Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: TDK/Playlogic
Developer: Cauldron
Release Date: TBA
Knights
of the Temple 2 has at its core one of the best ideas for a video
game that nobody's used yet, and this is probably why Cauldron Ltd stepped
in to make the sequel after the first title failed to be terribly successful.
The real question with this title is how well it's going to use its stellar
premise, which involves following the adventures of a Knight Templar in
a dark and sinister version of 13th century Europe where demons are real.
We took a look at the console build for this preview, so we could get
some idea of how the game would control. While the game's simple graphics
are far more acceptable on the PS2, right now the play control on this
build is "rough" to say the least. A lot of options haven't
been implemented yet, so we only got to see a tiny sliver of what the
game had to offer. Fortunately, in a build this early, we can feel confident
that most of what's lacking now will probably be addressed before the
final build.
We tried out the Tutorial and the new game options,
and in both modes the sense of historical realism in the backgrounds was
very striking. There were no anachronisms, and all the architecture we
saw had a delightfully weathered, somewhat crude look to it. A downside
to the sense of historical accuracy is that, well, the graphic design
sense of the game is a little hard to appreciate if you're not any sort
of a history buff. Paul's historically authentic Templar armor looks bulky
and dull when simply viewed as a video game design, and the authentic
medieval townscapes seem drab and claustrophobic. The graphics themselves
aren't very technologically advanced, with the simple, blocky look of
early PS2 titles behind them. Hopefully they'll be sharpened up before
the final release, so it's easier to immerse in the setting and enjoy
the realism.
The plot for the game is pretty straightforward,
and entirely outlined by a single opening cut-scene. Paul de Raque lives
in dark times, and he's watched evil forces possess the soul of a woman
he once loved. Now he's out to collect three talismans that will let him
find, pierce, and seal the evil gate into hell that lead to her possession
happening. To help him on this quest, he has divine powers like extra-sensory
perception, healing, and tricks for damaging evil foes. So you undertake
three major quests to find the talismans, and then presumably a fourth
where you descend into hell. Of course, only the three basic quests were
available in this build, and only one was playable at all, the Birka quest.
Once you select it, you were set down in a dreary
medieval city at night, with wailing moans and the sounds of flickering
flames echoing in the background. People wandered around with torches,
and would run from you if they saw Paul unsheathe his sword. If you approached
an item to interact with or a person you could speak to, an icon would
flash in the upper-left corner of the screen. A lot of interactions with
the environment were supposed to trigger automatically, and although they
weren't all implemented in this build, it made getting around easy when
they worked as intended. Curiously, Paul was able to unsheathe his sword
and go into "fighting mode" at any time, but hitting villagers
with sword-sweeps caused no visible harm to them. All dialogue in the
game was voiced, which was a nice bonus.
Sadly we couldn't access a combat sequence in
the PS2 version, so we'll have to assume that it's going to basically
follow the same pattern as the PC version, real-time action with the ability
to power-up Paul by investing experience points in various skill trees.
Hitting the cross button triggered a downward sweep of the sword, while
circle triggered an upward sweep and the triangle button jumped. A look
at the options listing indicated that a lot of skills would be triggered
with the L2 and R2 buttons. As in most PS2 games, you moved your character
with the left analog stick and the camera with the right analog stick.
It's obvious that the current built of Knights
of the Temple 2 is quite unfinished, and they seem to be working
on mapping all the controls for the console version as something distinct
from the PC version. Once all the bugs are worked out, the potential for
an engaging and different action RPG is definitely there. For all the
faux-medieval veneer that most RPGs slather on, few have dared to actually
approach the authentic look and feel of the period in their graphics or
their plotlines.
If anything, it would be nice if eventually the
plot of Knights of the Temple 2 embraced more historical aspects
of the period. Right now, it hinges on a quest for doodads that is, when
you get down to it, a fairly generic RPG "fetch quest". Something
that involved having to exorcise demons or deal with corrupt Crusaders,
even as a sidequest, would be a welcome addition. There's no announced
release date for Knights of the Temple 2, so maybe we'll see
something like that in a more developed version of the game.
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