Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Namco
Developer: InterServ International
Release Date: Q1 2006
Mage Knight is a tactical collectible
miniatures game, with the pre-painted miniatures sold in "packs"
similar to the CCG booster packs that have eaten many a paycheck. Curiously,
the Mage Knight universe will be represented not by
a strategy or tactics game this spring, but by an Action RPG in the Diablo
vein. In Mage Knight: Apocalypse, players can take
one of five playable characters on an epic quest through the Mage
Knight universe, fighting authentic villains from the tabletop
version of the game.
The villain of Mage Knight: Apocalypse
is an evil beast called the Apocalypse Dragon, and you'll have one of
five heroes to choose from in order to quest against it. InterServ emphasized
that the game's story would be less good vs. evil than grey vs. evil,
with the various warriors each pursuing their own reasons in the fight
against the Apocalypse Dragon.
Graphically, the game is definitely coming along
if obviously unfinished. All of the character designs are geared to mimic
the looks of the tabletop miniatures as closely as possible, which results
in something of a detailed, yet cartoony look. The environments are designed
to be as massive as possible, to allow for lots of enemies onscreen at
once and the occasional moments of epic visual grandeur that fantasy games
demand. The battles that take place in that world are something fans of
the genre should be used to by now: clicking on enemies to make your characters
attack them, and navigating menus and hotkey settings to use special skills
and magic spells.
Each of the five characters has their own unique
skill tree with hundreds of options, and taking all of the skills is intentionally
possible. A goal of InterServ's with the game is to create so many viable
options for developing the way the main five characters play, that ultimately
no two players will be able to create identical builds of the same character.
This is a truly ambitious goal, and it remains to be seen if InterServ
can fully implement it.
Like so many PC games coming out these days, Mage
Knight: Apocalypse is split into two game modes: single player, and
online multi-player. The two campaigns are wholly distinct, with your
other party members in single-player mode being controlled by game AI.
In multi-player mode, a group of players work together to progress through
the quest cooperatively, with each of the five characters controlled by
a different player. There will also be special multi-player game modes,
but what sorts of characters can access them wasn't discussed. What was
pointed out was how the game would dynamically scale itself to match the
levels and equipment carried by each player, growing more difficult as
characters grew more powerful. This is a feature that could make multiplayer
experiences truly interesting, as well as serving to reward compulsive
power-gamers who over-level in the single player mode with bigger battles.
So exactly what are the five playable characters?
The final version of the game will include a gun-toting dwarven fighter,
succubus-like vampire, sword-slinging amazon, elven holy knight called
a "guardian," and a wizard from the race of humanoid dragons
called the draconum. This assortment appears to represent all of the core
races of the Mage Knight tabletop game, and while miniatures of the player
characters aren't available, you'll be able to buy miniatures that look
pretty darn close to them. It also, conveniently, covers most of the basic
play archetypes for your Diablo-like RPG. The character we saw
most of was the Amazon, who was wearing a hilariously fanservicey thong,
and seemed to handle more or less like your average RPG barbarian.
However, her skills worked in an interesting manner:
each set of skills she used was initiated by entering a particular fighting
"stance." A bear-like stance improved her ability with swords
and other melee weapons, an "eagle" stance made her an expert
archer, and a "jaguar" stance let her attack using stealth based
moves. So, the character really can be built to reflect the individual
style of the player, and does not necessarily dictate a particular pattern
in order to be used well. Skills are improved by repeated use, rather
than by spending skill points as in other Diablo-like systems,
so whatever methods of dealing damage you most prefer will be the ones
that improve.
The single-player campaign allows you to control
one of the five heroes from their area of origin, and then hack n' slash
your way through five more levels while recruiting the rest of the party.
The total campaign for a single character will take about 25 hours according
to InterServ. While adventuring you'll have the usual options open to
you: an ability to teleport back to a home base area to buy and sell goods,
and improve your weapons by socketing "magestone shards" into
them. Most shards will have straightforward effects, but can be combined
with other shards on multisocket weapons to create special combined effects.
Imagine combining a fire and ice shard to create a sword that does Antipode
damage; that sort of thing.
There's no word on how much you'll be able to customize
your allies' equipment, but InterServ did assure us that players would
be able to customize the AI of the allied fighters to a certain extent,
as well as issue orders to AI allies during the heat of battle. So, if
you're dying in the middle of a fight, you can quickly order your elf
to toss a healing spell your way instead of hoping the AI notices that
you're dying in time.
Right now Mage Knight: Apocalypse is in
the content-adding phase, so the final touches are needed on graphics
and some features are still up in the air. For instance, InterServ discussed
a potential plan for PvP in the game that would allow teams of adventurers
to challenge rival teams using their multiplayer builds, but might not
make it into the final build. Regardless, Mage Knight: Apocalypse
should turn out to be a light and entertaining outing for fans of the
hack n' slash genre, with strong online and offline components to the
adventure. It should show up in stores sometime in Q1 2006.
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