like many opponents are set in places to conveniently be destroyed by environment) potential, bit like half life, just instead of grav gun you have boot and telekinesis.
It's connection to homm 5 could have been more significant, but it offers some answers, specially if you have played TOtE
Also one of significant marks of game is it's high violence level, I have seen both people that likes game because of it and who are repulsed for same reason, but personally i think game that said @#$@ you to PEGI and ESRB and risked lowered sale deserve extra look at their product.

Dark Messiah wraps a dull story around repetitive combat.

Story - well it's how you view it, but it definitely come from those who just like to bash Ashan for sake of it. Corn in COD:MW2 is alot higher. Combat is not really repetitive if you dont make it such yourself.

but its technical glitches really bring it down.

Played game twice and didn't noticed any bugs that would be worth mentioning. Well you can bug some places if you try hard enaugh and kill friendly npc's but thats pretty much is only case if you are bored and seek how to break the game.

[Angelspit]

The review was based on version 1.0, which had some issues. Personally, I don't remember having any problem, before or after the patches.

[Talin_Trollbane]

Oblivion combat wasnt exactly....good.

it took a mod to fix it, along with some 100+ other mods.

but anyway, its an okay FPV fight with swords game, but dont expect anything Might and Magic.

atleast i didnt see any connections at all.

[tolknaz]

Not exactly an RPG and not much to do with M&M either. Still, don't believe the gamespot review. The combat was fun - way more so than in oblivion. The environment plays a big role in combat, and physics are way more than the gimmick that they usually are in games. A very underrated action game to be sure!

[Nomad]

Felicious combats, liked it very much.
Of course it worth it.

[dogthenine]

Definitely worth trying. Very fun game. It merely lacks much replay value because it is incredibly linear. Although you can choose a couple of different alignment paths, you still go to the same places and essentially do the same things.

[XEL II]

It's worth it, but the story has nothing on the original universe games. That can be said about the rest of Ashan setting as well.

[NicholasRay]

Though It's nothing like the RPGs the story and game is pretty fun. Multiplayer is like the awesome verion of LOMM (if you ever played) and it's cheap now. I bought it when it first came out and I loved it.