Avencast: Rise of the Mage Reviews
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A great example is the mage who went into the basement to practise summoning imps (every mage, including you after rising to level ten, can summon small beasts to help them) guided by the book "Summoning for Dummies" - a classic. Unfortunately, things went a bit awry and the imps he summoned could not be banished, causing the cowardly and panicked wizard to seek help [Wow, sounds just like Gilderoy Lockheart! Ed]. In true Ghostbusters style the troublesome imps (miniature winged blue creatures) start tearing up library books - a deed that cannot go unpunished - so you are sent to dispatch them. Most quests are designed this way - with a nice touch of humour - so it is disappointing that most of them involve simple button bashing to complete. Not all quests boil down this, however; some require you to solve simple puzzles like stealing a book from a librarian without getting caught or luring a female wizard's pet imp into a cage - adding a pleasant break to the often repetitive hack 'n' slash action. My complaint about these puzzles is that the solutions never change - there is always only one way to do things and required items are always in exactly the same place - when stealing the book from the library the requested book is always on exactly the same shelf, making it very easy when you know which shelf to look on.RPGFan is more impressed though they also note some flaws, they deem the game an 81%.
Lighthouse Interactive promotes this game as a fast-paced Action RPG. And that's exactly what it is. The majority of the time playing the game is spent in battle, and the battles play out in a fun and fast-paced way. There is little that we would consider "groundbreaking" about the gameplay, but for a small developer putting out their first game, they did a great job making a solid Action RPG.
Everything you'd expect is there: physical attacks, ranged magic, skill trees, summoning, stat-building, equipment, hotkeys and shortcuts for abilities (as well as unique "combo" input for each and every skill), and some useful dodging skills. Your character can do small jumps in any direction, or double-tap in a direction to do a long-distance roll. Being a mage, the only weapon with which to fight is a staff. But it's amazing what all these mages can do with a staff (think of the "battle mage" class from Bethesda's "Elder Scroll" series). Veteran gamers can efficiently build this mage to fight better with physical or magic attacks (ClockStone called these "blood magic" and "soul magic" growth paths). However, even a novice can come up with unique combinations. For example, a fairly reliable "freeze" spell can stun an enemy for a few seconds, during which the player is free to throw down strong magic, or just bash away with the staff.
