Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1141 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review:
In a nutshell:
Role-playing games and first person action don’t always gel, but Dark Messiah aims to bring them together with state of the art graphics and a lot of dead orcs.

The lowdown:
Although popular in certain circles, the traditional Might & Magic games were pretty hardcore fantasy based strategy and role-playing games. This game though uses the original settings of those games to create a brand new first person action game that while it still retains some role-playing elements is primarily all about chopping up monsters into BBQ meat. As such, the melee combat is more complex than normal with an array of different attacks for different situations, including a handy kick for knocking bad guys into dungeon traps. It might rankle long time fans that all the emphasis is on violence but this is the best chance yet for drawing in new fans to the franchise.

Most exciting moment:
The game features a very unusual levelling system where instead of getting experience points for killing monsters you get it for completing specific objectives. This cleverly ensures that you can upgrade your character just as effectively without the need for constant combat – perfect if you prefer to play a more stealthy style of game.

Since you ask:
The game’s highly impressive graphics use the same Source engine that was created for the classic Half-Life 2. It’s not the only outside help the game has got, with developer Kuju (who also did the multi-player in Call of Duty: Finest Hour), brought in to create the multi-player modes as an essentially separate element.

The bottom line:
An interesting new step into the action genre for the heroes of Might & Magic.-HARRISON DENT

Manufacturer's Description:

Discover a new breed of action game powered by an enhanced version of Valve’s Half Life 2 Source engine. Set in the Might & Magic universe, players will experience ferocious combat in a dark and immersive fantasy environment. Become an expert warrior, mage or assassin, using a vast array of devastating weapons, against huge and vicious creatures in a deep and captivating fantasy. Developed by Arkane Studios, the team behind the critically acclaimed Arx Fatalis game, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic puts players in a first-person perspective, allowing them to immerse themselves in the legendary Might and Magic universe as never before. It is also the world's first fantasy action game to feature a complete first-person combat system. It takes full advantage of the SourceT Engine's exceptional technological enhancements in areas such as character animation, advanced AI, real-world physics and shader-based rendering. Key Features: Cutting-edge technology: Experience an enhanced version of the famous Source engine, including new jaw-dropping environments and incredible special effects. Discover the fresh perspective of a view with complete body awareness, realistic movements and physics rendering, making it the first fantasy action game featuring a complete first-person combat system. Never-ending action: Challenge the forces of evil in 12 huge levels and learn to master over 30 weapons and a variety of devastating spells. Engage the enemy in intense melee combat with swords, bows, staffs and daggers, summon magic powers against the legions of darkness or sneak in the shadows to stalk nefarious creatures. It’s heart-pounding action where success in combat will dictate destiny. Evolve your character: Extend your gameplay experience without being limited to a single discipline. Learn powerful new spells and attacks using Dark Messiah’s unique Skill Evolution System as you progress through the game. The Might & Magic universe’s darkest and most engaging side: Eighteen years after the events of Heroes V, you become the young hero Sareth, trained in the art of magic and war in order to fight the prophecy of the Dark Messiah. But the revelations of your past may alter your course and reveal a path to the truth. Explore a secluded region of Ashan populated with fearless orcs, savage goblins, dreadful undead, elusive trolls, massive dragons and many other creatures that defy nature’s creation in both size and cunning. A revolutionary multiplayer mode: Get ready to battle with up to 32 players in the revolutionary Crusade mode, which will allow you to gain experience and new equipment across dynamic online campaigns. Enlist with the humans or the undead and choose among five complementary character classes. Wage epic online battles, sprawling over multiple zones, from the dark Necromancer’s lair at Nar-Heresh to the man-made splendour of Stonehelm. The classes in multiplayer Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Assassin: weak, melee, stealth, he will hide in the shadows to strike swiftly. Skills are oriented at stealth (invisibility, silent movement), poison and resistance, setting traps. Warrior: strong and melee oriented. Will rush at the enemy, protected by his resistance to damage and shield. Skills: strike harder, run faster, endure better. Priest: weak, ranged, defensive. Will support his team, launch spells dealing damage over time, spot invisible threats. Skills: pinpoint assassins, healing spells… Mage: weak, ranged, offensive. Will deal damages to group of enemies thanks to area effect spells. Skills: improve spells and learn new ones, increase resistance. Archer: weak, ranged, sniper. Will deal heavy damages to a single target. Skills: fast reload, zoom, multiple shots. Multiplayer Q&A: Can you tell us about the multiplayer modes? The game will be playable as a team-based multiplayer mode, playable with up to 32 players. We have dedicated a whole team just to develop that part. We are lucky to have an engine that powers games like Half Life 2 death match Counter Strike and even crazy multiplayer physics experiments such as Gary’s mod. How will multiplayer be managed? Will the players play online with their in game characters or you need to create a new character from scratch for MP? In the multiplayer part of the game you will play character “classes”, similar to what can be found in games like Battlefield 1942. The classes will have the opportunity to evolve during online campaigns. As you play only Sareth throughout the single player game, that would make Jno sense bringing him online What can you tell us about the multiplayer modes? Would you liken them more to something like Quake, Diablo 2, Guild Wars or something completely new? Of course we will provide many classical online modes, similar to what can be found in most first person shooters. But we also wanted to exploit the potential of a fantasy game through the “evolution” mode. In the “evolution” multiplayer mode of the game you will play character “classes”, similar to what can be found in games like Battlefield 1942. The classes will have the opportunity to evolve during online campaigns. Speaking of Multiplayer, what exactly are the dynamic campaigns? The dynamic campaign means that you will be able to play online matches with the results of one round impacting on the next one: the results will determine the next map, and also the items / skills you will be able to gain between rounds.

Customer Reviews

Fell short
Dark Messiah is a game which I really wanted to excel in all areas. The multiplayer looked promising and the psychics and combat promised to be terrific. Sadly the game falls short on a variety of levels, especially the story. Avoid this failed title, as it's just not worth your time.

The Good:
- Nice graphics and level design

The Bad:
- Laughable Storyline
- Terrible Mplayer
- Poor Optimization, choppy in places

AMAZING GAME! (and messages to other reviewers!)
Right. Firstly, all you people who are going on about it crashing, chances are your PC is rubbish. And at worse turn the graphics down! Seen as they are pretty astounding, it is not surprising that low-spec pc's cant cope with it!

Secodnly, all you people who are comparing it with Oblivion, there isn't anything to compare. They are COMPLETELY different. Both are RPG's yes, but one has story that you HAVE to follow (Dark Messiah) and one is more a free romer (Oblivion), so pic the game that suites best.

Thirdly, whoever it was that was saying the combat system is awfull, thats a load of rubbish. The use of the Valve Engine used in Half-Life makes the system AMAZING, with incredibly life-like gravity and a intense combat system that really gets you stuck in.

And lastly, whoever said that it takes ages to install... well, so does every other next-gen graphics PC game. So get used to it, the graphics and the gameplay make it worth the wait.

Brilliant
It seems the main reason for the low ratings on this game is the difficulties people have getting the game to run, Those who can`t obviously hate it and those who can love it I couldn`t run it to start with but after turning down the resolution to 800/600 it seems to run fine. Visually good environment very interactive gameplay very varied with plenty of good combat variations. Only fault I find is that it is a bit of a full on start with lots of soldiers to deal with