Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
Welcome to the vast world of Ancaria where a mysterious force called T-Eneergy is changing the landscape around all who dwell in it....for the worst. Monsters have ravaged the land and the forces of good and evil collide in an epic battle to see who will survive in this new world of chaos and destruction. Sucked in yet? I didn't think so. You've heard it once you've heard it a thousand times right? The good news is that this game will keep you in your seat long enough to really get your hands dirty and see this game for what it truly is; an immense action RPG that has a rich story and a lot of territory to cover. Side quests galore are scattered throughout the playing map and with every dead bad guy comes some new and interesting equipment or weapons to play around with.
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel takes place 2,000 year in the past and is a prequel to the events of the first title Sacred. A mysterious force called T-Energy is the life and magic force of Ancaria. Once completely controlled by a race called the Seraphim, has now been passed down to the High Elves allowing them to become the dominant race of Ancaria. As two faction of the High Elves; the nobility and the clergy, dispute the right for complete ownership of their fraction of the T-Energy, lower species attempt to utilize this distraction to their advantage and attempt to claim the energy force for their own. While all of this is going on, The t-Energy itself has now shifted its balance and is producing hideous creatures and is destroying cities throughout Ancaria.
As with most Action RPGs you first must select a race or class before you start the game. These will determine whether or not you are playing for the good guys or just trying make a bigger mess of things. Character classes include the following:
Seraphim, Shadow Warrior, High Elf, Dryad, Temple Guardian, and the Inquisitor.
Each of course has their own unique abilities and traits that you'll have to see for yourself. This is always one of the most difficult parts in any Action RPG....I'm always worried I'll be stuck with a wussy. Good news is they're all very balanced and were some weak traits may be glaringly obvious, they are made up for in other areas.
One of the first things you will notice is the size of the map in contract to where you are positioned. The scope is immense to say the least. There is a lot of ground to cover which means lots of areas to explore and goodies to discover. Town are scattered throughout telling their own individual accounts or the T-Energy fallout. Multiple Side quests are present in every town and are an excellent way to gain experience points in order to level up early on. They range from the typical "I've lost my son, can you please find him?" at which point you can either decline or accept the mission. My first run through was as the inquisitor who is supposed to be some tough as nails gritty evil son of a bitch so it was funny to except mission like these as you could hear the reluctance in his voice as he tried to maintain his evil, hard core persona "I will do this for you, but you are now in my debt" "I normally don't do this sort of thing so you better make it worth my time" I'm paraphrasing of course but his little one liners got a chuckle or two out me.
The game play is pretty addictive and had me plying for 5+ hour stretches at times. It's laid out so that you're not only traveling for long distances at a time, but you're also doing lots of side quests, exploring, fighting and collecting all sorts off gear and artefacts. With these treasures you can choose to strap them on, dump in the bush or sell them for cash in any town. Thankfully there are portals that you discover throughout the landscape to enable quick and convenient warping around when you need to free up some space in your inventory. Scared 2 is your typical hack and slash in the sense that you are hammering away on either your hot key assigned weapon (four are available at any time) or any given spell you may have assigned as well. Coloured rings surround your targeted enemy and represent their strength in comparison to yours which is a nice touch. If the ring is red you know the fight is worth it because you'll be receiving more experience points for your efforts. White on the other hand is normally a one-shot-kill and the experience point payout will be significantly less.
There are a few minor bugs or glitches that can be pretty apparent at times but they don't deter you from continuing on your journey. I have vivid memories of trying to switch up my hot key assigned weapon in mid battle only to have may character continue to use the previous weapon even though I was pressing a completely different button. I found I have to completely stop the fight, take a hit or two and wait for my characters animation to stop before I was able to use something else. Not the biggest deal in the universe but enough to add a sprinkle of frustration when you're trying to school an opponent in the ways of kickassery. Load times were often a small inconvenience as well when navigating around town. All of a sudden the camera would zoom in and you were pinned down in the invisible fence before you could walk to the next section of town. This happened to me two or three times in a row before and kind of sucked just a tad.
A few background pop ups, animation hiccups and load times didn't really spoil anything for me but I thought I should mention them anyways. If you're into this sort of thing and have noticed a serious lack of these types of game for the major consoles this is your chance to get your fix. It's a very well crafted and laid out Action RPG that will have you checking everything out and wanting to try out different character classes to really experience the game in its entirety. Highly recommended for fans of the genre and series, other may want to try this out as a rental before dropping down your hard earned cash for this one.
