Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is epic in pretty much every sense of the word. For instance, it has a power metal theme song, penned by Teutonic veterans Blind Guardian. The terrain measures an impressive 22 square miles, there are 200 character levels to attain and the number of quests approaches 500 or so. The question is whether you will stick around long enough to really get to grips with the game’s impressive array of content. If you liked Diablo and are salivating at the prospect of getting back into its dungeons, Sacred 2 will keep you going until Diablo III’s release. If you didn’t, Sacred 2 will be an experience comparable to having your eyes pecked out by eagles.

Set 2,000 years before the events of the original Sacred, the plot centers around a struggle to control the world of Ancaria’s most important resource: T-Energy. You are thrust into this world as either a follower of Light or Shadow, with subsequent events being determined by your choice. For example, choose a Light character and you will be attempting to stem the chaos and bring peace. Go the other way and your destiny will be to further destabilize the situation. How you go about doing this will be familiar to anybody who’s played a Diablo clone before. You left-click to attack enemies, loot their corpses for items that you can sell at a trader or keep for yourself, and you also obtain quests, which are completed by left-clicking on enemies, looting their corpses... you get the idea.

Each character, of which there are six, has a variety of unique abilities and specialties, meaning that there’s substantial replay value if you’re insane enough to want more. You can even take your character online for PvP and co-op PvE action, if that takes your fancy. The major problem with this game is one of perception – if you don’t mind hideously repetitive clicking, then you’ll be in your element with Sacred 2. Likewise, if you don’t mind a game mired in the worst kind of fantasy cliché, Sacred 2 will float your proverbial boat.

But for the rest of us, having been exposed to the likes of The Witcher, Sacred 2 is a big step backwards for the RPG genre. Graphically pleasing as it is, the gameplay doesn’t have that special something required to entice the outsider, which is a shame considering how much effort has been put into creating the universe.

Nov 20, 2008