Size matters. Or does it? It’s a debate that has been had numerous times before and one that we won’t go into again. As far as computer games are concerned there are two distinct camps of thought on the subject. The first proclaim that quality rules everything and that it’s better to have had a few hours of pure magic (Max Payne 2) than to have sat through hours and hour’s worth of an average game. Then there are those that feel as though having spent 30 quid on a game they’re more than entitled to be able to spend a few weeks with it before the closing credits roll. There are arguments to support both sides of the coin but in this instance Sacred most definitely falls into the latter category. It’s big, very big.

After spending a while with Sacred it soon becomes apparent that it’s certainly reminiscent of the Diablo games and whilst it doesn’t have the polish of Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic it more than makes up for it with a game world that is quite literally huge and one which is showered with quests to attempt, monsters to slay and maidens to save.

You know the drill by now. In any RPG the first decision you make is always going to be deciding on which character to play as. For once Sacred gives us a game where the game does differ depending on which character class you choose. You have the standard classes like the Gladiator who wallops everything in sight, the Battle Mage who fries everything with his spells and then some more interesting ones like the Vampiress who has certain abilities which you can only take advantage of at night.

Whichever character you ultimately decide on it’s not going to take you long to get into the swing of things. The interface is a rather pleasant one and the controls are simple and easy to pick up. The mouse is used to move, attack and interact with the world whilst the keyboard is used to provide hotkeys for crucial actions that need to be done quickly in the game such as drinking a health potion.

The main plot is as clichéd as they come and suffice to say it involves you having to save the world (again) from the clutches of evil and along the way helping at as many people as you see fit in order to gain experience and interesting inventory items. The main quest though is rather dull, and whilst the plot is progressed at key points throughout the game it’s never enough to keep you gripped throughout.

Thankfully, the bazillions of sub-quests that you’ll come across during the game do help to give the game a sense of much needed freedom. In practically every village you stumble across there will be peasants, aristocracy and the odd soldier who need help from you. A lot of them lack in originality and there’s a lot of saving people, escorting people and killing certain bad guys but when a game has this many things to do originality is always going to suffer.

Since the bulk of the game is taken up with combat this was always going to be the area which makes or breaks the game. You are given a number of slots for the various weapons you come across and any spells you learn and as such it allows you to quickly swap things around as and when you need to in order to modify your tactics.

However, the game doesn’t really pan out in this way and once you find yourself a decent weapon you tend to keep hold of it and use that constantly which relegates battles to simply holding down the attack button whilst topping up with health potions as and when you need to. There are special moves and combos, which can also be used, but for the most part you won’t really need to.

On the plus side the game’s graphics are rather impressive and the engine is capable of handling some rather detailed graphics. It’s also rather gory and blood flows whilst an assortment of limbs get hacked off to make the combat a bit more satisfying than maybe its simplistic nature deserves. There are times when due to the sheer amount of enemies attacking you at any one time this detail gets lost and it’s hard to make out what’s going on but thankfully this doesn’t happen to often and is something that can be put up with.

It’s not just in combat where the graphics excel however and indeed undoubtedly one of the games strong points is the amount of detail that the developers have packed into each part of the game world. The camera is a fixed isometric one, although it can be zoomed in and out and if you have got a hefty machine the game retains its detailed surroundings even when zoomed right in which is rather impressive.

Unfortunately, even with the great graphics the game suffers from some rather irritating problems. The game world may look detailed but in reality it doesn’t really play as though it is, yes it has tons of quests to go on but in each village you never get the impression that the people are really doing things other than just following an animated routine. You can wander into a pub full of people and route through the various barrels and boxes in there taking whatever you please and not one person will question you. The shopkeepers, soldiers and magicians stand by their respective buildings 24/7 never moving meaning you can be gone for days on a quest only to return and find everything exactly as you found it.

The graphical detail is continued over into the reams of stats the game presents the user with. Some of them are interesting, some are necessary for the game to function, yet at times it’s possible to feel totally overwhelmed by how many numbers you’re expected to compute. Some items have dozens of different stats making it extremely hard to figure out what the pros and cons of each item are. This may appeal to some but for us it makes the game needlessly hard work.

In many ways the comparison with Diablo offers you the best indication as to how the game’s going to play. It doesn’t really move the genre forwards in any particular way but there’s no doubting you’re going to get your money’s worth if you buy the game. There are quite literally weeks of gameplay to be had, and on the whole it’s an enjoyable if somewhat empty gaming experience. If all you’re after is a pretty looking, mindless hack and slash then you won’t be disappointed, but if you’re after a game that requires a little more thought then Sacred probably isn’t the one.

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It's big, but it's not necessarily clever

Sacred Review

73%