Titan Quest

"Onward to the Lands of Yore to Slay the Goatmen Horde"

Every now and then a game comes along which radically alters the gaming landscape. For whatever reason, be it innovative new mechanics or just old fashioned refinement and polish, these games become a benchmark for others in their genre. Nearly every genre has one, from Half-Life to Disgaea, from Metal Gear Solid to Grand Theft Auto. For the hack and slash genre, one game has been the standard for nearly a decade – Diablo 2. Many games have imitated Blizzard's deceptively simple formula over the years and have been found wanting. For what it's worth, Titan Quest comes closer to fulfilling the magic of D2 than any game before it and even manages to improve in a few areas. But like the rest, it stumbles in several important areas.

The narrative driving Titan Quest is derived from classic Greek mythology and centers around the escape of the Titans from their eternal prisons. Having been imprisoned by the rest of the Olympic gods, the Titans are eager to get their revenge, and naturally go on a rampage across the world. As a wandering hero, the quest is immediately obvious.

While the story isn't anything to get all worked up about (I recall roughly the same thing happening in Disney's Hercules released a decade ago), the writing is above average, and does a good job getting the message across. Quest dialog is usually interesting and informative enough that you'll want to read through it, at least once (plus it helps clear up why mythical monsters are suddenly prowling the countryside).

Veteran hackers and slashers will recognize the difference between Titan Quest and the typical Diablo knock-off almost immediately. From the get-go players only have a few minor decisions to make; what sex the hero should be, skin color and tunic color. Any choice regarding character class is nowhere to be seen, and the choices that are made in the initial setup are trivial, as the isometric viewpoint of the game isn't close enough to notice skin color, and the hero's tunic is quickly covered up by layers of armor.

This choice to delay class choice is ultimately what makes Titan Quest an interesting game, even despite the multitude of problems it displays the further it is delved into. For about five minutes, your created character will run around killing enemies in rather unspectacular fashion until eventually gaining enough experience to ascend to level two. At this point, players are introduced to Titan Quest's crowning feature. Players are given a choice of eight skill trees, one of which will form the foundation for the hero's class. These eight trees effectively hit all the usual ground, with a tree for any desired playing style such as the Warfare tree, with an emphasis on melee combat, the Rogue tree which is comparable to the Assassin class of D2 and the Storm tree with lightning and ice type spells. Upon reaching level eight, players are given the opportunity to choose another skill tree, thereby cementing the hero's class. As you might imagine, this lends tremendous variety to what can be created, and allows for some offbeat classes (Caster with incredible defensive power? Awww, snap!)

However, players won't simply pour points into their desired skills willy-nilly. Skills are organized on tiers, and they typically become more powerful the higher on the tree they are. However, there is no level requirement for accessing these skills. Instead, each tree has a sort of “experience bar” that needs to be filled in order to access new skill tiers. To start investing into skills, only a single point needs to be invested into this bar. To access higher tiers, more points need to be applied to the experience bar. There's even a touch of strategic thinking involved in the skill trees, as you'll only get a certain number of skill points per level and you have to choose how to divide them between skills and the experience bar, which in turn allows access to new skills. Thankfully, all these points going into the experience bar aren't wasted, as each point provides some stat bonuses useful for the skill tree. For instance, in the Warfare skill tree points into the bar will raise the hero's strength and health.

The skills themselves are also deserving of extra explanation. In other hack and slash games, pouring points into an early skill is always a risky choice as it could quickly become obsolete (Diablo 2 being notorious for this). Just like any other game of this genre, more points into a skill makes it more effective. However, many skills have added effects that open up in later tiers and work passively to increase the effectiveness of the skill. For instance, a skill called Envenom Weapon coats the hero's weapon with poison. In subsequent tiers, you'll be able to access three separate skills to increase its effectiveness, from slowing enemies after they're hit, to increasing the potency of the poison and finally being able to confuse them after striking. Summon skills (and there are a few) also have this benefit, meaning summons can actually gain new abilities.

It's also important to note that skills are used quite differently that what you might be used to. Instead of the dual mouse button scheme of D2, skills are instead assigned to the number keys. To use a skill, press the corresponding button and then click on the desired target. Though I like the idea behind it (getting players to use all their skills instead of just relying on one or two), the actual implementation is a bit aggravating. Instead of just scrolling over an target and hitting a single button, you've got to hit a button then click on the target, which can be a killer if you're trying to get off a big spell during a battle.

At this point you might be under the impression that I'm absolutely crazy about the game. Or you might be glancing back and forth between what you've read thus far and the score I've given the game, wondering if it is correct. To answer both hypothetical ponderings quickly – No, I'm not and yes it is. Because no matter how excellent and innovative the class/skill system is, it can't cover up the critical flaws the game has.

In light of the generally excellent skill system, the first problem is maddening. The game has no area effect spells that hurt many enemies at once. This means that players will have to fight each and every enemy in one on one combat, even when being mobbed. Naturally this is very aggravating, especially considering just how often you'll run into big hordes of enemies. Because of this, you'll rarely feel like much of a hero, and certainly never an overpowered one akin to Hercules. In a game revolving around Greek mythology, this feels like a major oversight what with all the awesome heroic feats inherent in said mythology.

Another major issue is the woeful lack of enemy variety. Unless you have an irrational and obsessive hatred of satyrs (read: goatmen), the game will start to become tedious mere hours after beginning. While satyrs form the majority of the cannon fodder, or sword fodder as it were, there are several of other Greek inspired enemy types such as centaurs and harpies. Then there are others that are more typical fantasy fare, such as skeletons, cat people and half-human half-spider things. In truth, the problem might not be so much about enemy variety as it is how often the game tries to mix things up. In any given area, you'll just be mowing through one or two enemy types. New enemy types are introduced at distant intervals, and then used ad nauseam.

Thankfully, the quests players are sent on always break away from the “kill 10 of these” formula. Though you'll never be sent on some grandiose mission (effectively they do all boil down to go here, kill this), they are comparable to Diablo 2 in that they always have some unique story behind them and surprisingly enough, the game rarely makes it feel as if you're just jumping through hoops for the sake of lengthening the game. For instance, one early quest has the hero seeking help for a village from a nearby Spartan army. The Spartans are reluctant to help and in order to enlist their help you have to prove yourself by slaying a local centaur warlord.

Graphically, Titan Quest is a beautiful game with a lot of nice flourishes. The main contributor to this might be due to the fact that the environments aren't randomly generated, meaning they are generally put well put together. Of course this comes at the cost of replayability, as you'll be seeing the same areas every time through. But given the games monumental length, you might not even remember things the second time through. But I digress… The game has a full day/night cycle, complete with appropriate lighting effects and shadows. There's lots of foliage, such as high grass that moves realistically when the hero runs through it, and the game even has elevation changes with hills and ridges. The first glimpse of this little touch is especially impressive with the hero moving across a ridge overlooking a beach.

It should come as no surprise that all this eye candy really eats up system resources, and though the recommended specs aren't too extraordinary, I'd suggest having a system that far and away exceeds those recommendations. The game doesn't scale as much as it could either, as even the lowest settings retain a lot of the unnecessary (but oh so beautiful) eye candy. Regardless of the settings, the game seems to retain frame rate problems, nearly always breaking down in big battles. It even hitches up when nothing is going on. The audio is merely average, with typical fantasy music that doesn't always match the environments. That's not to mention most of the Greeks sound like Russians.

THE VERDICT
Titan Quest comes closer to recreating the magic of Diablo 2 than any of its predecessors, and yet it somehow manages to totally miss the mark. While the class system is nothing short of pure brilliance, the lack of enemy variety, lack of area effect spells and constant frame rate problems are enough to keep this game from achieving glory. Still, it's a much better game than most of the other Diablo clones on the market.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/09

Game Release: Titan Quest (US, 06/26/06)