Fate is a great clone of Diablo and makes use of new graphics and better mechanics for a solid and immersive adventure.
Set in the small town of Grove this RPG has you encountering the tall tales of an ancient beast that dwells within a dungeon that just so happens to connect with the town. The wizard introduces us into it with some pretty decent voice acting to set up the story; sadly the story is a bit of a stock cliched story. Simply told the beast which always seems to lay at the 40th level of the dungeon is terrorizing the town of Grove, it is your duty to destroy him and complete the greatest quest of RPG history, or so it wants us to think. Basically this is a B movie plot in which the story is basically the back bone and an excuse to head off into unknown territory and destroy everything that is in your path. So while the story isn't a true War and Peace or even Eragon, the game itself still holds its appeal with many other well implemented mechanics. Of course these mechanics are great anyway but they are sadly derivative of already the greatest RPG of all time: Diablo. Even if you have never played or heard of Diablo, something about this game will make it seem like you have seen it before. However, Fate has strength in its sword and surprisingly its own dungeon to rip the chains of its copy and make it stand out in the sea of Diablo rip offs.
You start your adventure in the town of Grove with only an axe carved by steel as protection, and a companion of yours who helps you out in battle. The companion only ranges from cats to dogs, not that good but these are only starter creatures. Progressing deeper into the game you discover the skill of fishing, now this time fish aren't for you; in fact they are probably bad for your health, but for your pets. Different kind of fish turn your pets into a different kind of creature, which can be a good tactic to use and adds some nice ideas to the otherwise spot on Diablo formula. However, fish are hard to get in Fate due to its dulled out system of obtaining the fish. The system works like this, you come to a fishing spot, start fishing, then wait until you get a tug, and then reel it in. It can seem fun and a bit engaging in reality it is a chore and a very big waste of your otherwise dungeon happy time. It takes from get a fish the minute you start to get a fish 15 minutes afterward. Sure it may not sound that boring but all you do is stand there and wait so you will soon quickly dismiss this feature of the game until too long and focus more on bigger feature that is the whole reason why you came here; the Dungeon.
The Dungeon is a dark and powerful lair that you the hero must traverse to find the creature that you were assigned during the cut scene. This won't be easy as the dungeon is filled to the jaws with creatures that range from a lowly rat to a powerful hill giant. The combat in Fate can only be described as a some flashy fun and a pretty engaging system of strategy and drastic battles that can mean the difference between sweet taste to victory to the salty taste of frustration and defeat. The combat is pretty tight as each battle can range from a few enemies and healing yourself when necessary to every monster coming at you and vigorously tapping buttons for health to be regained. Dungeons are always generated at random so no two dungeons are the same, sadly they aren't the same but they look the same which gives the game some incredibly terrible and tedious repetition. The Dungeons are well detailed but with sad monotony it can be a drag and to just run through a boring place that looks the same and will feel the same. Everything is a double edged sword so while the visuals will make you want to look away it's the musical score that will draw you into the game. The visuals repeat but with so much good things happening that you may find no fault in repetition, after all the developers may have put repetition into visuals but that doesn't mark off how well put together the game-play is.
The system works extremely well, your potions are mapped to the number keys so in the heat of battle when your near the brink of death just move your fingers to the key slot or slots with health in it and press it for revival to continue bashing your enemies. Attacks are cool to look at and the animations for them are quite nice and when you kill or finally kill a monster satisfaction seeps into your head and you may just have to plaster a smile on your face. The game is incredibly interesting to say the least especially in the loot system, this time there is a neat little thing called um..."Fate". When you wander to a statue or an anvil of Fate you get a choice of either pulling the gems out or enchanting your weapon/armor. Fate works like Fate should, it's random and it does give your every action meaning and can give you consequences if you aren't careful. Fate is a simple randomifier that works well and can give the game a much better loot system. Now you are not just running around, getting the loot, and then selling it but rather your pet is running around, getting the loot, and then selling it. Now you have a much better system of looting and do not fret, if your pet runs out of space you yourself can still pick up the item and then give it to your pet as soon as he returns.
Fate's problems in things such as interesting but repetitive visuals and a not so unique story line are sadly joined by other dis-jointed problems making Fate lose some potential. Combat as said is simple mindless hacking but created in a unique system so it can stay fresh, sadly the magic attacks are left out of the fridge and are left stale. Magic is another way of attacking your enemies and is pretty good but it lacks much need. One magic type you may want to get use to is summoning for as you delve deeper and deeper into the dungeons the creatures come in packs and can get stronger than before. Sadly combat magic and other spells are wasted away and make flashy combat with them is pointless. Yes magic can give you an edge to the battle and yes it can look cool but the real question is whether it is needed or not and the answer is not. Simple hacking and slashing while making sure to keep a watch on your health is always easy and the fact that you have to lift your finger away from your healing tools may sound easy but really it is pretty tricky. Not to mention some spells are used to replace the scrolls and or books of teleportation and identification to save money. This would be an OK use of magic but since you always find so much loot and never run a risk of losing a lot of money it makes these spells worthless.
More ridiculous is how random dungeons can get to be, these dungeons are put together and generate randomly but at times they can seem either too random or too cheating. In one quest your job is to defeat a boss monster who has around 5-6 regular monsters helping him. Normally you would go into the dungeon where the monster is supposed to be but may get unlucky and end up having the monsters all around the boss, as if the boss wasn't that hard now you have to beat all six of his minions at the same time. The random generator works well and sometimes it works a little too well. Not only can this game have some amazingly bad randomness it can also be a bit broken at times. With big monsters comes big space to fall but anywhere, even in the small cramped corridors they can still fall with ease. It's a fine flaw to look by as this is an old game and not everything about it is perfect but sadly when a monster falls and goes though the walls and over lava it can draw you out of the fine paced adventure you are on. Sadly brokenness is not just in graphics but in quests, they are small and pretty hard to come by but expect frustration when a quest is given and the entire dungeon "supposedly" harboring the monster is explored to the fullest and your monsters have dropped off the face of the planet. These broken quests are frustrating as you have no choice but to look through the entire dungeon before going home or proceeding to the dungeon below.
Still quests are fun to perform and can get you rewards of great potential or a weapon that can simply be used for a lot of coins. Quests give the game much needed longevity, even with the quests sometimes being the same, the rewards are where you want to be. These rewards can range from being a necklace that gives you wealth and fire resistance or a club that increases your strength and magic while also dealing fire or lighting damage. There are many factors at work for these items and it can branch out into strategy so that you can contemplate on which items are better or worse. Sadly, while quests have great rewards there is a bit of regret for item completion quests. If you are required to get an item from the dungeon and return the item to the owner, however, you can end the quest with the item and keep it for yourself. This system works well but is pretty sad when you trade in the powerful completion item and get a dinky little weapon, armor, or jewelry that has a few good enhancements but nothing more. It would have been nice to know what the items stats were so that if you wanted to you could compare the two items. Nevertheless the looting system works fine and the large amount of money you get from these looting quests are always one to enjoy.
Pros:
-Cartoony graphics give the game some kick
-Excellent musical score
-Companion is much needed in the dark dungeons
-Good voice actors
-Tense action
-Flashy and fun combat
-Summoning really helps
-Superb looting system
-Addictive as all hell
-Long, which in this case is a good thing
-Random dungeons means you never know what could come next
-Simple and easy battle system
-Great loots will keep you coming back for more
-Monsters are quite fun to fight
-Fish give your pet more variety in looks and abilities
-Ending the adventure can begin another one
-Visuals are thrilling to look at
-Pet looting helps raise it from tedium
Cons:
-Storyline is nothing new or interesting
-Monsters fall through walls, what's up with that?
-Nothing really significant with starting up a new adventure after you retire
-Too random and sometimes too unfair
-Fishing takes WAY too long
-Broken quests can crop up
-Losing amazing loot for dinky loot
-Visuals can get repetitive
-Magic isn't required
-No multiplayer
-Quests can feel the same
-Death may take away money or exp which is pretty frustrating
Consider Fate a kid friendlier version of Diablo allowing younger audiences to experience the Diablo game, just not without the maturity and the multiplayer. If you can look past the problems that lay in your heroes path you can find yourself grinning more than you would find yourself angry. Fate does more new with the Diablo formula than you would think, giving you more loot, more graphically enhanced visuals, and of course more dungeons to explore for you Diablo and RPG fans.