An RPG with no charm
Set in the Mage Knight Universe,and based on the table-top miniature game, Mage Knight Apocalypse is an action role-playing game of the hack ‘n slash variety.
A mysterious power has issued an ominous portent and the call has gone out for stalwart heroes from all reaches of the Land to battle against an army of pure evil. Leading this army is The Apocalypse Dragon, a seemingly unstoppable five headed juggernaut of destruction that has been reborn and set loose on an unprepared populace. The powerful sorcerers, the Solonavi, call upon five heroes to fight the evil forces of Chaos.
The fantasy setting of Mage Knight Apocalypse is home to bearded dwarves, scantily clad vampires, beautiful amazons and hundreds of scary monsters. The game begins by choosing your hero, and although you’ll meet up with the other four adventurers prior to each level, you’ll play as this one hero throughout your journey. In a gaming age where customisation seems to be the norm, it’s surprising that Mage Knight Apocalypse offers very little opportunity to create that empathy with your character. Yes, you can change their hair colour and fiddle about with their facial features, but for an RPG the customisation is extremely limited.
Each hero has their own unique attributes and skill tress; Kithana, the vampire assassins’ strengths lie in necromancy, Sarus the mage can cast earth, fire and storm magic, Tal Windstrider, the paladin, is proficient in melee and ranged fighting, Chela, the Amazonian warrior queen, has the power of a bear and speed of a jaguar and Janos Freeborn, the pot-bellied dwarf, takes his pleasure from using firearms and explosives. Whenever we play an RPG we always choose someone who is great at fighting, but this time we opted for the most flamboyant character, which in this case was Sarus the Draconum mage. We set off with great anticipation, looking forward to the quests ahead and hoping we'd have ample opportunity to explore the magical world of Mage Knight.
Click for larger imageMage Knight Apocalypse doesn’t use an EXP or standard levelling system; instead you unlock new skills for your character by using that particular skill over and over again. For example, we departed on our fantasy journey as a Mage, so by using our Storm magic skill, with which you can send bolts of lightning or hurricanes hurtling towards your enemies, we gained more skill points, ultimately unlocking more powerful attacks. It’s an interesting way of doing things and allows you to concentrate on levelling up on a specific skill that you enjoy using, but also means that you should use a range of your characters’ skills to ensure you have a balanced skill-set for when the action hots up later in the game.
Click for larger imageUnfortunately, the action never really hots ups, but instead fizzles out very early on...
