Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

"The Little Engine That (sorta) Could"

Arcanum is a little, barely known PC game by Troika (containing a lot of former Black Isle folk) that tries oh so hard to be a classic on the level of Baldur's Gate or Fallout but just can't quite make it. That being said, its an excellent title with many shining area that is definitely worth a play by RPG enthusiasts like myself looking for a deep and rewarding game.

Graphics: There is simply no reason for a game released in 2001 to look this terrible. I'm sorry, I know RPGers shouldn't care about graphics, but Arcanum's are certainly bad enough to detract from the overall experience. Firstly, the game looks terribly washy and features detail and sharpness that will instantly remind anyone playing of Fallout, a game that didn't look super in 1997. Secondly, almost anywhere you go in Arcanum looks the same as everywhere else. Almost all towns use the same building types and most dungeons could be any other dungeons. Even the areas that look different and say, are in the trees or have snow, don't look so hot and whatever details are given to them are often wasted by the terrible visual quality. Spells and characters are hardly beautiful either. The only positive thing you can say about Arcanum's graphics is that they barely get the job done of showing us Arcanum's large and well realized world.
Rating: 4/10

Audio: The audio in Arcanum is nothing to listen to outside of the game but its not as abysmal as the graphics. The music is nice, but I believe the entire game has only two or three tracks. Yeah you heard me, and the battle theme is even used for one of the game two cinematics. No, they're not bad, but yes, they get old very quickly. The voice acting, on the other hand, is quite solid and gives you a nice sense of the many interesting characters you'll be meeting. Its a mixed bag.
Rating: 6/10

Gameplay: Arcanum has a great, although somewhat confusing, character creation system. It gives you a lot of options and choices about how to make your avatar, although in game the gameplay is not as open ended as say, Fallout. But the options are nice and you can customize yourself pretty well. Melee, theivery, guns, and magic are all viable paths, and anything in between. In game the battle system isn't nearly as refined. Essentially all you do is click and you either shoot or fire your spell. Being a mage is especially boring, as you can go through the game with the first spell you choose fairly easily. As a technological player, you can have fun assembling different weapons from schematics you find lying around, which adds some to the gameplay if you like that sort of thing. You'll probably find many companions to adventure with, but unfortunately their AI, like enemy AI, is incredibly idiotic. Expect to be replacing their weapondy often, and have them run off and lure enemies. You only have indirect control of these allies, but you can fairly easily replace their equipment and such. Overall, the gameplay in Arcanum gets repetitive but can be fun if you really get into your character. This has been done better, but it could have been much worse.
Rating: 7/10

Story: The Story is the reason you'll really want to play Arcanum. Arcanum's world; one where magic is encountering industrial age technology, is one you don't see much in RPGs and is pretty large and original. This really helps the game along. The characters you meet along the way of this 40-50 hour adventure are also fairly nicely filled out for the most part, although not horribly original. You'll meet the mysterious man with a terrible death in his past, the derelict king, the insane dwarf, etc. The plot itself is well done but not terribly original compared to the world. Still, it defies enough cliches to be really worth seeing. The locals you go to aren't horribly original, but they're done differently in this world for the most part, so its worth seeing. In the end, the story is big and deep enough to keep you playing, but this is no Planescape: Torment.
Rating: 9/10

Value: Besides its long first player, Arcanum has a lot of side quests to do, and as I mentioned before, a humongous world. So if you enjoy this game, there is probably 80 hours or so of stuff to do. This is a really big RPG.
Rating: 9/10

If it sounds like you'd like this sort of game;one that is rewarding but ugly and somewhat unwieldly, then I recommend it. If a good story and interesting world isn't enough to keep you going, you should probably stay away.
Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/11/04