a game of massive scale, prepare to lose a few week trying to find everything in the game. a gem in the third party area
the story is something that used to be used on the ps-one all the time now its not seen so often. you play azurik an orphan raised by the keepers of the elements in the land of perathia. but one day your tutor and freind is killed by a rogue keeper who destroys the elemental discs, which focus the elements and keep them in balance and throws the world into chaos unleashing monsters and the like all over.
sounds basic and it is.
the world is basically one giant level, theres areas like the fire realm, the earth realm with matching elemental creatures within each. the scale of these worlds is epic, and if you say for example, find a key on a beach it can turn a small dome into a tower with loads of paths and offshoots and reveal a snowy frozen world below. in sort the game will look nothing like it did at the start when you finish.
considereing its a very early game its pretty impressive for such a huge world loading times between realms is only about 4 seconds, you look at stuff like star wars obi-wan and others at the same time and you gotta admit its not bad. the controls are simple and basic your weapon is a spear like weapon and you fight with it.
still thinking its mediocre?, well this is were it gets better as a keeper of the elements you have a power over the elements, and thats were the xbox's four couloured buttons come into play, pull the left trigger and press b for fire and you spears ends ignite, press b for fire then x for water and you get steam to melt blocks of ice, some combos create armour, others wings and even light for in mines, as you quest this world you find items called obsidians, totems that, when taken to the elemental temple upgrade your hp bar skills and weapons.
the game play off the enemies is good too, and theres lots of them and they are incredibly varied, not only is there about 15 chracter models.types of enemies but most have a variation for each of the elemental realms, others like a googly eyed harmless goat are effected by the time, if you playing it and its the day its a goat but when the sun goes down it becoms a rabid beast, theres load of extras like i mentioned and it will take ages to find every nook and cranny in there.
graphics wise, its quite basic because of its age, but it ranges from lava pools to rageing seas, to glachiers to mountians and calm streams in the woods.
the areas are breath taking, like when you climb to the highest point in an area and look over the impressive view before you, and enemies dont appear when you reach a distance, there allways there and if ou watch them from a distance they interact with each other, its reasons like this that you shouldnt dissmiss this game because of what most say and view it for yourself.
sound wise its a lot like fable and thats prety much what to expect instrumental music that goes from small melodies to orchestral ballads ,that said they can occur at inappropriate times and ruin the atmosphere a little.
value wise ive seen it in gamestation £2.99 i think thats cheap enough for the amount of time you spend playing it from begging to end.
i love this game so if you hate it then F-U ,i dug it and if you like stuff like fable and morrowind then you will to.
impossible to finish on a rental buy it.