Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements (Xbox 360)

By adding a first-person perspective, this action game presents a new way of looking at dungeon crawlers.
3/18/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

The games are also very similar visually, as both take influence in their architecture and character designs from the usual suspects (Tolkien, D&D, etc.). Things in Elements are far less detailed than their Oblivion counterparts, however, and sometimes doesn't work as well either, thanks to some occasional but rather glaring frame rate issues.

But the biggest difference between Oblivion and Elements is that, on the action/adventure scale, the former leaned more towards adventure while the latter is all about the action. While this means that Elements has less variety, it also means that Elements won't ever force you to wander around a forest looking for a flower you need to bring to some ruins so you can perform some ceremony.

Ultimately, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements is no The Elder Scrolls V: The Elder Strikes Back, or whatever Bethesda is going to call the next game -- but then, it's not trying to be. Instead, it's trying to be a fun, first-person button-mashing hack-and-slash dungeon crawler for people who like such things, or at least don't mind how redundant such games can be. As such, it works reasonably well, though even fans of such games might want to rent this or download the demo from Xbox Live before plunking down $60.

This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.