Sacred

"Sacred may be a divine game, but there are flaws that neither god nor mortal could avoid."

Sacred is my kind of game. Mindless killing, hacking, slashing and gore on the battlefield, while tactical equipment planning and character planning off. One way to describe Sacred is to call it a Diablo III, but this game has its own traits (both good and bad) that separate it from the timeless Blizzard classic.

Gameplay 8

The gameplay of Sacred is much like Diablo, a real-time, action based RPG in which the core consists of casting spells, chopping up baddies and saving fair maidens. Starting off as one of six characters, you dive into a huge world map, and although there is a linear storyline, there is no demand that carry out the missions immediately, or even at all. The world is completely open to you after a small, preliminary quest, and there are lots of options for your character or deeds to perform. Although you don't have to give a damn about your fellow countrymen, taking quests from them is a very good way to earn gold, runes (used to upgrade spells), weapons and other various items. It is also a way to get to know the world and the citizens of Ancaria a little bit more. There is a huge amount of land to explore, and even after reaching levels of an absurd nature, you still might not have seen all of the land Ancaria has to offer. Now this game has 4 different difficulty levels, 2 available from the get go and higher ones as you progress in levels. All of this can translate into multiplayer mode, which breathes a gigantic breath into the gameplay of Sacred. Unfortunately the Sacred servers can be a little picky, so it takes patience to play online. Now the reason the game lost some points, control. The hotkeys available ingame are very handy and well placed, but the option for custom hotkeys would have been nice to have. Also, there are some major problems with response. Sometimes the game will go into "idiot mode" where the world progresses as usual, but your character decides to take a little break from taking commands. He just stands there like a moron and decides to take a little nap. When Sacred was first released, there were too many bugs out there. But now that a deluge of patches and updates have been released, the game is a much more enjoyable experience. Unfortunately when my battle mage goes into a coma, he can't take a hint from Mr. Updater to come out of it.

Story 6
Definietly not a high point of the game, Sacred basically thrusts you into a world where a demon has been summoned and a barony has rebelled, but they way it is layed out, it doesn't mean crap. The voice acting is not that good, and the story flow is very blocky. One thing that is interesting is to see how the other characters tie into the game, because if you pass by a monestary as a gladiator, you will see a seraphim, and as a seraphim, you might pass by a gladiator ring and see that same gladiator.

Graphics/Sound 8
Not a high point of the game, but it certainly outshines the graphics of the Diablo series. Individual modifications to your armor can be seen, and close up zooms revealing minute, redeeming traits of your character can be viewed. Also, you can zoom high in the sky to see the world around you. The models are well animated, and this game undoubtabaly has some of the coolest battle animations out there in the world today. And although the details are not intense and vivid as we could appreciate, the load Sacred places on the computer will not be a heavy one. Same with the sound, it isn't a high point of the game but it outperforms some other games in the series. The voice acting is few and far between, and what is there isn't very skilled. However the sounds of the magical skills and steel on steel are impressive indeed.

Play Time/Replayability 10
Defienitly one of the high points of Sacred, this game offers many hours of gameplay. There is a certain obsession and drive that compels you to level up, just to see what skill you can unlock next or what monster you can take on. And there is plenty of world to see too. After taking a hunk of your day out to explore a small segment of Ancaria, it dawns on you that you might never even see the entire map. And the coolest thing is that it is one big map. No portals to take or tunnels to transport you, it is one gigantic contientent. And you have 6 different characters, each with wildly different skills to explore the map with. And when you are done with that, there is an online function to export your single player character to multiplayer and wage battle against other people or ally with them against the monsters of Ancaria.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION Buy
This game is a great game for nearly every gamer out there. It has something to offer everyone, and there is no doubt that if you enjoyed Diablo, you can pick up Sacred. However, if you don't have the patience for developer error, you might find Sacred a little less divine then it first appeared.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/05