Back in 2000,
Blizzard released Diablo II for the PC. It was the prototypical hack ‘n slash
fantasy title, was a huge seller and set the role-playing solo-player genre on
its ear. A year later, an expansion was released, Lords of Destruction, but then
Blizzard turned its attention to other titles and Diablo was left to gather dust
and entertain players with Battle.net multiplayer action.
A little more
than a year ago, Iron Lore Entertainment and THQ revisited the style with Titan
Quest, a game that was decently received (GameZone’s
Review).
Cyanide and
Dreamcatcher have tossed their collective hats into the ring with Loki: Heroes
of Mythology, a title that revisits the glorious days of solo-player hack ‘n
slash role playing. This is D2 and Titan Quest, with the same general formats in
terms of finite zone maps, point-and-click controls, quests and treasures to
uncover. You kill, you loot, you upgrade skills and armor.
The story
thread follows the god of chaos and evil, freed from its resting place in the
desert. While you do have four distinct cultures, the game weaves nicely between
the civilizations. You have the Egyptians opening a portal and storming through
to attack a Norse village, and so on. Basically, Seth has been resurrected and
is hell-bent on conquering the universe, which means invading the philosophical
regions and holds of other gods. He has no compunctions about interfering and
seems to have no end to the mindless minions who would follow his manic orders.
The ultimate
goal, of course, is to power up, work through the quest lines and battle Seth.
But to do that, you will traverse similar terrain, moving through the world. You
are often moving from one side of a zone through to another, with your direct
path impeded by mobs, and other noteworthy stops – such as random chests that
contain booty you will want to pillage.
But while the
game does cross over through the various mythologies, what does separate this
from a hodge-podge of cultures is that within each of the mythos you will be
able to do quests specific to that culture. There is a nice little Norse line
that will have you working to free Odin from Fenrir. The quest has several
parts, some of which are of the fetch variety, but there is a satisfying
conclusion to the affair.
A quick
breakdown of the four character classes are as follows:
It’s all
Greek to me …
You play the
part of a female heroine who begins by taking part in the Heraklion tournament,
a competition attended by the greatest warriors of Crete. Because your hero(ine)
is Greek, she worships Greek gods, in this case it is Athena and Artemis. That
means the skill trees are related to those gods, as well as Ares. For Artemis,
this means bow-driven skills, while Athena is for melee attacks. You can pick
the path you want, going either heavily toward bow or founding yourself in close
combat or magic. And, obviously, you can be a balanced warrior. The key here,
and with every one of the mythologies, is that you have three skill trees you
can venture down in order to create the warrior you want to play. The Greek
heroine is one of the more balanced of the available fighters, blending melee
and ranged attacks.
Aztec, and
you shall receive (or bad puns abound) …
Here you will
play as a shaman, capable of changing your shape to an animal form, and calling
up pets to fight for you. You begin in the hub with a purification ritual. You
are suddenly attacked and must use your base skills to beat back the
jellyfish-like attackers. Speaking to your pudgy high priest, you find out that
he has had a premonition of a great catastrophe befalling the people.
The Aztec
shaman is much harder to start as than the Greek warrior. She has a basic ranged
attack, but the first level mobs are harder to tackle in groups with so little
skill, armor and weapons. It is wise to use both the ranged attacks and melee as
quickly as you can pick up a sword or close-combat weapon.
The god-related
skill trees are for Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Miclantecuhtli. These
involve buffs, transformative spells and even one that allows the heroine and
allies to cross into a spirit plane. The latter seems to change the color of the
environment, but initially seems to have little other purpose other than to give
the caster a mana boost.
A Norse, of
course …
The first thing
you will notice is that this hulking giant has the soft voice of a man half his
stature. The gods-related skill trees are for Thor, Tyr and Odin. Steeped in
Norse mythos, the game does a nice job of blending the strife of the gods with
the story in place. This is a melee class but rather than exhibiting pure brute
strength, you will have to temper skills like a bull-like charge with the number
of enemies you face. The Norse warrior is sturdy, though, and can take a fair
amount of punishment.
Not a state
of de Nile, but still Egyptian …
The Egyptians
are out to wipe barbarians from the horizons of the world to proclaim the reign
of Seth over the world. Using a portal you show up in … guess where? the village
of the Norse character. After the battle, though, Isis pulls you away and helps
you to find the true path. The skill trees belong to Ra, Horus and Seth. This
is a ranged magical attack and the Egyptian will run up against a host of foul
creatures, like giant scarabs, and initially you may find a hit-and-run tactic
to be beneficial.
While the
classes vary, the formula is more or less the same. Some of the classes are
significantly weaker as you begin and it is much easier to take on the role of a
balance melee class while learning the nuances of the game. Still, though, this
is a relatively easy game to learn to play.
Expect load
times – this game is not seamless and you will move from map to map through
glowing blue barriers. Pathing is hit or miss. At times you will run through an
area and not even trees can slow you down as you clip right through them; but
then there are the times when you will get hung up on a rock, or trapped against
the loading barrier or even boxed in by monsters.
The game is
rife with misspellings and mispronunciations. Imposter is spelled and pronounced
‘imposture,’ for example. This can be a distraction.
Graphically,
the game is played from the third-person perspective though the camera does
rotate and zoom in to afford you a better view of the action. The combat
animations are fine and the variety of monsters, though working off familiar
themes, gets the job done in terms of the various mythologies presented.
Loki definitely
does not work into new territory. If you played Diablo 2, then you know exactly
what you are getting into with this title. However, that does not preclude the
game from being both entertaining and challenging.
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Gameplay: 7.7
Ugghh – point and
click is so five years ago! Ok, that aside, the game does have a few clipping
issues, but controls reasonably well. Pathing seems to be well designed.
Graphics: 7.5
The game has some
very good moments and some moments when it seems to be rehashing itself. The
environments are randomly generated, but that means redundancy. Still, the
combat animations and effects work.
Sound: 7.0
More or less what
one would expect. The game does a decent job with supporting the different
environments.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The game is very
forgiving at the ‘mortal’ level, but you are in for a stiff challenge if you
ramp up the difficulty setting.
Concept: 7.0
Been there and done
that, in many ways. The new environments and mythology overlap, though, is nice.
Multiplayer: 8.0
Much more fun to
team up and play with someone else than to venture alone.
Overall: 7.7
This is one of those
games that is very familiar, but still entertaining. Loki treads familiar
ground, but still manages to provide a treat for those who enjoy a good
old-fashioned hack ‘n slash. There is adventure here, somewhat predictable at
times, but ramp up the difficulty level and you will find the adrenaline pumping
just a bit as wave after wave of baddies rumble toward you.
