Not really that bad actually, if you don't expect quality...

User Rating: 7 | The First Templar PC
The First templar is a 3D hack and slash game with little to no depth in combat and gameplay, but at least one who is quite long and provides quite a few hours of mindless, but at times fun, hacking. The game is really not suited for people who finish less than a dozen games a year, who are better off in spending their money either on more blockbuster games or on inspiring indie titles for a fraction of the price of blockbusters. But for other people, e.g. those who finish a dozen games a month, this game can provide limited entertainment.

Graphics 7/10
Well, the graphics are not up-to-date. Both character models and environments aren't a site to behold, so don't expect anything great. Still, some places, like the Marauders camp at night, don't look half bad. I personally didn't mind the graphics, although they were not 2011 but a few years in the past, they weren't really so ugly that I had to keep my eyes closed. Then again I am not the type of person who minds graphics since I play games from 1990s regularly even nowadays, so don't take my word it.
On a positive note, the game will run on older hardware even on high settings so its definitely a plus for people who can't afford or don't want a powerful rig.

Sounds 7/10
The soundtracks is uninspiring. The only song I liked was the one who plays in the menu and in one of the last levels. The sounds effects are very mediocre and so is the voice acting. All three of the main characters sound right, but that's about it. The lines they read don't have any feelings (exactly like the rest of the game), they usually only concern themselves with what must be done next, there is no character development.

Story 7/10
You are on the quest to find the holy grail! (What else? That thing is what the templars were all about, at least in todays fiction...) Even though the story sucks, they at least put in some surprises, some were unexpected, the later ones were lame, but at least they were there.
The characters, even though being cold and hollow, are not entirely unlikable (which can't be said about all of todays games). What the characters lack is depth and some development, there is hardly any conversation which does not concern the problem at hand or the solving of some puzzle.
Of another note is the fact that there is no magic, just swordplay, so it tries to be somewhat historical. When taken from this stance I can't understand why they included a girl fighter there, which from a historical stance is laughable. Like the way she is clothed for battle.

Gameplay 5/10
Imagine Diablo 1 in 3D with only 3 skills per character, only 2 characters, no magic and only a few monsters. In other words, the combat is too simplistic. You basically only click the left mouse button for attack and right mouse button for defense. The enemies only block if they have a shield which you can destroy with one charged attack, afterwards you just keep hacking them to pieces.
Those few skills you can learn though allocating experience don't make much of a difference since the enemies are too weak to matter even on hard. If the enemies were at least a bit harder, skills like backstab (deal more damage from behind, the girl has it) and challenge (direct all enemies towards yourself, the guy has it) would have more meaning, now you won't use them simply because you don't need them. All it takes are criticals (very easily executable) and you kill anybody within seconds.
Another minus to the gameplay are the absolutely linear maps, where you can cannot wander more than 10 meters from your predestined path.

Replayability 6/10
The fights get repetitive as hell, the skills are useless and not fun to use, there are no decisions in the what-so-ever besides the ending decision where you can just load a game and try out the second ending. So all in all, the replay value is not high. Although you might miss some armors, weapons and chronicles on the way, the map composition is far too linear to miss any of these if you keep looking at least mildly.

All in all, I would only recommend this game to people who tend to play and finish a lot of games and who have nothing better to play at the moment. For such people this game can be a surprise since the length and mild quality of the game are far better than expected. For others, who are not such avid gamers, this game will hold little or no interest.