Don’t read the achievements list when you start out: they tell you the entire plotpossible to die in the final boss battle
after you’ve killed it, while you’re
watching its death-throes cutscene.
The arena is still active while you
can’t see it, resulting in unseen death
that respawns you back at the save
point before the fight. Maddening. You
might also beat the last boss twice
anyway, just to make sure you didn’t
accidentally skip an end sequence.
But no, there isn’t one. A brief credits
screen appears, complete with a
cursor to move around (but nothing
to click on) then... the title screen.
Nothing else to do but start again.
Silver lining
While the this list of negatives is
pretty damning, Windscape isn’t
completely awful. There’s some
decent level design, especially later
on, including an engaging platforming
section while you navigate a dark
cavern in the light of a floating orb.
The last two dungeons are mildly
taxing, too, thanks to some basic but
neat crafting required to progress.
There are bows to make and shoot,
basic elemental projectile magic spells
and both sharp and blunt weapons to
forge, making for welcome gameplay
variety. And the game certainly plays
best after four or five hours, letting
you explore an ancient pyramid and
tiptoe along mine cart tracks above
lava pits. Sadly, it just never feels
particularly exciting. It’ll pass the
time, certainly, but there’s a definite
sense that both you and the game
are just going through the motions.
At least the music is impressive,
clearly representing the best part
of the production, and the game’s
few moments of real atmosphere are
almost completely down to the quality
of its soundtrack.
With features like Ida’s journal
entries just plain abandoned after
the first hour, and one of the islands
on the world map made out to beimportant and then never even
visited, Windscape feels unfinished.
But even so, despite its many flaws,
there may well be someone out there
who finds modern RPGs impenetrable
and longs for something simpler. So
if you fancy trying out a ‘my first RPG’
kind of game, this is a good shout. For
anyone else, though - avoid it like eye
contact with those guards. Shudder. QLITTLE MIX
You’ll do a smattering
of crafting and
cooking as you
progress, gathering
resources and
ingredients as you
play. Some are
dropped by enemies,
while buying a
pickaxe or
woodcutter’s axe
allows you to harvest
materials from the
landscape. But it’s not
a very deep system,
and there only seem
to be two dishes to
cook in total. Sadly
the potions you get
from treasure chests
are more than enough
to get you through
the hardest fights,
meaning you probably
won’t ever have to
make one yourself.
Still, as an
introduction to RPG
crafting, it at least
covers the basics.“There are two
or maybe three
very basic side-
quests across
the entire game”
FAR LEFT Foes
aren’t
intimidating
when you know
how easy they
are to defeat.
RIGHT There’s
only four places
to go, so this
world map kind
of feels
redundant.OXM VERDICT
A mildly
entertaining RPG
full of technical
issues and
simplistic combat.4
LEFT The
graphical style
makes it look
like a proto-3D
game from the
early ’90s.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 089REVIEW