Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Review
Also tied to Sacred 2's gameplay are the quests and leveling up your warrior. Like all kinds of other games in the genre, you'll be constantly given tasks to carry out as you get stronger and move through the main objectives. For example, as you begin the game, you'll be given a main quest right off, but while working toward its completion, you'll be assigned a whole mess of other tasks as well – kill (insert number) of enemies, collect this item or that, help so-and-so with (insert job here); you've done it all before. How these quests are doled out and completed is smart and easy. You don't HAVE to do everything you've been assigned to do, but the game's quick pace and lack of Elder Scrolls-type "This is gonna take me a freakin' year" objectives keeps things interesting and fresh.
 |
And even if you can't do much to your character right off the bat, as you gain levels and power up, you'll be given much more reign over how you want to play and develop. With a little planning and practice, you can turn your character into nearly anything. An archer who uses magic? Easy. A tank who is also a healer? Even easier. The aforementioned good/evil temperament choice affects your development in minor ways as well. Sacred 2 might seem too linear at first glance, but after a few hours the possibilities open up a bit more.
As much as I detest online and multiplayer gaming, Sacred 2 does manage to make things easy and fun if you want to team up with other warriors, whether in your living room or halfway across the world. Simply set a list of preferences before starting and people will drop in and out of your game as you play through the otherwise single player campaign. It sounded weird to me, too, but it actually works, mostly because of the options you are given concerning others in your game. You can set level caps, experience share ratios treasure share ratios, etc. Just by fine-tuning your online menu, you can handpick fellow warriors based on your wants, not theirs. During a particularly tough spot, I set an incoming player level cap above mine and um… lets say I made the experience sharing a little slanted in my favor. After only a few minutes, a player dropped in, helped me move forward and promptly disappeared after the task was done, leaving me with new armor, a ton of experience and an open path to move on. If only all online games were this intuitive and useful, right?
Ok… I saved the best for last. You might remember me mentioning a little band called Blind Guardian working on the music and a new song for this game. Well, if it stopped there, Sacred 2 would have been just another game with a little input from a band and another way to entice game-buying customers (remember the Aerosmith and Kiss games?). That absolutely isn't the case here. Not only is the new song, presumably called 'Sacred,' a great one, it actually appears in the game, rather than over the final credits like so many other cop-outs. So where do the song show up? I won't give too much away but not only is the song in the game, every member of the band appears in game as well, and even put on a concert to perform the song. For fans, this is un-freaking-believable. Each member of the band actually looks like their real life counterparts and while I suppose the concert could be considered bonus material, it makes the game that much more rewarding. Video of the concert is available on YouTube, but since Sacred 2 turned out to actually be pretty fun, I'd recommend just playing the game and earning the bonus for yourself.
Let's be honest: Sacred 2: Fallen Angel has some problems. Certain aspects of the finished product seem rushed and incomplete, and both the story and graphics leave a good bit to be desired. BUT… the game has its positive points as well. Blind Guardian's song and appearance are at the top of my list, but even those who aren't familiar with the band will find a lot to like in this game. The online components and staggering amount of stuff to do will keep those who give it a chance playing for a good while to come. Stuff I didn't even get to in this review (mounts, monstrous bosses, etc.) will thrill some and repel others, but if you need an RPG on the 360 (or PS3, though this review is only concerned with the 360 version) and you like the more action-oriented stuff, Sacred 2 is more than worth your time and money.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
80%.
