Black Sigil, Blade of the Exile Review
Black Sigil, Blade of the Exile is a RPG on the DS in which you will be taking on the role of Kairu, a person, who in a world of people that can cast magic, has no magic abilities whatsoever. You have been adopted by the Duke, and he sends you on several missions to try to awaken your magic. It's not long before something happens and you are in a strange world where magic is all of a sudden something seen as evil, and your companion that comes with you is hunted because she can't seem to stop casting spells.
Graphically this game looks bland. There's nothing that really pops out about it. The overworld is completely flat, and slightly stretched which hurts the game. The character models also seem very flat, and do wired things like pieces of their outfit disappearing if they move in different directions.
The battle music in the game feels recycled, or maybe its just an overall generic sounding battle song that makes you wonder if there might be some music composer slightly pissed off. To be honest the other sounds in the game feel like they were taken out of some free sounds folder.
The controls in the game aren't bad, but can be confusing if you don't actually read the manual. Well its more about in battle controls than out of battle. The one thing that does get to me though is the fact that you can't run on the overworld map, so there's no reason to keep spamming the button, its not broken, its just not there.
This game started off like every other RPG I've played. You're an abused character who just wants to be normal, but will never be. All of a sudden the tables turn, and you've now got the chance to be the hero. You have a magic sword that you gain, and that's where the game gets its title. You're going to meet several different characters along your journey, none of which is really going to wow you. The overworld map, always present on the top screen of the DS, is so smushed that trying to decipher it might take you the most time in the game.
If you need to play this game, rent it, or borrow it from some unsuspecting victim who purchased it. This is a game that you may not get far into simply because the combat is terrible, you're going to be taking damage no matter what you've equipped, and there will be times in the game where you're character will be hit with ailments for no explained reason. This game gets a 4.3 out of 10.