MRG
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- Mar 24, 2007
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Greetings all,
ClockStone Software & Lighthouse Interactive, those behind the newly released game "Avencast:Rise Of The Mage" have released a great RPG that has smoothly implemented a feature into their game that I have never seen before in a game of this genre & that is dynamic Spell Casting. What do I mean by Dynamic Spell Casting & how does it make the game so great? I'll tell you. Most "fantasy" RPG's have magic & Avencast is no different, in fact the entire game revolves around you & your rise to becoming a mage. There are no other classes to choose from so for those of you that are obsessive compulsive & always create a character, only to play them and then start all over with another character, need not fear of doing this, since the game offers just one class & that is the Mage.
Oh wait.. I was talking about Dynamic Spell Casting. Sorry, I wandered off there. In Avencast, like so many other RPG's, as you progress you gain experience & once you gain enough, you level up & gain skill & attribute points to distribute at your discretion. So far it sounds like the typical formula for a fantasy themed RPG right? Well it is up to a point. It's once you actually level up & choose your first "Skill or Spell", that you will notice right away that things are different from every other RPG out there. Once you level up for the first time, (Or before) you open your spell book & notice that there are 3 skill trees you get to choose from & they are:
1)Blood Magic - This is for all of you melee fighters out there. The mage has chosen this path that will allow him to get up close & personal to smite his foes by channeling his magic into his Staff attacks, he is able to perform devastating (& damn cool looking thanks to the magic being released) attacks.
2)Soul Magic - This is for all of you ranged fighters that prefer to deal death from a distance. While some would call you a coward, you call it prudent. After all, why get in harms way, when you can turn a foe into dust before he even knows you are there? You do this by channeling your magic through your staff which then enables you to unleash devastating energy. (& like with Blood Magic, your spells are pretty damn cool looking as well)
3)Summoning - Self explanatory, though different than you might expect.
Now what makes each of the skills that you learn so unique, is the fact that before you are able to perform whichever skill or spell you have chosen when you leveled up, you must first press a small combo of keys on the keyboard, which builds up the skill or spell, prior to releasing it with the appropriate mouse key being pressed. So for example, say you wanted to cast a level 1 firewall, you would need to press the Right Arrow Key & then the Left Arrow Key quickly to build up the spell & then press the right mouse button which would then release the spell itself wherever you had the cursor at on the screen. The keys can be set to any configuration you want, I just used the arrow keys, because even though i'm right handed, I don't use WADS. Each spell or skill has it's own combo of keys that need to be pressed, though they keys themselves are always next to each other. At first it might sound a little confusing, but it's actually cleverly implemented & easy to get the hang of once you play the game for an hour or so. Of course you have a basic staff attack if you press the left mouse button and a basic & weak magic missile attack if you just press the right mouse key. Good for a tight spot & as a last resort.
Graphics
The visual effects from the skills & spells in Avencast, are very well done. Each skill or spell looks better & does more damage as you unlock them. The game world itself, while not being cutting edge or next-gen, still does an overall great job of looking nice with a wide range of locations & enemy types to fight against. I know that it is taboo to compare 2 games of different developers with one another, but to give you a good idea of the visuals of Avencast, the first game that comes to mind is that of Dungeon Siege 2. If you are looking for the next Oblivion, then Avencast is not for you but if you are looking for a fun game that looks great & has a pretty good, if somewhat regular story, then you'll quickly realize that Avencast is special for the sole reason that it's unique.
Audio
The audio in Avencast is solid, even if at times the music itself does not fit the mood. I find that if I turn the music way down or even off, I enjoy the game more as I play it. The voice acting can be a little silly at times, but this might just be because of the accent some of the actors either have or are trying to fake having. Still all in all, it's well done.
Gameplay
As I mentioned at the top of this review, the combat is unique. So even though you'll master the keys needed to become a God in game, I believe that you'll find that it adds more debth to the combat as you progress. The games 3 difficulty settings also are very well done in the game. With "Easy" being almost a cake walk, "Medium" being rather challenging, & "Hard" being nothing short of a deaths wish. Still, throw in the ability to dodge or strafe an enemies attack in real time, does go a long way in making the chances of you living long enough to make it around the next bend rather good, only don't get hit or it will be lights out. The AI is as you would expect it to be of a game of this type. Which is saying that the enemy has next to no AI. It's if they see you, they hunt you. Run away & eventually they will lose interest and stop chasing you.
A Blood Magic Melee Attack
A Soul Magic Ranged Attack
In Game
Final Score 3.5/5 Stars
Official Website
http://www.avencast.com/index.php?id=&L=60
-MRG
ClockStone Software & Lighthouse Interactive, those behind the newly released game "Avencast:Rise Of The Mage" have released a great RPG that has smoothly implemented a feature into their game that I have never seen before in a game of this genre & that is dynamic Spell Casting. What do I mean by Dynamic Spell Casting & how does it make the game so great? I'll tell you. Most "fantasy" RPG's have magic & Avencast is no different, in fact the entire game revolves around you & your rise to becoming a mage. There are no other classes to choose from so for those of you that are obsessive compulsive & always create a character, only to play them and then start all over with another character, need not fear of doing this, since the game offers just one class & that is the Mage.
Oh wait.. I was talking about Dynamic Spell Casting. Sorry, I wandered off there. In Avencast, like so many other RPG's, as you progress you gain experience & once you gain enough, you level up & gain skill & attribute points to distribute at your discretion. So far it sounds like the typical formula for a fantasy themed RPG right? Well it is up to a point. It's once you actually level up & choose your first "Skill or Spell", that you will notice right away that things are different from every other RPG out there. Once you level up for the first time, (Or before) you open your spell book & notice that there are 3 skill trees you get to choose from & they are:
1)Blood Magic - This is for all of you melee fighters out there. The mage has chosen this path that will allow him to get up close & personal to smite his foes by channeling his magic into his Staff attacks, he is able to perform devastating (& damn cool looking thanks to the magic being released) attacks.
2)Soul Magic - This is for all of you ranged fighters that prefer to deal death from a distance. While some would call you a coward, you call it prudent. After all, why get in harms way, when you can turn a foe into dust before he even knows you are there? You do this by channeling your magic through your staff which then enables you to unleash devastating energy. (& like with Blood Magic, your spells are pretty damn cool looking as well)
3)Summoning - Self explanatory, though different than you might expect.
Now what makes each of the skills that you learn so unique, is the fact that before you are able to perform whichever skill or spell you have chosen when you leveled up, you must first press a small combo of keys on the keyboard, which builds up the skill or spell, prior to releasing it with the appropriate mouse key being pressed. So for example, say you wanted to cast a level 1 firewall, you would need to press the Right Arrow Key & then the Left Arrow Key quickly to build up the spell & then press the right mouse button which would then release the spell itself wherever you had the cursor at on the screen. The keys can be set to any configuration you want, I just used the arrow keys, because even though i'm right handed, I don't use WADS. Each spell or skill has it's own combo of keys that need to be pressed, though they keys themselves are always next to each other. At first it might sound a little confusing, but it's actually cleverly implemented & easy to get the hang of once you play the game for an hour or so. Of course you have a basic staff attack if you press the left mouse button and a basic & weak magic missile attack if you just press the right mouse key. Good for a tight spot & as a last resort.
Graphics
The visual effects from the skills & spells in Avencast, are very well done. Each skill or spell looks better & does more damage as you unlock them. The game world itself, while not being cutting edge or next-gen, still does an overall great job of looking nice with a wide range of locations & enemy types to fight against. I know that it is taboo to compare 2 games of different developers with one another, but to give you a good idea of the visuals of Avencast, the first game that comes to mind is that of Dungeon Siege 2. If you are looking for the next Oblivion, then Avencast is not for you but if you are looking for a fun game that looks great & has a pretty good, if somewhat regular story, then you'll quickly realize that Avencast is special for the sole reason that it's unique.
Audio
The audio in Avencast is solid, even if at times the music itself does not fit the mood. I find that if I turn the music way down or even off, I enjoy the game more as I play it. The voice acting can be a little silly at times, but this might just be because of the accent some of the actors either have or are trying to fake having. Still all in all, it's well done.
Gameplay
As I mentioned at the top of this review, the combat is unique. So even though you'll master the keys needed to become a God in game, I believe that you'll find that it adds more debth to the combat as you progress. The games 3 difficulty settings also are very well done in the game. With "Easy" being almost a cake walk, "Medium" being rather challenging, & "Hard" being nothing short of a deaths wish. Still, throw in the ability to dodge or strafe an enemies attack in real time, does go a long way in making the chances of you living long enough to make it around the next bend rather good, only don't get hit or it will be lights out. The AI is as you would expect it to be of a game of this type. Which is saying that the enemy has next to no AI. It's if they see you, they hunt you. Run away & eventually they will lose interest and stop chasing you.
A Blood Magic Melee Attack
A Soul Magic Ranged Attack
In Game
Final Score 3.5/5 Stars
Official Website
http://www.avencast.com/index.php?id=&L=60
-MRG
