REVIEWS OF THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
IN THE LABhttp://www.maximumpc.com | FEB 09 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC| 99
S
acred 2 is a hack-and-slash Diablo clone
in the vein of Titan Quest, the late and
much-lamented Mythos, and, of course,
2004’s Sacred. And thanks to the original game’s
popularity, Sacred 2 is also the most-anticipated
Diablo clone—other than Diablo 3, of course.
Much of Sacred 2 will feel pretty familiar
if you’ve played Diablo—from the loot
system, to inventory management, to the
mobs-everywhere clickfest that is combat, to
the screen-fi lling bosses.
But dedicated hack-and-slashers will fi nd
plenty to love in Sacred 2. The game world is
huge and nonlinear—there are more than 22
square miles to explore. It’s bigger than Oblivion,
bigger than Fallout 3. Unfortunately, most quests
take place within a few hundred yards of the
roads, and most of the stuff in the middle, though
occasionally interesting or whimsical, can be
skipped. The graphics are pretty, but not revolu-
tionary, even at the highest settings.
In Sacred 2, T-Energy threatens to destroy
Ancaria, and you have to choose whether to
save or destroy the world. Six diff erent classes
play two diff erent campaigns, each about 40
hours long if you skip the side quests. Each class
also gets a few unique quests, including one that
lets you buy a powerful class-specifi c mount.
Power-gamers, rejoice: With a level cap of 200,
thousands of items, customizable combat runes,
and several diffi culties from bronze to hardcore,
which features character permadeath, there are
easily hundreds of hours of fun to be had.
That said, we hated the fi rst few hours of
Sacred 2. The story was vague and the default
fi xed camera was atrocious (fi nding just the
right angle in a dungeon so that you can see
both yourself and your target is surprisingly
diffi cult, though you get used to it aft er a while).
The AI is nearly nonexistent, the pathing is
quirky, and the quests, other than the main one,
are mostly trivial. Also, it’s not 2001 anymore.
Can we please have a viewable area that’s
bigger than 60 feet? Or an over-the-shoulder
camera? But somewhere toward the beginning
of chapter two (of 10), the game hooked us,
despite its shortcomings.
Maybe the character’s oft -mutteredwitticisms started getting through. Maybe it
was the game’s incessant jolts of fourth-wall-
breaking silliness—we were Rick-rolled by a
gravestone in a cemetery, attended an in-game
concert by real-life metal band Blind Guard-
ian, and on one lonesome road found a shack
labeled “Bus Stop.” Or maybe it was the giant
monitor lizard our ranged-weapon-special-
izing Dryad got as a steed that made combat
feel like driving a big stompy tank down the
highway. Whatever it was that bit us, it bit us
hard—we haven’t slept in days.
Although it has online and LAN multiplayer
modes, Sacred 2 is essentially a massively single-
player game. If you love MMOs for their me-
chanics and game worlds but hate the troglodyte
players who inhabit them, grab a few friends and
hop into Ancaria. It’s not perfect by any means,
but like the tortoises you’ll occasionally mangle
in-game, if you bash through the hard outer
shell, there’s plenty of delicious meat on the
inside. –N A T H A N E D W A R D SSacred 2: Fallen Angel
Over time, we learned to dig this hack-and-slash adventure
+ -
VERDICT$50, http://www.sacred2.com, ESRB: M7
Huge game world,
large amounts of loot,
cool mounts, and big
bosses.Frustrating camera,
terrible AI, uncompel-
ling side quests.KILLASACRED 2: FALLEN ANGELFILLAEach class has a unique mount available. We named our fi ghting lizard Stompy!
Sacred 2’s environments are lush and varied, but the enemies within each zone are a little similar.