Arx Fatalis is average as an RPG, but oustanding as a creepy, atmospheric adventure game.
User Rating: 7.9 | Arx Fatalis PC
Arx Fatalis is JoWood’s dark-themed 1st-person RPG: The game is set in a dark world where the sun has burnt out, and the inhabitants of Arx have moved underground to survive. The different races -- humans, goblins, dwarves, etc, live in an uneasy peace. The game comes across as a cross between “Thief” and “Morrowind”, and there are some similarities to those great games. However, there are some major differences as well. “Arx Fatalis” is attempts to do many things, and it does many of them well. It has a few issues though, mostly stemming from how complicated the game is. That said, it is a very good game overall. The world in this game is one gigantic underground dungeon, populated with some of the best sound to ever grace a video game. Your footsteps echo in the dreary hallways, doors creak, and moans of misery can be heard throughout the dungeons. The voice acting for the game is terrific, especially for the various monsters in the game. The result is an overall sense of dread in the game. In some places, it is downright scary. In one or two areas, the game makes you jump out of your chair with a loud moan or when a stiff breeze blows out your torch. The graphics for the game are also excellent. Faces look detailed and realistic, and various areas are full of bright and colorful detail. Even though the entire game is underground, the different areas are sculpted with a lot of variety. Spell effects are spectacular and body movements for the various characters are smooth. The game has a lot of cut scenes which are also very well done. Arx Fatalis makes a great adventure game. The inventory interaction system allows you to combine and use items in all sorts of ways. There are a lot of great puzzles in the game. They are VERY hard, but never illogical. There are a few 3D pixel hunts, but for the most part, the quality of the puzzles is very high. As an RPG, however, Arx Fatalis is somewhat average. It has a cool character development system, cool spells, and fun quests. However, The RPG aspects of this game have some problems. The first of which is the plot – it is full of clichés, and is basically a disappointment. Since the game is almost totally linear, it has little replay value. Spells are cast by tracing out runes in the air instead of with the stroke of a hot key. It sounds great on paper, but it is cumbersome and almost impossible in practice. In the heat of battle, you simply don’t have time to cast spells. A tough opponent will kill you in four seconds. You can only store three spells with shortcut keys, and only a handful of spells are really useful in the tough battles. I found that to win all the big battles, I would just store “Fireball” three times and release them real fast. Out of the 60 or so spells in the game, I only used about 5 on a regular basis. In general, this game has a common RPG flaw – lots of variety, but only a little bit is useful. The game has a complicated inventory interaction system, and that makes the interface extremely clumsy and confusing. It takes a long time to learn, and longer to get used to. To say the least, it needs a lot of work. Some of the features that are supposed to help you in the game, like the map and the journal, are poorly done. The map in the game is very poor. I still would recommend “Arx Fatalis” to RPG and Adventure fans alike. The interface requires a learning curve, but it is worth it, and you will probably enjoy it. It is poorly balanced as an RPG, but it is still good. This is a high quality game and although it has gotten almost no attention or hype, it is worth a play.
