Might & Magic X: Legacy Reviews
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We have rounded up another batch of Might & Magic X: Legacy reviews to check what the press thinks of Limbic's throwback dungeon crawler.
GameSpot, 6/10.
Might & Magic X: Legacy is a somewhat successful trip back in time to an era when RPGs were both simpler and more complicated than they are today, and a lot more demanding of players when it came to combat. If nostalgia drives you to visit this particular kingdom, you'll not likely regret the time spend there. If your good old days weren't brimming with games of this nature, it's more difficult to appreciate the take-no-prisoners challenge and overlook the limitations.
Joystiq, 4/5.
Even so, Might and Magic 10 plays so smoothly, with an elegant simplicity and almost effortless depth, that I can forgive its lack of story and indifferent graphical presentation. There's a common argument that pits the more complex/confusing conventions of older games against the accessible/"dumbed down" conventions of more recent fare, with one always good and the other always bad, depending on your point of view. Might and Magic 10: Legacy reveals just how irrelevant those arguments are. It's my new favorite installment in the series, and it offers a great example of how to update old-fashioned RPG mechanics for the present day.
IGN, 7.3/10.
Might and Magic X: Legacy marks a welcome break from the contemporary focus on story-driven RPGs by delivering gridded turn-based combat that largely works. The approach doesn't work as well in the exploration of the open world, unfortunately, and the experience as a whole suffers from optimization issues. But as an old-school dungeon crawling experience that doesn't shy away from punishing you for errors, Legacy usually delivers.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, scoreless.
Everything here is programmed, a vast spiderweb of triggers, but it manages to feel random, stumbling from fight to fight like some enormous bar-brawl. Only with spiders and earth elementals rather than tattooed bald blokes called Geoff and Lenny. This is a game about always, always staying alive by the skin of your teeth, and whatever tension is lost to the mechanical movement and the uneven pacing is restored by that essential sense of fragility.
Presentation is the main issue here, and my suspicion is that M&MX hasn't enjoyed a particularly generous budget in that regard. It's an uneven experience, populated as much by frustration as it is by triumph, but it feels technically solid and is appropriately enormous and secret-filled. It's a framework for adventure, and I wanted that more than I realised. I do wish its producers had gone (screw it, let's go full text rather than burn time and money on a tiny handful of crap gag-laden dialogue that we'll play over and over again), I wish it wasn't populated by NPCs who offer pointless and entirely unexciting lore-balls but perform no other function, and I do wish it opened up right away, earlier Elder Scrolls-style, instead of starting off as a charmless prison by any other name.
But those are now, to me, issues of the past rather than the present a present where I am very happily continuing to play a game that last week I was convinced I detested.
Metro, 5/10.
Unlike the carefully balanced systems of something like Dark Souls the difficultly level in Legacy feels arbitrary and thoughtless. As a result the game has little to teach modern titles and, most damningly, it's not as if it's the only retro-styled dungeon crawler around at the moment. Even ignoring Japanese titles Dungeon Master homage Legend Of Grimrock is a lot more fun, while still tickling most of the same nostalgia glands as Legacy.
Legacy is presumably meant to be the first in a new line of Might & Magic but the nostalgia excuse is not going to work twice. And yet as it stands there seems little that this can offer modern gaming, except evidence that the good old days weren't always that great.
PC Advisor, 3.5/5.
It's unfortunate that Might & Magic X couldn't have seen a little more spit, polish and superficial flare in order to save it from looking and sounding as old-fashioned as it does, but that aside it's extremely pleasing to revisit roleplaying values that had been all but abandoned for no good reason.
PlayNation, 8/10.
Some may definitely like the challenge to both your wits and the muscles of your party, some may not. But if you are not afraid of taking up the challenge, and you are willing to give this new fantasy game kept in an old-school style - with smooth and detailed graphics, lots of little pearls and hints from the previous Might & Magic games and a truly epic storyline - a go, then you are up for a really heroic experience... the good, old way.
Prior knowledge of the Might & Magic-series is not mandatory. New players can start here.
Capsule Computers, 7.5/10.
Overall, Might & Magic X: Legacy is a great RPG for fans willing crack open the time capsule. Character progression and customization provide a great sense of ownership while the combat delivers in spades with vintage appeal. Striking visuals and an open-world help keep the game interesting as well. A few design choices that should've been updated can be frustrating, though they never really hamper the experience. The game will likely attract a niche audience given its nature, but RPG fans willing to wade into Legacy will find a deep, rewarding experience.
Gameplanet, 5.5/10.
Might and Magic X: Legacy highlights more about why these mechanics were left in the past rather than what made them so magical in the first place. A lukewarm effort unlikely to engage traditionalists, and very likely to alienate newcomers.
Digitally Downloaded, 5/5.
As I mentioned in my little opinion piece last week, Ubisoft took a risk developing a game that doesn't conform to modern expectations of game design. Might & Magic X is a love letter to classic RPG delves, and I hope it's a big success to show that there are people that still like these kinds of games.
And there you have it. My first 5-star game for the year. Last year Ni No Kuni was a January Game of the Year contender in my mind. Up there is my ten reasons that Ubisoft has done the same with Might & Magic X this year.
