Darklessian
09-03-2008, 06:39 PM
Pros: Intuitive Battle system, easy to use
Armor customization is great
Charm quests good fun
Good use of norse mythology
Cons:Melee intensive classes are quite hard to get unstoppable with
Elite Drop rate is impossible
Bounty is near worthless
Fierce/Finisher attack too prone to slide.
I love this game. Don't get me wrong, it is great. But if it wasn't for the norse backstory, I would put it down right now and never play it again. Yes I'm writing this review while pissed, but it doesn't mean any of these things are false. First onto pros. I love the battle system. It is intuitive, easy, and great. It's only drawbacks it lack of camera control other games give you, the fierce attack/finishers being prone to becoming slides if too close. (I die a ton against polarities with this) and not always targeting what you want. the Armor Customization is also amazing, much more in depth than other rpg's I usually play, except when you start, getting runes you can use can get annoying, and same with charms. You should be at least able to buy lvl 1 charms at the store like runes. The Classes are well balanced, with the exception of the commando being a tad too powerful with that gun of his. (and melee too.) My only problem is that polarities are really annoying to kill with zerkers and other melee characters, and when trying to pick them off, you can sometimes initiate a slide accidentally and ram them, poisioning, burning, or just makin gyou lose a ton of health. Also, spider mobs can get annoying, and Ice trolls and Bomb trolls being able to hit you during a dodge roll/shooting right in front of themselves can be really bad since dodge rolls are a main part of any aresenal, and the bombs can knock you off easily.
But all of these are just first game jitters. 10 years is a while, and this game struts its stuff nicely.
Now, onto what is unacceptable.
Both of these are intertwined. First, bounty. As soon as you hit a certain level, bounty becomes like chinese money: You can have wheelbarrows full and still it is worthless. I have 20 million bounty, and nothing to do with it whatsoever. Got myself Full aesir, nice weapons, ect. And the reason my bounty is so high is
THE GOD DAMN ELITES!!!! I mean really? I have played 80 hours and gotten 5 weapons, 3 of which are the SAME DAMN GUN! No class Armour on any file, and I had to buy my elite weapons. And why doesn't the store lady sell elites like tyr? It's really stupid to make the droprate damn near impossible and not give us something every once in a while. Now, don't make this about me being bad at this game: I have full drop rate, Die rarely if at all on most levels, and frequently run WS and Helheim. And the best I've gotten off a boss from either stage was a orange aesir piece. That is it. Hod dropped a gun ONCE, but other than that, my 40+ runs total are meaningless. Some games have bad drop rates, like WoW and such, but they TELL you what to do to a T to get the items, and specify what enemy type can drop what. this system in TH seems entirely random.
Gameplay: 7/10
Too weighted towards gun combat, and fierce/finisher controls could use tweaking
Looks: 8/10
Camera functionability is annoying, and get rid of cutscenes and valkyrie cuts everytime anything happens
Customization: 10/10
You can make your character look like anything, but irridated is overrated for the price
Economics: 5/10
The lack of buyable elites and charms, and the overabundance of money makes this one of the lowest areas
Looting: 1/10
Elites are impossible. I am just going to stop playing when I get my laptop and get spore. Drop rates are erradic, horrible, unexplained, and not class specific. Playing a game for 80 hours and getting not a piece of armour is atrocious.
Score: 10
-.2 for looks
-.5 for gameplay,
-1 for economics,
and a whopping -2 for looting
brings a total of 6.3 not horrible, but just average enough to not be worht buying. rent it, hit 50, and never pick it up again. It just isn't fun after that.
Armor customization is great
Charm quests good fun
Good use of norse mythology
Cons:Melee intensive classes are quite hard to get unstoppable with
Elite Drop rate is impossible
Bounty is near worthless
Fierce/Finisher attack too prone to slide.
I love this game. Don't get me wrong, it is great. But if it wasn't for the norse backstory, I would put it down right now and never play it again. Yes I'm writing this review while pissed, but it doesn't mean any of these things are false. First onto pros. I love the battle system. It is intuitive, easy, and great. It's only drawbacks it lack of camera control other games give you, the fierce attack/finishers being prone to becoming slides if too close. (I die a ton against polarities with this) and not always targeting what you want. the Armor Customization is also amazing, much more in depth than other rpg's I usually play, except when you start, getting runes you can use can get annoying, and same with charms. You should be at least able to buy lvl 1 charms at the store like runes. The Classes are well balanced, with the exception of the commando being a tad too powerful with that gun of his. (and melee too.) My only problem is that polarities are really annoying to kill with zerkers and other melee characters, and when trying to pick them off, you can sometimes initiate a slide accidentally and ram them, poisioning, burning, or just makin gyou lose a ton of health. Also, spider mobs can get annoying, and Ice trolls and Bomb trolls being able to hit you during a dodge roll/shooting right in front of themselves can be really bad since dodge rolls are a main part of any aresenal, and the bombs can knock you off easily.
But all of these are just first game jitters. 10 years is a while, and this game struts its stuff nicely.
Now, onto what is unacceptable.
Both of these are intertwined. First, bounty. As soon as you hit a certain level, bounty becomes like chinese money: You can have wheelbarrows full and still it is worthless. I have 20 million bounty, and nothing to do with it whatsoever. Got myself Full aesir, nice weapons, ect. And the reason my bounty is so high is
THE GOD DAMN ELITES!!!! I mean really? I have played 80 hours and gotten 5 weapons, 3 of which are the SAME DAMN GUN! No class Armour on any file, and I had to buy my elite weapons. And why doesn't the store lady sell elites like tyr? It's really stupid to make the droprate damn near impossible and not give us something every once in a while. Now, don't make this about me being bad at this game: I have full drop rate, Die rarely if at all on most levels, and frequently run WS and Helheim. And the best I've gotten off a boss from either stage was a orange aesir piece. That is it. Hod dropped a gun ONCE, but other than that, my 40+ runs total are meaningless. Some games have bad drop rates, like WoW and such, but they TELL you what to do to a T to get the items, and specify what enemy type can drop what. this system in TH seems entirely random.
Gameplay: 7/10
Too weighted towards gun combat, and fierce/finisher controls could use tweaking
Looks: 8/10
Camera functionability is annoying, and get rid of cutscenes and valkyrie cuts everytime anything happens
Customization: 10/10
You can make your character look like anything, but irridated is overrated for the price
Economics: 5/10
The lack of buyable elites and charms, and the overabundance of money makes this one of the lowest areas
Looting: 1/10
Elites are impossible. I am just going to stop playing when I get my laptop and get spore. Drop rates are erradic, horrible, unexplained, and not class specific. Playing a game for 80 hours and getting not a piece of armour is atrocious.
Score: 10
-.2 for looks
-.5 for gameplay,
-1 for economics,
and a whopping -2 for looting
brings a total of 6.3 not horrible, but just average enough to not be worht buying. rent it, hit 50, and never pick it up again. It just isn't fun after that.