Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Developed by Valve for Half Life 2, the Source engine has constantly proved itself time and time again as being perhaps the only engine that can make a game look drop dead gorgeous, without being too taxing on the system. Unfortunately, besides Valve, there aren’t a lot of developers out there who can handle this engine very well. Remember what happened with Vampires: The Masquerade Bloodlines? Awesome game, but was constantly marred with crashes, clipping issues and game stopping bugs. Don’t worry, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (DMoMM) isn’t that bad, but it still has its share of visual screw ups like texture issues, clipping problems and load times that will make you tear your hair off in frustration.

Now before I get into the thick of things let me clear something out; DMoMM isn’t a full fledged RPG; it’s an action game with a certain amount of RPG elements thrown in, so if you’re looking for something like Oblivion, you will be sorely disappointed. Embrace it for its mindless action and you may just learn to appreciate it the way I did.

Since I begun this review by talking about the game’s engine, allow me to fill you in on the visual front. The game (well at least most of it) does look pretty good and performs well even on mid-ranged rigs and the addition of HDR (High Dynamic Range lighting) makes it a lot prettier, but one serious issue that can (and may) actually put you off this game is its horrendous load times, be it between levels or between individual chapters (the game’s got nine by the way, so you can go ahead and do the math). Even though enemy models are repeated a lot, they look pretty detailed, especially the Orcs, who as always, come across as menacing SoBs.
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Once you’re done ogling at the visuals, it’s time to get down to some serious combat, which thankfully is pretty straight forward in this game; slash away furiously at your enemies till your adrenalin bar is full to execute him with finishing moves that involve a lot of decapitation and stabbing, all played out in slow motion. Something new for me (I’m not too sure if it’s been done before) was the fact that the game allowed you to forge your own sword, and even though this process isn’t as fleshed out as you may expect, it’s still a cool touch nevertheless. Besides swords, daggers, cleavers and other m