Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements Review
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Dark Messiah on PC was not particularly well received, but Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements plumbs new levels of awfulness. It's a mess of poorly designed game mechanics, terrible graphics and generally shoddy performance that is simply inexcusable. While the promise of a first-person perspective Might and Magic action game may sound intriguing, the execution here is awful. There is virtually nothing to redeem the game in either its multiplayer or single-player campaign.
It should be a simple formula -- a linear Oblivion with multiplayer -- but Elements crashes and burns in an almost spectacular fashion in every respect. We're not sure what was behind the decision to shift from a skill tree-based character progression system to the horrifically restrictive choice of four generic classes, but it certainly doesn't add to the fun. Instead of being able to choose your own character's destiny, you select one of four bland classes (Warrior, Archer, Assassin or Mage) at the outset of the game and are locked into a single-track progression that rewards you with one measly skill for each level. This leads to curious issues like the Assassin class being wholly incapable of even considering the use of a bow and arrow. This problem is compounded when, at a certain stage of the game, you get a bow and arrow that shoots an arrow with a rope attached so that you can solve puzzles... but unless you chose the Archer class, you still can't pick up any other bow or use the weapon offensively.
