Knight's Apprentice, Memorick's Adventures

"Twenty dollar bargains usually aren't"

This is a game that is probably on no one's radar. I first heard of it in mid may, did some probing, and found out it had been well received at last year's E 3. I began to really look forward to this game, and got it as soon as it was available. It looked to be a cross between "Zelda", "Mario", and the first "Jak and Dexter". It also looked to be deep and long, what with upgrading your sword, armor, and shield twice each; learning new moves; and gathering orbs and runes to get to new areas. The game has 19 levels, but as it turns out, it is very short, about ten hours, and you won't care, because all of them are boring.

GRAPHICS: 6/10 The graphics are not too bad, for a last generation Play station game they'd be fine, but for X Box, at this point in time, they are merely adequate. At least there are no technical issues to deal with; however, the scenery is constantly blocking your view.

MUSIC/SOUND: 6/10 The sounds and sound effects in the game, rendered in Dolby Digital, are great, but that can not be said for the music. Uninspired, and not a whole lot of it, either; the music is imminently forgettable.

CAMERA/CONTROL: 3/10 The camera is mostly excellent, and by itself would score an 8 or 9, but the controls are memorable for their total lack of control. When you hit the jump button you have no idea weather you will actually jump or not; and when you land on a platform, you have no idea if you will stay the jump, or walk right off. Evidently the developers knew this was a problem, because when you die, you restart at the same spot, so there is no penalty.

GAME PLAY: 5/10 You gather orbs, which pretty much lead you to where you have to go, in order to open new portals to new places where you then can collect more orbs to go to more places, etc. It is all pretty boring. The game is also pretty easy, except when it throws you something really hard that you have to keep doing. Are you lost, then die on purpose and it will put you where you need to be. Too many enemies ( they constantly re spawn), then run past them, you get nothing for killing them other than health. About a half hour into the game comes the hardest part. You must ride your shield down a slide which goes on forever, with no markers, so, if you die, even right at the end, you have to restart from the beginning. You would think once it was over that would be it, but not so, for every time you need to get back to the lady in the lake you have to do it all again. The game, sad to say, is totally uninspired, which would explain the $20 price tag.

VALUE: 5/10 Sure it's only $20, but even if you finish it, it will only take 10-12 hours at most, and you will never look at it again.

FINAL COMMENTS: Once again a bargain title turns out to be not a bargain. Who'd have thought that. The only good bargain title I ever found was "Dark Stone" for Play station for $10. When companies can make a profit and sell a lot of games in the 40-50 dollar range, but elect to sell it for $20 or less, you know something is wrong.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/13/04