Gothic

"Gothic: A Look Inside the Barrier"

Format: 8/10

Gothic is a 3rd-person RPG. It starts with a short movie giving you background info about the world. The kingdom is waging war with orcs, and the humans need lots of good weapons in order to dismember them. Therefore the king forces anyone who commits any crime to be enslaved in a mining camp until the war is over. But then the king went even further and had some magi create a magic wall that'll kill anyone who tries to leave the camp. BUT, they made it too big and got stuck there. Also, they didn't tell the guards they were locking them in, and while they were trying to find out what happened, the prisoners killed them all(except the magi) and took over the mining operation. So the king has to keep sending prisoners in and trade food and such to the prisoners in exchange for magic ore.

In the beginning of the game, you're tossed into the prison colony for a crime not mentioned in the game. That and why exactly the humans are at war with the orcs are the only plot holes to speak of. The rest of the story is unique and pretty interesting.

Graphics: 8/10

Everything except the game menus are in 3D. They'll run on almost any system purchased in the last few years, as the game's a bit old. The graphics are very nice to look at, especially if you turn your view distance up a bit so you can see the mountains and ocean. There are a few clipping problems, but nothing big or game-affecting.

Gameplay: 10/10

The controls take a little while to get used to, but once you get used to them they're simple and easy to use. You can always change them around to be more like other RPGs as well. A mouse is optional, and can be used to look around and to attack with melee weapons. Mainly you'll use your keyboard with the default settings though.

The game itself is very entertaining once you understand how things work in ''the Colony'' as the prisoners refer to it. You can join one of three different camps, each with their own rules, requirements, perks, and cool-looking armor types. Before you join them the game is as open-ended as your HP allows. Just stay out of the mountains and orc lands and you'll be okay. Once you join a camp it's a bit more linear, in that it has less side-quests and more mandatory ones. You can still wander off and chop monsters to bits, or shake down people in other camps(one of the cooler aspects of the game is the ability to mug your fellow prisoners).

The only real gameplay problem is that if you want to be a mage, you have to learn some basic sword or bow skill first, or you'll get yourself eaten by wolves early on. But once you join a camp, you'll have access to plenty of really cool and powerful magic. Except for members of the Brotherhood camp, I'm told their spells suck damage-wise.

Bugginess: 5/10

This is the main flaw in the game. It's kinda glitchy. Guards won't stop you entering the castle without permission if you have a melee weapon out while you pass them, you take no fall damage if you're holding Strafe when you hit the ground, and certain enemies can't be beaten by multi-classers, because they have about 50% magic resist and weapon resist, so you need to specialize mostly in one attack type. My fighter/archer/mage got slaughtered by a late-game minion because I was 10 strength short.

However, the bugs can be easily avoided with one step: SAVE OFTEN, and keep a backup save file a little earlier in case you save after, say, mugging someone you didn't know was friendly with the nearby Elite Guard w/Crossbow of Death.

Overall: 8/10
[PCGamer format]
Highs: Fun gameplay, interesting story, it's an older game so it's probably only $20

Lows: Some annoying bugs, multi-class characters are weak sometimes

Bottom Line: Buy it, pick ONE fighting style, and save often.
[/PCGamer format]

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/03