Game Review | January 20, 2011 1:53 am

By Melissa Evol

As the self appointed “Queen of RPGs,” I try to play every game that is released in the RPG genre. Games so terrible they never should have been made (Shadow Madness), beautiful works of art (Odin Sphere), universally beloved well known games (Final Fantasy VII) and critically panned sleeper hits (Two Worlds) I’ve played all kinds. This review won’t be about a game that falls in any of the above extreme categories, however, as this review is about ArcaniA: Gothic 4- a game as middle of the road as you can get. Apparently, there are 3 other games for PC in the Gothic series, but ArcaniA was my first experience with it. It’s a European RPG- and for those unfamiliar with the term, it’s an action RPG made in Europe (think Oblivion, but without the polish... and money... and bug testers before release). Other games for the 360 in this genre would be Risen, Divinity 2, and Two Worlds. So, yeah, that’s about where that bar has been set.

The plot of ArcaniA is pretty straightforward. You play a shepherd who has dreams of a king tortured by demons, and lives on a small island. Seriously, it’s a very very small island. The total population numbers around 10, and includes a smuggler who hides in a cave, a witch who hides in a different cave, and a handful of people just named “Fisherman, “Fisherwoman,” or “Farmer.” No joke- you live on an island with under 20 people, and you never bother to find out most of the other inhabitants' names. Luckily, the only named female on the island is into you- and is apparently a pretty hot commodity, since you spend the first part of the game doing fetch quests to get permission from her father to marry her, and beating up a really old looking farmer named “Knut” who also wants to marry her. (Did I mention this was a German game?) After doing all the quests, and beating up Knut (who wasn’t strong enough to do the quests himself, but somehow feels he can take you on) her father gives consent, and she agrees to marry you (and reveals a huge “Oops” moment that directly contradicts what you told her father the first time you spoke to him) in return for you taking her off the island. To make a long story short, it doesn’t happen and you end up leaving the island- just you and your smuggler friend.

The rest of the game progresses as a glorified “fetch quest” where you go to point A to get B and bring it to point C... ad nauseum. There aren’t any twists or turns, nothing that will jump out and grab you, and no character development to speak of with any of the future characters you meet in the game. You’ll do their quests, but you really won’t care what happens to them.

The game is a decent length- about 20 hours for a straight run through on the hardest difficulty, without doing any sidequests. There aren't that many sidequests, so those won't add on too much time, but there are quite a few collectables that will have you combing the (not very large) world looking for them. The paths are fairly linear and even though the map looks large, unpassable mountains take up over 1/2 of it- you’ll realize quickly that there’s just not that much to do! I think if you put your mind to it, you could complete everything this game has to offer in one 30-40 hour runthrough on the hardest difficulty, but even knowing that I chose to do two. One to just run through on Gothic difficulty, then a run through on easy to mop up the quests and collectables.

The gameplay itself is typical action-rpg. It’s not innovative in any way, but it is somewhat fun. It’s a simple game with simple combat, but I’ll take it over the horrible RT mashing of Risen any day. You use one or two handed weapons, a bow or crossbow, and magic. You have the option of making a character that excels at one skill (melee, ranged or magic) or you can make a balanced character that’s just mediocre at all of them. The way you level really is your own choice, but with a level cap of 30 (and a set amount of experience in the game- meaning you’ll only reach 30 if you kill every monster in the game and complete every quest) your character won’t be as varied as it sounds on paper.

The graphics of ArcaniA are... fine. There are some really lovely places- the beach at sunrise springs to mind- but there is a lot of ugliness. The characters are truly hideous- every single one. The young ladies look like old crones in closeups. The men mostly look the same. It’s probably the best looking game of this genre- but it’s competing with Two Worlds and Risen, so come on. There are, of course, graphical glitches: you’ll see your character’s eyeballs through the back of his head frequently; grass, trees, and even buildings will disappear when you turn a certain angle; and upon speaking to a person you’re often transported to a different place- because that’s where the conversation was rendered by the artist, regardless of where it actually occurs.

Sounds are a non-issue in this game. The music is so nondescript I can’t actually recall any of it as I’m writing this. The voice overs were middle of the road. There just really wasn’t anything that stood out, good or bad, in the soundtrack for ArcaniA. It’s a good thing for the voice acting- mayhap you remember a game a few years ago in which the voice acting alone was enough to drive people away- but it would have been nice to have had some better music. However poorly rendered, Argaan is beautiful and serene, and boring music really did it a disservice.

BOTTOM LINE: ArcaniA: Gothic 4 is one of the most linear RPGs I’ve ever played, from beginning to end. It honestly should have been titled ArcaniA: Gothic 4 Dummies. Even on the hardest difficulty level, the only real challenge was fighting the camera, and being so besieged by enemies that the frame rate blew up and made the game unplayable for a few seconds. Luckily, it truly was only for a few seconds, when all of a sudden it cleared up and I found myself laying on the ground, dead- always a shock when you had full health a second before that.

It’s definitely a solid entry in the ERPG genre, graphically edging out any other contenders, even if its story is eked past by those same games. The lack of repugnant voice actors and a simple, un-ornamented script is a plus, but the lack of a decent soundtrack works against it. But when all’s said and done, it’s an enjoyable game, without any game breaking glitches or freezing issues. Fans of the genre will enjoy it, and it would be a pleasant way to pass the time until Two Worlds 2 comes out next week (knock wood).

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

Achievement Notes: Running through this game on the hardest difficulty will net you an easy 750 without going too far out of your way to do sidequests. The rest of the achievements are harder to get but a good walkthrough makes them a piece of cake. There are 50 points that are currently unattainable, however. There is a 10 point achievement for learning all the recipes in the game that can not be gotten, thanks to a glitch that reads 2 different recipes as the same one and won’t let you learn both. This renders the 40 point achievement for getting every other achievement unobtainable as well. DLC has been announced for 2011, so hopefully that means this game won’t just be forgotten by the developers before a patch comes out.

Reviewed: ArcaniA - Gothic 4®™

Keywords: Role Playing Game, game review, European RPG, Action RPG, ArcaniA, Gothic 4; review