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If you’re looking for an RPG, the XBox doesn’t really have a lot to offer right now. One of the systems few games that offers anything close to an RPG experience is Nightcaster. Unfortunately, the game isn’t any good, so it doesn’t really help the XBox’s lineup any.
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One day while playing hide and seek with his friends, Arran, a young boy, stumbles upon a mysterious glowing orb. The orb explains to Arran that an evil Nightcaster has broken free of his confines and now plots to destroy the world. The orb also explains that Arran is the chosen one who must wield great power and stop the Nightcaster before all is lost. Reluctantly, Arran agrees to partake on the quest to stop the Nightcaster. The boy leaves behind his old life, and spends many years learning the ways of magic in hopes of becoming strong enough to stop the Nightcaster. After years of training, Arran emerges to find the world consumed by evil. Armed only with a magical spellbook and a staff made from the branch of the sacred Yew Tree, Arran and the orb set out to save the world.
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Ok, so the story is pretty generic. How many times have we seen something like this before? “Mysterious being: “You are the one… you must save the world!” Clueless guy: “I’m confused, but I’ll do it!” And then they save the world. Nightcaster’s story is relayed largely through scrolls that Arran finds throughout his journey, but also by a handful of cinematic events in the game. The story isn’t much more detailed than what I’ve explained, so don’t play this game looking for story if you decide to play at all.
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Nightcaster is all about fighting, and Arran will face hordes of the Nightcaster’s evil minions in an attempt to save the world. Arran is equipped with a large array of spells to aid him on his journey. The game features four different elements (dark, light, fire, water) of monsters and magic. Monsters are most vulnerable to magic of the opposite element, and cannot even be hurt by magic of the same element. Arran has four spells of each element, and each separate spell has four levels of power. At first I enjoyed the variety of magic I was equipped with, but as the game progressed I changed my mind. You’ll spend a lot of time in Nightcaster switching back and forth between your spells, and it is very chaotic during a fight. You’re swarmed by 15 little critters of a variety of different elements. What do you do? If you cast a fire spell on them, you may kill them all (certainly the water ones), but the fire creatures will be completely immune and will charge forward and kill you in just a few hits. There are always monsters of varying elements, so you’ll constantly have to switch back and forth. Making matters less friendly is the huge amount of monsters you’ll have to face. Sometimes you’ll be surrounded by so many little critters that you literally can’t move. On top of that, the bad guys are pretty good at knocking your life out before you’ve even realized you’ve been hit. So, combat is slow, hard and most of all, very frustrating.
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Because you find yourself outnumbered so greatly, and since you have to waste so much time rotating between your spells, combat often involves running forward, casting a spell to take out a couple of monsters, and then running away to re-charge your magic and switch your spell. Changing spells is made slightly easier by the spell menu on your screen which allows you to rotate between four spells of your choosing by simply hitting the left trigger. The problem is that four spells aren’t nearly enough. In some cases you’ll not only need to change what element of magic you cast, but also which spell of that element you decide to use. The only way to access your other spells is by hitting start and scrolling through your menus (Arran’s magical spellbook). This was extremely annoying, because there is actually a delay in the game between when you hit pause and when the menu actually pops up while Arran pulls out his book. During this time monsters will proceed to charge forward, and often times, kill you!
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One of the few aspects of this game that I actually enjoyed was that you can use the right analog stick to control the magical orb and guide your spells with it, while you use the left analog stick to control Arran from an arial view. So, if you get charged by a horde of monsters you can turn around and run, but still continue to blast them with magic as you run. When not flying around and guiding Arran’s magic, the orb sits on the end of your staff and gives you the occasional tip.
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As the game progresses Arran will find new spells, and power them up, as well as increase his MP for each spell. You’ll also collect powerful runestones that will grant Arran abilities, such as increased speed, or the ability to heal. On occasions, you’ll run into “wizard schools” that will increase your affinity with a certain element… and change the color of your clothes. One feature of the game that I was very disappointed with was the aging aspect. Arran supposedly ages throughout the game, and changes appearance and grows in skill. This was done really poorly. Arran didn’t progressively age at all… instead, he just miraculously gets old between two levels. His appearance and voice do indeed change, and I thought that was kind of cool, but still, I would’ve liked to see him actually age instead of just “get old.” As far as his magic skills increasing as he ages, well, that’s hard to judge. His powers may indeed grow stronger, but so do the enemies, so you can’t really tell.
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The game is similar to Gauntlet in most respects. You’re bombarded by hordes of monsters that pop out of spawners, and you basically blast them with magic mindlessly until they’re all dead. Unfortunately, this was only single player, so it couldn’t capture the multi-player fun of Gauntlet.
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The game features some nice graphics in an entirely 3D world. There are beautiful lighting effects from Arran’s spells, and very detailed and nice looking environments. The world Arran travels around in is quite nice, and the whole game has a great atmosphere. Things can get a little dull though, since you actually have to go through several of the same levels more than once, and there’s little variation between enemies aside from color.
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The voice acting in the game was ok, but nothing special. Good enough that you’re glad it’s there, but not good enough that it’s worth remembering. But, there isn’t that much talking anyway, aside from the orb, who has a thing for reading poetry at the beginning of each stage. The game also features some nice sound effects, such as monsters screeching in the background, or spells erupting. The music? Well, it wasn’t bad, but it's not going to stand out.
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Honestly, few games have frustrated me to the extent that Nightcaster did, and when I was done I was overjoyed that I wouldn’t have to suffer any more. If you enjoy pain, by all means pick this game up. You can find it for around $15-20. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your gaming fun.
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