Fantastic game
I got Champions of Norrath because me and my brother had just played Marvel Ultimate Alliance twice and really enjoyed it, so we set out to hunt for more of these kinds of games. We found this on 'the other site', and we bought it and played it. We played it some more, and a bit more afterwards. All in all, we played about 50 hours in the week. And that is because Champions of Norrath is a great game-it has a vast variety of characters, a good variety of setting, and some other really neat stuff.
--CHARACTERS AND GAMEPLAY--
The reason I have put Characters and Gameplay in together is because within this game the characters are the reason behind how you play the game. For example, if you are a Wizard, you would like to keep as far as possible, dealing huge amounts of rape with mana. Of course, then you rely heavily on Mana; therefore, you have to judge the different situations and play according to them. However, playing as a barbarian is easy to use, just run in there with giant rape strikes and dont worry about too much other than rangers and enemy magicians. Every character is fun to use and has a certain play style.
Of course, this doesnt differentiate the fact that this game is a hack and slash game; its just a bit more strategical than you would first think.
I would thoroughly recommend playing this with two players; it makes the game far more interesting. Should you help out the fellow barbarian with a massive fire blast? Or should you leave him and take down those pesky magicians in the back corner? The choice is yours.
--GRAPHICS--
The graphics of this game are nothing spectacular, they are always solid but arent really anything to wet your pants about. However, I have played through that game twice, and never suffered from any frame rate.
--SOUNDTRACK--
The games soundtrack is very interesting-there isnt much music going on, allowing the chaos of the game itself and the sounds from giant explosions and war-cries to make the music. Its a nice touch, and makes you feel within the game.
--STORYLINE--
Here is one of the problems that I had with the game. The storyline is not really that good-you have to play the last few to actually make pure sense as to what is going on. Of course, the main point of the game is just to get you into the action, and in that sense, it does work.
--PROBLEMS--
The main problem I had with the game is the annoying thing that Action RPGs enjoy-the stupid easy medium hard mode thing. As I had said before, I had played this game for 50 hours. I had completed it twice in that time; in Easy and Medium mode. However, you have to do it in order (Easy, then Medium, then Hard), and that just lead me off the game completely. The game doesnt have any specific replay value, so there is not really any point in playing the game more than twice.
Whilst the game may not be as good as Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it is a definite buy/rent if you are looking for good multiplayer, with a good length and enjoyable gameplay, and if you have played the prequels, this game is about as good as it gets as a sequel to them.
