Arx Fatalis

"A satisfying experience"

My version is very buggy and I have not used the patches that are now out.

Graphics (8/10)
There really isn't anything too spectacular in the graphics area of the game. All the levels are done with out too much to catch the eye. The characters are all very much the same. There are only about two different models per race in the game disregarding key characters.

Sound (9/10)
There is very little music playing as you go about your journey. This is not really a bad thing because the atmosphere of the game is done quite well and doesn't really need any music to help it. The sounds in the game are very good. The sound of your sword banging against a brick wall is very nice. Even the sound of lighting a torch sounds real. The sound in my opinion drives the feel of this underground world home. The undead foes really add there feel of creepness into the game well. The voices in the game are very well done throughout the game. None of the voices in the game will make you cringe. The goblins for example are very comical in there dialogue.

Story (6/10)
The whole time I was playing this game I just felt as if I had already heard this story a hundred times. You begin in a cell not knowing who you are and as you journey around arx helping people you eventually remember who you are. And then you have to go save the world of Arx. The sad part is that you don't gradually regain your memory you simply just remember at a certain point in the game. The main parts of the story are told in cut scenes (many did not work in my version).

Game play (7, 10)
This is where the game does a lot of good things along with many bad things. The controls take a little getting used to in the beginning but after you have spent some time with them it's still a little weird. My main gripe with the game play is definitly the insanely unhelpful journal. It seems that your character is incapable of writing down the most important part of any quest you have to go on. Thus requiring you to do some memorizing along the way. Your character gains experience after completing certain tasks and after fighting as in traditional RPG style. Gain enough experience and your character goes up a level. Problem being that there are only 10 levels your character can be. Which means if you distribute your points incorrectly it could be a long time before you can fix the problem. Also one last thing I found is that while the NPCs are smart enough to call for help when your beating the heck out of them they are stupid enough to get stuck in walls and block your way. You have no idea how many dogs have kept me from getting through doors.

Combat (8, 19)
The battle system is very nicely done requiring you to hold down the mouse button to charge up a swing of your weapon although I’m not quite sure why they made the box so big. You can choose from melee combat with swords and ranged attacks with bows and magic.

Magic system (6, 10)
Magic in this game is another problem. The idea of collecting runes and moving the mouse in the shape of the runes to cast a spell is a nice idea. But here is the problem. When you’re trying to fight off a mass of goblins and you want to cast a spell you have to hold down ctrl and move the mouse in sometimes very weird ways all while trying to stay alive. And in my opinion the magic system is way to picky on how you move the mouse around. Arx tries to solve this problem by allowing you to save three spells which can be cast just by pressing either 1, 2, or 3. But the problem is after you cast them the hotkey is gone. You have to move the mouse again to resave the spell. It's just a royal pain.

Difficulty:
This game is really hard to say weather its easy or hard. You can finish some quests with no trouble what so ever only to go up against an army of unbeatable monsters and the most mind bending puzzles. I found the game to be rather normal difficulty wise.

Overall (7, 10)
If your looking for a game that you can sit back and enjoy even though it has a few bugs (a few too many for me) then this game is for you. But if your like me and don't like running around aimlessly forever and the only help the npc can give you is that and I’m quoting ''I've already told you all I know'' then you probably want to pass on this or at least get a guide because this game will give you gray hairs. All in all Arx Fatalis is a fair game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/04/03, Updated 01/04/03