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With all the level grinding that’s gone on since Diablo got everyone hooked in the ‘90s, you’d think that people might have gotten tired by now of slaying, earning, and collecting greater and greater piles of stuff. But, there’s still something addictive about that process of gradually building up a character, and, while it’s far from perfect, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel has what it takes to make you fall off the wagon again.
The Evils of T-Energy
Sacred 2 takes place in the world of Ancaria, a lush and verdant place that’s been corrupted by the use of a mysterious blue goop called T-Energy. The stuff has leaked out all over the place, spoiling the land, and spawning an endless stream of evil critters and apparitions. The forests, plains, and mountains are littered with giant insects, chattering kobolds, undead skeletons, and more, all in overwhelming numbers that a single person couldn’t possibly hope to overcome.
But that’s just what you’ll try to do through the game’s mostly forgettable main quest that, for most gamers, will become an afterthought once they’re presented with a couple-dozen side objectives to complete. Quests litter the giant in-game map and will have you zigzagging from place to place, finding someone’s teddy bear lost deep in a cave here before rescuing another person’s husband over there, and on and on. Indicators on the main- and mini-maps make it easy to plot your routes, and while a number of warp gates makes it a little quicker to get around, you’ll find yourself doing an awful lot of walking from place to place.
Until you get a mount, that is. There are six base characters to start from here, each with its own means of advanced transport to be unlocked (ranging from tigers to fancy unicycles), and naturally each with its own unique look and abilities. There’s a warrior mage class, a cyborg defender, an Inquisition-worthy dark warlock, and few others that hardly fit into the standard fighter/ranger/spell caster templates you might expect, but cover all the bases quite well. There’s no real customization up front as you start the game; that comes as you gain experience, earn a few levels, and start spreading some attribute points around.
Sight-Seeing with Friends
Fun as it is, all that leveling and grinding can get a bit tedious, especially with the lack of a cohesive storyline to keep you motivated. Thankfully there are a number of ways to play online, most attractive being the online campaign mode. With a maximum of five players it’s hardly approaching MMO territory, but that’s more than enough to form a decent party and have fun exploring Ancaria’s expanses. If you want to skip the quests entirely, you can get up to 16 players going online in either the objective-less “free play” mode or in PvP mode.
Online play will be preferred for most, if only because the AI is mediocre at best. The roving baddies that litter the landscape tend to come charging at you screaming with no semblance of order, then frequently run away mid-battle, only to turn around and charge again. We’re not exactly expecting advanced tactics or intelligent swarm behaviors here, but opponents with half a brain might be nice.
Combat itself is as straightforward as you’d expect, regardless of the intelligence of your opponent. Left-click is for melee or ranged attacks while a right-click is for the mystical attacks and spells. There are keyboard shortcuts for cycling weapons, spells, activating buffs, using potions, collecting loot, and just about everything else you’d like to do, minimizing the need for the mouse. You can use it to navigate the world if you like (click a place on the ground and your character will wander over) but WASD seems to be the preferred means for getting around. When you do need to click the UI is nice and non-intrusive, though we do wish you could reposition the internal status windows and such.
Rocking in Ancaria
Much of Sacred 2 is rather tongue-in-cheek, and while it can be disorienting as it sways back and forth from dramatically serious to seriously goofy, the soundtrack definitely belongs in that latter camp. Sure, there are a few of the airy, mystical strings that you’d expect in an RPG, but the game tends to prefer a little more metal in its soundtrack, featuring no shortage of heavy riffs as you wail on some collection of misfits with your battleaxe. Cheesy, but it works.
Graphically things are rather less dramatic, but still solid. Terrain, whether dry or covered in water, looks quite good, and while the models for the enemies are missing some detail on occasion, character models are quite the opposite – especially the scantily clad ones. The game’s performance is fair, even with a gaggle of baddies on-screen at once, but you will still need some decent hardware if you want things to stay smooth; this may be a Diablo clone, but it doesn’t have Diablo’s system requirements.
Another Fix for Grinding Addicts (my former tag: XGC Addicted!)
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel doesn’t really do anything new or particularly better than any other level grinding RPG out there, but it does it all quite well and offers a massive world that will take ages to explore fully. If you’re the type who needs a strong story and compelling characters to get sucked in, it’s safe to say this isn’t your game. But, if you usually go running in the opposite direction of the main quest in order to make your own adventure, you’ll find plenty of that here.
photos courtesy of ***gamer.net, content lifted from gamefaqs.com