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Platform: Playstation
2
Related Links: Review: Champions of Norrath (PS2) Review: Baldur's Gate - Dark Alliance (PS2) Review: Baldur's Gate - Dark Alliance 2 (PS2)
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Champions:
Return to Arms
Last
year, when Champions of Norrath came out, action RPG fans had a lot of
fun with Snow Blind’s sword-swinging, arrow-shooting, romp through the
Everquest universe. It was
an enjoyable experience, though it did feel like there was something
missing (like dwarves, or any of the other tiny-folk, as playable
races). Now fans can pick up right where they left off when Snow
Blind’s sequel, Champions: Return to Arms, hits the Playstation 2 in
February. |
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Before continuing, a quick warning, as this paragraph will go into the storyline for Return to Arms, which will inevitably lead to references/spoilers connected to the game’s predecessor. So, if you’re planning on getting Champions of Norrath, it would be best to skip ahead to the next paragraph. Moving along, Return to Arms takes place shortly after the events of Champions of Norrath. Innoruuk, the god of hate, is dead, and his body has shattered into tiny shards of hate. Unfortunately, the bad vibes coming off of these tiny morsels of evil god are making much of |
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Norrath’s inhabitants downright unpleasant to deal with. Making matters worse is that Innoruuk’s followers are slowly gathering his shards so that they can resurrect their fallen god. Now Firiona Vie, one of the few beings to remain good and pure in this whole mess, has summoned champions to come and take care of the problem now plaguing the land.
While playing the original Champions of Norrath was a lot of fun, it felt like more of the same in terms of what players actually did. There was a lot of hacking hordes of monsters to bits, collecting cool weapons and armor, and exploring every last square-inch of the map, but we had already seen this in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. This time, Snow Blind is bringing a lot more to the table in a number of ways. Firstly, a medal system is being introduced where players are graded on their performance on missions, and depending on how they do new secret levels may be unlocked where exceptionally powerful weapons can be found. On top of this, two new races will be selectable by players, which raises the question of possibly seeing gnomes and the like this time.
Features: Snow Blind has been setting the bar for console-based hack and slash games for a few years now. With an already solid foundation, and now the addition of a new performance-based game facet, fans of the genre may have quite a treat in store when the give hits the streets. Mr. Nash January 1, 2005 |
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