Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

"Potential"

Usually developers take an existing idea that has proved to work, customize it in some way so it's a little different in some odd way, add some new tricks or tracks into it, maybe a brand new graphics engine or music and wrap it up in some nice, presentable way. Sometimes this works wonders and at other times it creates monsters.

Then there are the other game developers that think of an idea themselves. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura does just that but fails to deliver satisfactorily.

Story - Alrighty, so you start out on a blimp which gets shot down. In the wreckage you find yourself without a scratch and a dying gnome. The old midget gives you a ring and requests you to find a boy somewhere and give the ring to him. Your only clue is engraved onto the ring with the initials, GB. Suddenly, strange people from all over the place seem to stop you in your quest, including killing you. It seems like they were the ones that shot your blimp down, too. Why are they trying to kill you? Why is the ring so important? What does GB stand for?

Question after question will leave you wanting for more and you'll be happy to know that the ring is only the tip of the iceberg. You'll discover so much more as you play.

However, the presentation of the story is a little poor. Almost no cut scenes, the story is told almost entirely from dialogue and some parts may seem confusing at first. The story is nothing mind-blowing, just decent enough to play alongside with.

The characters you meet along the ride are amazing. Each is tremendously unique from the next and each with their own pros and cons. Some are wise, some are tough and some are downright rude and funny. Their individual personalities really brings out the best- and the worst- for each man, woman and dog you'll meet.

Game play - Like throwing a watermelon up in the air, for that brief second it stops, giving you but a taste of the view Arcanum can achieve, then plunging down again and obliterating that idea into nothingness. It's that view, that vision that leaves me wondering. What if?

The game play itself leaves me nauseated and delighted at the same time. Kind of like eating too much pizza. The locations and maps are truly unique, creating a 'steam punk' setting with a touch of 'Magickal' creatures, artefacts and places. This mixture leaves an interesting blend of technology and the 'beyond', from steam trains to demons, dwarves to dungeons, Arcanum absolutely colossal. There seems to be a unlimited area you can explore, from early Victorian cities to elven tree top villages. Delightful, no?

The variety given to you when creating your character is staggering. So many different choices are handed to you; you can even give your character his own personal background that can affect his abilities. After you've created your character the choices gets wider. You can become a hero of justice if enough good deeds are down or a merciless serial killer if you choose so. Whole cities can be slain (no really!) and you can still finish the game. But why kill them when there's so much personality lurking beneath the surface? There are plentiful quests given to you and you choose how to accomplish them. Often there is more than one outcome to your quest and always you'll be forced to make a choice. Often there are the few odd quests that will offer a laugh and sometimes the more dark and serious ones will kick in. The good/evil meter comes into play here and will affect how others react toward you.

The way your character develops is entirely up to you. You can choose to be an expert gun slinger, that means handguns, rifles, flamethrowers and the like, or study the technologies of Alchemy, Mechanics or even Explosives, each with their own rewards. These are only a few technologies you can learn throughout the game and once you gotten the hang of it, you can even build a little robot later on.

Or you can choose to stray from or shun technology all together and try your hand at Magick. There are a great number of different spells you can learn, some aggressive, and some passive. You can hurl fireballs at enemies, shock them with lightning and you can even learn to teleport across great distances, saving you the money and time of travelling by train, ship or on foot.

This is all good and merry and building your character is a blast but the game falls apart as soon as you step into combat. The combat system is so unbalanced that some times it is just best to avoid it all together. During the start of the game, you are incredibly weak, so weak in fact that many of the quests you first receive will take a long and tedious time to complete. That's really nothing to complain about because all rpgs require you to spend some time to invest into your character, but the battles of Arcanum are just tedious, making levelling up more of a chore than any fun.

The battles are strictly point and click. Sometimes you don't even have to click. Enemies are unimaginative and fights will quickly remind you of the previous battles. It's a good thing that they're always short then. So short in fact within a few seconds either your enemies or you will die. Maybe too short, you'll never see some real action. The battle system really is unbalanced; some of the final weapons you can make as a gun smithy are weaker than some of the magicks an apprentice wizard can conjure and vice-versa. There is one particular spell that can defeat all opponents in the game (except the last boss) with one hit. No kidding. Just one click and the world is yours. I felt the battle system was somehow rushed which was such a pity because it sounded so good in theory.

Graphics - meh. Nothing to jump for joy over, just the graphics you'll expect to see. Think Baulders Gate but a whole lot bigger. Some of the maps are really well designed; the 'steam punk' city of Tarant is very memorable, from the rich, stone mansions to the gangster-infested slums, The Boil. The graphics fit in nicely with the game but still, nothing to write home about.

Sounds - The music is refreshingly alluring. From slow violin melodies to quick paced, uncivilised drum beats, the tune always locks perfectly onto the situation. When walking through the streets of Tarant, orchestrated, slow and poignant music really makes you feel like you're walking down that street yourself. Charming. The voice acting is convincing but sadly, there aren't too many character's that actually speak within the game. When they do however, it is a rare pleasure to hear them utter if only a few words. Sound effects are quite unnoticeable in Arcanum, but not really an extremely important factor.

Replayability - Great. There are so many different choices within the game and just playing through it once is not nearly enough to uncover all the secrets and explore all the possibilities. If you played through the first time with technology on your side, you'll want to know what it's like to be a magick user and vice versa. You'll always want to know what the other side is like, an effective method that will surely draw you back for a second game. But the dull battles and the overall presentation might make you hesitate you click on that "new game" button after all.

Final Recommendation - This game can be perfect, its wide number of choices allows you to make a character that best reflects your own personality and taste. The luscious streets of Tarant will leave you wondering what can happen to this game in the future. Despite some major flaws in the game, it still retains it's original idea and one day, it could just become the next Neverwinter Nights.
If you can find this game in the bargain bin, go for it. It's a different experience from any other game, that i can promise. The variety of choices and quests are very fun to play through again and again. I mean, what other game does the owner of a brothel ask you to steal jewellery from the local residents? Super Mario? I think not.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07