Xbox 360 Review: Sacred 2 Fallen Angel

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is just about everything you would expect from a button-mashing RPG without a story. You’re given a huge world to quest through, with little direction as to what the overarching goal is of the game. Gamers will explore a vast terrain, press buttons constantly to their hearts desire, and of course hoard loot. There’s not much else to this title. Sacred 2 was not well received on the PC, and unfortunately the console-based release does little to improve on that reception.

What is the point of making an RPG without a well thought out, elaborate, even if cliché, story? Yes, gamers have played through just about every story of a great evil threatening a land or a boy who would be king, but must first overcome his own inner-demons. But, we still eat those stories up year after year. Sacred 2 will give you the vast diverse landscapes of Square-Enix level RPGs, but while you explore those landscapes you will constantly ask yourself what it is exactly that you are supposed to be doing.

Gamers choose one of six race classes, following either the light or dark story arc. You will also get to choose a god to summon to your support. Be careful, if you’re following the dark campaign. I chose the Inquisitor at first, who is like the most evil character, and partnered him with the vengeful god Ker. This is the worst pairing in the game. Ker will slaughter your enemies, but before long he will also attack you. Yes, Sacred 2 serves up a subconscious after-school special, preaching the gospel that being bad isn’t necessarily a good choice. What’s the point of ever choosing this beast is still beyond me. After a while, I decided to cut my losses and start over with a different monster to summon.

The story is a loosely strung together tale involving elves and T-energy – it’s practically not worth explaining. What you do have at your disposal is an endless supply of quests, so you’ll never be at a loss for something to do. You just won’t have a greater purpose. So, after forty plus hours of gameplay you will have recovered hundreds of items, rescued countless victims, and vanquished innumerable enemies without feeling like you’ve done much.

The character models are the best, offering diversity from your typical fantasy D&D tale. Though Elves are present, doing their normal “best at magic” thing, every character comes with it’s own unique spin that breaks Lord of the Rings restrictions. For once I would just like to see an elf that just likes to fight. Where is Tanis Half-Elven when you need him? Sure he was half-elf, but at least he wasn’t all about magic and loved a good fight like Legalos in LOTR. The overhead Diablo style view takes away from seeing some of the better character detail. You can adjust the camera to have more of a 3rd person style gaming experience, but the overhead view works best in this game.

The settings have lush green fields, but are somewhat restrictive in its “open-worldness.” You’ll find several terrains impassable, causing you to backtrack. If you have a problem with backtracking you had better get used to it quickly or just give up because there will be countless times where you follow a map to a point just to realize you hit a dead end and have to circle back to go around the obstacle. It gets old quickly. On a positive note, you can go just about anywhere without having to sit through one of those meddlesome load-screens. Load screens are one of the biggest issues in RPG gaming. And, Sacred 2 conquered that flaw. If only Ascaron had designed a story to go with it, I’d be sitting in total euphoria.

No game would be a lackluster RPG without nagging framerate issues and clipping, which Sacred 2 serves up the moment you start playing the game. As you enter the first tavern, your character will begin to skip around magically on the screen. RPG fans have come to expect little quirks like this in robust games, so they’ll be able to suffer through this with little problem.

Ascaron built Sacred 2 as a pseudo MMORPG. It’s not about an extensive story, not in the least bit. This game is all about questing, plain and simple, especially with friends over Xbox Live. You’ll have fun trading items and chatting about which poor sap to hack and slash next. But, there really isn’t any objective worth vesting your time into. This is a loot hording game from the ground up.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel isn’t a game that will be remembered by RPG enthusiasts. If you haven’t played a good RPG in a while, you may want to just keep holding out for the next blockbuster, either that or take a step back and kill time with the Star Ocean franchise.