No Love for Elements

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Angelspit
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby Angelspit » 11 Feb 2008, 17:19

Fool me twice, shame on... who? I get an uncomfortable feeling of <i>déjà vu</i> while reading the reviews of Dark Messiah: Elements. Here's a quote from <a href="/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... mes.com</a> that summarizes in a paragraph the gameplay problem that spoils what fun you might have with combat:



<i>"Sadly though, for every satisfying kill there's a frustrating piece of sloppy design just waiting to ruin your fun. Enemy AI is wildly inconsistent. Foes have the cunning to spot you shuffling in the shadows from fifty yards, but once you're one-on-one, they'll happily line up and let you boot them into a fire or set of spikes. It's as if the developer is desperate for you to use its (admittedly great) environment kills at all costs."</i>



The game gets a 5.9 out of 10 there. And with the 5 out of 10 on the Official Xbox Magazine UK and 59% on Xbox World 360 Magazine UK, we get the feeling that the scores aren't likely to improve anytime soon.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1202750397
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arturchix
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Unread postby arturchix » 11 Feb 2008, 17:36

:rip:

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Akul
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby Akul » 11 Feb 2008, 18:22

Weird that DM was less sucesful on consoles then it was on PC
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Labyrinth
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby Labyrinth » 11 Feb 2008, 20:19

Aw, too bad. I wish there was hope for a second DM... :/
What the #$*! do we know?

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Akul
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby Akul » 11 Feb 2008, 21:18

Failure of Elements might only result in DM2 never to be released on consoles because it got good (often great) ratings in PC magazines.
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Unread postby Humakt » 11 Feb 2008, 22:11

I greatly enjoyed DM on PC and have completed it twice already. No review can change that fact.

And I think AI is pretty solid in this game and fighting different opponents is indeed very different experience partly thanks to the AI. There are some bugs and oversights, but generally I'm pretty satisfied with the game's AI.

Anyway Pelit gave Dark Messiah about 85-89% as far as I remember. And I usually trust Pelit's reviews much more than any foreign magazine's or internet reviews.
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JSE
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby JSE » 11 Feb 2008, 23:42

I think that Dark Messiah is probably the best fantasy action game, one of the very best 3D action games in general and definitely a better role-playing game than most so called role-playing games (counting the "Elder Scrolls" series mentioned in the article). It offers the most convincing and exciting implementation of mêlée combat I have ever encountered (counting the medieval combat game "Mount & Blade") and is especially rich in atmosphere and involvement.



Taken together, Dark Messiah absolutely deserves all the good reviews it received for the PC version in 2006. One of these good reviews was actually published on CVG, the very online magazine that now bashes Elements' gameplay. So much for consistency...



URL: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=148128



While the XBox version might have some technical shortcomings, I am quite sure that gameplay has remained largely the same. Hence, I can see no reason for the 2.5 score difference in the two reviews. Two years cannot make this difference by all means -- no matter how many other "swords-'n'-spells scrappers" have been released.



I see two possible explanations: Either CVG does not care at all about consistency in their game reviews or the Elements reviewer is not aware of the fact that to be enjoyable and captivating, games do NOT need to constantly compete with other (similar) games. If a game can deliver quality fun in its own right, it's a good game -- even two years after its release, or twenty. Period.
Edited on Mon, Feb 11 2008, 18:47 by JSE

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Akul
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby Akul » 12 Feb 2008, 18:00

@JSE:

I don't really see how you can compare Action RPG like DM with a strandard ome like TES.



Anyway, the probably reason for change of score is the fact that another person might review DM: Elements.

While I am not educated in console games, I am sure there are better action games then DM on theme. At the end, it is what consoles are famous for.
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No Love for Elements

Unread postby Orfinn » 22 Feb 2008, 13:12

The controls converted from PC to the 360 were near perfect, one of the big plusses I can give about DM: Elements.


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