Score: 70
Overall User Average: 6.96 / 10 (69.6%)
Gameplay User Average: 7.00 / 10
Graphics User Average: 6.91 / 10
Sound User Average: 6.39 / 10
The Jackal
Date reviewed: June 7, 2005.
Overall: This was a good game I think. It's more of a sleeper hit that not many people are willing to try. I think any age could play this and enjoy it which is good. But, I thin kthe game is more of a renter than a buyer since you can fly through it fairly quickly and there isn't much replay value. A good game though.
Gameplay: The gameplay was super simple and anybody could really play this game with ease. The spells were neat and I like how each sepereate colored spell affected a certain colored monster best. It ensured you built up everything instead of having one incredibly strong color. There could have been a wider range of enemies but this was a simple game and it did have more designs than most games so I think they did a good job. The replay value of the game isn't too high though so I think it lacks there.
Graphics: The game looked pretty good in my opinion. Not like unbelievable graphics but it ran smoothly and was consistant with the dark look it went for. I also enjoyed the over head look the game used. It isn't the normal style and that was nice.
Sound: Sound was ok. When creatures died the sound wasn't too great I don't think and the sound didn't add a lot of excitement for me but it did it's job and everything worked where it was placed.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 70 %
xdragon
Date reviewed: December 22, 2003.
Overall: I like this medieval, slightly RPG type game. Cool looking spells, nice affects of time and a good plotline.
Gameplay: The spells are cool looking, especially at higher levels. The creatures and bosses offer challenges, sometimes difficult to figure out, but with color coated baddies, not hard to see. Controls take some getting used to, but get used to it for a good ride.
Graphics: Level design not too in depth, and the enemies seem to pop up in the oddest places, but some cut scenes done well and bosses are cool looking.
Sound: The majestic music and spell chants and affects are good, but enemy death squeals and muted and strange enemy attack sounds kinda rough.
Suggestions: I know a sequal was made and it might be worth a rental, we'll see.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 60 %
JediMasterChief
Date reviewed: August 11, 2003.
Overall: Nightcaster is a mysterious action-adventure fantasy game that is about a boy who finds a special cave and an orb, which leads him to being the chosen one who must save the world from the evil Nightcaster. That boy goes away from his home to increase his strengh and powers. He returns to his home village as a young man and finds that his parents have been killed by the Nightcaster. He then decides to go onto a long journey to free the world from the darkness that has been created by the Nightcaster. The game is a Xbox exclusive game, but is not too much special and is not worth buying at all.
Gameplay: The entire game consists of levels. In each level, you must fight against creatures that have been created by the Nightcaster. You can use your staff or amazing spells. The creatures (or better to call them monsters), get harder to defeat as you advance in levels. Your character changes from a young man to middle aged man to an old man as the game proceeds. The controls of Nightcaster are not so good. They are complicated and after a while they might get irritating. During the game, if you press pause, you do not appear in a pause menu, however a spell/wizardry book opens up. The concept and how the game flows is pretty bad. It does also get irritating and boring defeating enemies using only a staff and spells.
Graphics: Quite bad. It seems as if the Xbox's graphical capabilities have not been used at all. The characters and creatures are too simple. The environments are not big enough and do not have enough detail. Nightcaster lacks a lot of visuals. The visuals are hardly impressive. Nightcaster is one of those Xbox games with the really bad visuals.
Sound: The sound effects aren't that good. The creatures give out really strange noises. Some of the music can get really annoying after a while. Actually, I hardly even heard any music. One good thing is that the orb and characters do speak. It would have made me mad if I had to only read text. One thing that I did like, was of how at the beginning of every few levels and of how at the beginning of the game, there is a spoken introduction, that is said in a poetic way.
Suggestions: Please, no sequel! A sequel to Nightcaster would just be a waste of money and time. I suggest major improvements in visuals and sound, as well as improvement in overall gameplay and levels.
Overall: 70 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 60 %
kal444
Date reviewed: November 29, 2002.
Overall: first glimpse looked horrible, but after playing first level i got hooked, game overall is pretty good
Gameplay: sometimes the camera gets off your guy, but overall not too bad, best view is overhead rather than a 1st person
Graphics: graphics are ok, not like splinter cell or halo, but good enought to buy it for 10$ at gamestop used. HOWEVER the graphics for the various spells are incredible. ...
Sound: sound blah, nothing great hear (did you catch that pun.........................
Suggestions: i cant wait for nc2 to come out... o its commin
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 70 %
faceoff508
Date reviewed: July 8, 2002.
Overall: If you are looking for a fun fantasy action game with an adventure twist, go out and grab Nightcaster. Be wary though, if you tire of the gameplay, there isn't a deep storyline to back it up.
Gameplay: The gameplay of Nightcaster is most easily described by thinking of it as a combination of Gauntlet, Phantasy Star Online, and Robotron 2084. It has massive amounts of enemies coming from spawners you must destroy, along with an overhead battle perspective similar to Gauntlet. In addition, it has the loose quest-driven plot of Phantasy Star Online, a similar spell system, monsters who are resistant to certain types of spells, and a third-person exploring perspective. Lastly, it has dual analog controls which allows you to run in one direction and launch spells in an entirely different direction similar to Robotron 2084. So how does it have two different camera perspectives? Arran controls a ball of energy fittingly called the "Orb". When the Orb is with Arran, the game plays out in third-person style similar to Phantasy Star Online. This perspective looks the nicest, however the field of view is better for item hunting as opposed to fighting. When you move the Orb away from Arran using the right thumbstick, the game switches to an overhead perspective. From this perspective you can actually aim your spells using the right thumbstick and an onscreen target cursor, making it an excellent battle view. You switch spells by cycling through the four types with the left trigger, and firing spells off with the right trigger. The four types of spells are Light, Dark, Fire, and Water. Within each spell class, you can assign spells of varying power and range. For instance, you could assign to Fire a powerful fire spell that only affects the area directly around you, or you could assign to Fire a weaker fire spell that shoots out a projectile. Either way, you can only have one type of each spell ready at any given time. You will need one of each type too, as monsters are resistant to the element they are made of; in other words, a Fire creature is resistant to Fire spells, and a Dark creature is resistant to Dark spells. Of course in each level there are monsters of every element, so you will be changing spells throughout. The amount of mana you have is dictated by the amount of mana balls and elemental rings you find in the game. Some powerups, such as the mana ball, allow you to choose what area to increase your expertise in, adding an RPG element to the game. Make no mistake though, this is an Action/Adventure game, not an RPG.
Graphics: Nightcaster's graphics are quite good, but not as spectacular as many of the other XBOX games out there. The lighting creates a wonderfully creepy atmosphere, while the environment and spell animations dazzle the eye. The only negative point I see is that NPCs could have looked a lot better.
Sound: Again, the DD5.1 music and sound effects do a great job of creating a creepy environment. As for voices, some are good, though NPC voices are quite weak. Overall a "good enough" effort in the sound department. You cannot use custom soundtracks with Nightcaster.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 80 %
Snowmutt
Date reviewed: June 14, 2002.
Overall: I liked it. Very addicting. Can be tedious at times, but if you stick with it till the end you should be a happy camper.
Gameplay: The game play is quite fantic and tedious yet rewarding at the same time. Once you have finally cleared an area of baddies you feel good and well, joyous.
Graphics: I loved the graphics. Very nice color schemes. The spells had nice graphics too. Bigger and better as you progress through the game.
Sound: Sound was good too. Especially the sounds of the spells going off. Oh and the music you hear when you run accross the next mushroom patch/save game area...that music is entrancing.
Suggestions: don't have an overhead and 3d view. just have the 3d one.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 80 %
Master Gracey
Date reviewed: June 3, 2002.
Overall: Let me start this review by giving you all a little back story of how I came to play this game. It'll help you to understand why I'm rating it so low... which is something I rarely do.
I went to school with a few people who got jobs at VR-1 when we were all still in college. As soon as these people got their jobs, they changed from nice people into stuck-up snobs who wouldn't talk to anyone because they were "in the industry" and we were just students. Well, the aformentioned people worked on Nightcaster. My friends (who were in the school at the same time) rented the game and then called me up for a night of laughs at the expense of the people we once knew. We all knew this game had received some bad ratings, but nothing could prepare us for how bad it really was. Instead of a night of laughs, we were groaning and making comments about wanting those hours of our lives back.
Gameplay: There is, quite simply, nothing appealing about the gameplay. My five-year old niece could easily follow the linear path the game makes you adhere to. Of course, she wouldn't be able to get very far because the terrible camera angles make this game needlessly difficult. The storyline is uninspired, AI is nonexistant, and fighting is a chore. If you enjoy getting attacked every two steps, then this is the game for you.
In a nutshell, this game seems to be nothing more than a platform jumper where you (literally) can't jump.
Graphics: I'm giving the visuals a 2 because the color palette is nice... but that's about it. Textures are bland and there is no distant scenery. The spells are also below average. Anybody who knows how to use particle systems could have set them up in five minutes. In fact, it wouldn't be too much of a reach to say that the programmers had more say on this game than the art department. The only other explanation would be that the art department was just lazy.
Sound: Some of the people we knew not only helped design the game, but also did voices. In fact, one of them came to school one day bragging about how he was the best voice-over person at the company. For this reason, we paid close attention to the sound... and there wasn't much to pay attention to.
The music is par for the course in a game of this nature. I'd say it's only slightly more complex than MIDI music. The voice acting, on the other hand, is atrocious. Whenever you cast a spell or get hit, the character makes some really obnoxious sounds... which are repeated over and over and over and over and over and over... after about two hours, we turned off the sound and put on a CD.
Suggestions: Suggestion to developers: Please don't soil the Xbox lineup with any more games. Stick to developing games for PS2. Nightcaster is not the type of game that sells consoles... it's the type of game that makes people sell their consoles.
Suggestion to anyone looking to play this game: Don't. Don't buy it, don't rent it. Play Azurik! Play Bloodwake! I'll even go so far as to say Play Kabuki Warriors! Just don't play Nightcaster. This game will make you want to sue the company for emotional distress.
Overall: 20 %
Gameplay: 20 %
Graphics: 40 %
Sound: 20 %
xboxgamer142
Date reviewed: May 27, 2002.
Overall: Nightcaster is a mysterious action-adventure fantasy game that is about a boy who finds a special cave and an orb, which leads him to being the chosen one who must save the world from the evil Nightcaster. That boy goes away from his home to increase his strengh and powers. He returns to his home village as a young man and finds that his parents have been killed by the Nightcaster. He then decides to go onto a long journey to free the world from the darkness that has been created by the Nightcaster. The game is a Xbox exclusive game, but is not too much special and is not worth buying at all.
Gameplay: The entire game consists of levels. In each level, you must fight against creatures that have been created by the Nightcaster. You can use your staff or amazing spells. The creatures (or better to call them monsters), get harder to defeat as you advance in levels. Your character changes from a young man to middle aged man to an old man as the game proceeds. The controls of Nightcaster are not so good. They are complicated and after a while they might get irritating. During the game, if you press pause, you do not appear in a pause menu, however a spell/wizardry book opens up. The concept and how the game flows is pretty bad. It does also get irritating and boring defeating enemies using only a staff and spells.
Graphics: Quite bad. It seems as if the Xbox?s graphical capabilities have not been used at all. The characters and creatures are too simple. The environments are not big enough and do not have enough detail. Nightcaster lacks a lot of visuals. The visuals are hardly impressive. Nightcaster is one of those Xbox games with the really bad visuals.
Sound: The sound effects aren?t that good. The creatures give out really strange noises. Some of the music can get really annoying after a while. Actually, I hardly even heard any music. One good thing is that the orb and characters do speak. It would have made me mad if I had to only read text. One thing that I did like, was of how at the beginning of every few levels and of how at the beginning of the game, there is a spoken introduction, that is said in a poetic way.
Suggestions: Please, no sequel! A sequel to Nightcaster would just be a waste of money and time. I suggest major improvements in visuals and sound, as well as improvement in overall gameplay and levels.
Overall: 70 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 60 %
Marc
Date reviewed: May 19, 2002.
Overall: I was pretty hyped about getting Nightcaster. I thought it would be a game to rival the old Gauntlet. I was wrong. I liked the spell casting, for about an hour. Then after doing the same thing over and over again, I got bored. This game just doesn't work. It also makes Microsoft's quality assurance department seem a bit incompetent.
Gameplay: The gameplay is fun...at first. The game did have me feeling a little like Gauntlet did, especially the monster generators. I never liked those, but they are a welcome challenge. The appeal of the gameplay is lost in the repetitiveness that the game forces you to endure to play it.
Graphics: The visuals were pretty cool. The spells looked vivid and that is one of the strong points of the game. The repetitiveness hurts the effect of the good visuals, though, because after you've seen it a few times, it gets pretty dull. It seems like a pretty small environment. Too small and too direct. It could've been worse, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
Sound: The sound is actually pretty good. I especially like the way Arran's voice changes as he ages. The sounds of the spells were excellent. The voice acting was sub par, but overall the sound was the the most appealing thing about the game.
Suggestions: Take the concept you started with and multiply it by 25. The game needs to be bigger and much less repetitive.
Overall: 40 %
Gameplay: 40 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 80 %
RealityCheck
Date reviewed: May 1, 2002.
Overall: I thought there would be much more to this game then there was. But after a couple of minutes of play I quickly realized that all you could do was hit with your staff and cast spells. You can't jump or run faster. So my overall impression on the game is not very high.
Gameplay: Once again you are VERY limited in your movements. And I found the maps to be move then difficult to understand. I keep wondering back the way I had just come from and when I looked at the map I couldn't tell which way the arrow was pointing in order to get back in the right direction.
Graphics: The graphics were pretty cool. And I'm sure they would have only gotten better the farther into the game I got. But I just couldn't get past the gameplay being so difficult.
Sound: The sound was also above average. Even on a 19' TV I could hear the different sounds in the forest.
Suggestions: Give us more to do with the character. Just hitting and casting spells grows old real quick.
Overall: 20 %
Gameplay: 20 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 50 %
Smartgii
Date reviewed: February 28, 2002.
Overall: This game has really disappointed me. I originally loved the plot and couldn't wait until the game came out. But I ended up renting the game at my local Dillions and tried it out for a couple of days. It reminded me a lot of Gauntlet Legends only without the three other people, more magic, and better worlds. Overall I'm going to call this game a "renter", that's right, I wouldn't suggest buying it. If you're even thinking of buying it you should definitely rent it first (you might even beat the game the first time).
Gameplay: I really liked the controls for Nightcaster, even though they took a while to get used to. Using the orb as an aim was a great idea and those spells are fantastic. I also liked the idea of countering enemies with opposite magic categories. But Arran really needs some combat skills which are not present except for his push which doesn't hurt enemies. And if there's one thing I hate most about enemies it's when there are to many and your overtaken by them. That is why I don't like "hives". You know, those little structures where enemies keep popping out of forever unless you destroy it. This game is all about those "hives". The game really isn't too hard until you get to the last level and it hits you like a brick to the head. In the last level (or what I presume is the last level) you're just overtaken by a zillion enemies like I mentioned above.
Graphics: The visuals in this game are great! Those spells are just too cool to watch (you'll find yourself firing them up when you don't have any enemies around just to see those 3rd level spells). Shadows and light are everywhere which really make a difference and the enemies and surroundings are very well detailed. I would give this game a six if it were on any other game system but I know the Xbox can do better than that so I gave it a 4.5.
Sound: The sound appeal is very good especially for those spells. The music isn't very noticable but I still wish more games would take advantage of the uploadable music off of the Xbox's hard drive (in the future I hope it's standard on games). I noticed they also used music as a way of telling you that you've killed all enemies by a chime which was very helpful. The voices seemed appropriate even though I didn't like the Irish accent very much.
Suggestions: This game would have been soooooo much cooler if you could have recuited an army of people like Lochran and maybe changed to him and used his combat skills and wepons. Or even rallied an army of soldiers and townspeople. And where is the multiplayer!? A good game will have multiplayer (and in the future, online capability). People could have loaded their Arrans up to one Xbox and had a run-around spell casting war. Or even better, a co-op mode which would have been helpful in the last level. Also a way to make each persons mage a special and unique from everyone elses through specializing in a school or things like that.
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 80 %
Vteck3000
Date reviewed: February 16, 2002.
Overall: This is a type of Action/Adventure, a new kind of game out called RPA (Role Playing Action) When you play Night Caster, it feels like you are playing a better version of Gauntlet Legends. During the process of the game you get older and the more you get older the wiser you get with more and better powers to use in defeation. The game is very long, and emursive, you really get into the role of the wizard. The story itself is ok, could have been a bit better but still pretty good. But like I mentioned if you are a big fan of Guntlet Legends, and you like adventure games that will last you a long time, this is a good choice to meet that requirement.
Gameplay: How you play the game is all about spells. There is 45 in all to collect and the more spells you get, the more damage you can make. There is four different categories of spells which are Fire, Water, Light and Dark. You can also collect what is called mana, you can add this to waht powers you have already and it can make it even more powerful. The point of the whole game is that you have to destroy the enemies not with the same colore they look like but for example when a yellow enemy appears, then a dark spell kills it. If a dark enemy approaches you, you kill it with a light spell. You can cycle through your spells with the trigger button and its very easy to reach and the default controls are excellent. It took a while to get use to it, but you eventually catch on. Also the presentation of the menus inside the game are really good, and caught my attention.
Graphics: The graphics of Night Caster are incredible. Everytime you want to cast a spell the light that comes from it, is amazing. The shading, brightness, all are great and not all casting of spells have the same effect. Each are unique and magical in their own special ways which is really interesting. The ambiance and the surroundings reminds me alot of The Lord of the Rings, its very mystical, beautiful with trees, caves, dungeons and lots more to add to the wonder of it all. Everything is well detailed and well done. The creatures themselves are also very imaginative and helps to aid in your interest of the game.
Sound: The sound and the music has a mystical feel to it and is pretty good. Although it is somewhat "sleepy", its not boring but on the edge and pretty close to it. Its only intense music when your in an area where there is alot of enemies that you have to destroy. The effects of the spells sound really good, and the voices of the characters and the narrator are good, could have been a bit better but are satisfying enough.
Suggestions: Make the story a bit more appealing and more emersive. MORE SPELLS ...... love them !!!!
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 80 %
TeenHack
Date reviewed: February 14, 2002.
Overall: A very nice attempt at a game that deals mainly with Spell gameplay. Spells were wonderfull, but sometimes the difficutly could be alittle unbearable.
Gameplay: While the storyline in this game wasnt quite up to par, the great variety of spells really made up for it in my book. The many different monsters required you to not only be tactial, but also very quick with those trigger buttons.
Graphics: While the spells in Nightcaster were nothing less the stunning, the lack of detail in the outside world really was a dissapointment. There were many noticible jags, and the camera definetly needed a tweak.
Sound: The little if not lack of sound made a noticible difference. Aside from the repeditive tunes played in each chapter, and the reacurring voice of your character with every spell casted, made the use of a mute button while playing very common.
Suggestions: Overall it was a great game. But they really need to clean up and definetly lighten up the graphics, and also fix that dang camera.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 50 %
Bad 1
Date reviewed: February 13, 2002.
Overall: I've found this to be an overal enjoyable game to play even though it does not really show off the full power of the xbox.
Gameplay: Gameplay consists of running around and killing things, performing simple missions within the chapters and finding additional spells and "mana balls". You have to find "save game" which can be annoying. It is somewhat easy, but it is entertaining. It will have no real replay value for me. Once I've solved it I will be done with it forever but I'm like that with this genre as a whole. The camera is real pain. I very much dislike having to worry more about the camera than I do the monsters. I like that it is pretty easy to get started with it.
Graphics: Spells look nice. Textures are a bit dull and repetetive and items in the far distance are very dull. Characters though look like they did in PC games about 6 years ago. No detail. The waterfalls look fairly nice though!
Sound: The sounds are OK. Didn't really notice them much. I think every xbox should let you play your own music (even if the developer thinks it will ruin the abience) except maybe Silent Hill 2.
Suggestions: Improve the graphics, this is xbox!! Fix that darn camera, please!
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 50 %
Razor
Date reviewed: February 7, 2002.
Overall: Nightcaster is a very entertaining game. It is not the best game on Xbox or even one of the prettiest but after playing the big games like Halo and Oddworld. Nightcaster was one of the most enjoyable. It has excellent controls, decent graphics, a kinda bad camera, but not too bad. It also has ann awesome book of spells. These are the best part of Nightcaster by far.
Gameplay: This is a mixed bag. On one hand the gameplay is tight and addictive. On the other hand, after a while it may get repetitive. The camera is also, only average. However the control system is very innovative, you can run one way and cast a spell another with its unique dual analog stick control.
Graphics: The graphics in Nigtcaster are pretty but not anything the Dreamcast wouldnt be able to handle. The world is nice but... from what Ive seen so far is kinda dark. The spells are very nice to see but still not spectacular visually.
Sound: The music in Nihtcaster is very nice. It adjusts depending on whats happening but nothing really stands out though.
Suggestions: They made a nice game. Just tone down the difficulty and umber of enemies a bit. Brighten up the graphics and make it slightly less frantic.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 80 %
Lazarus
Date reviewed: February 5, 2002.
Overall: The game has monotonous gameplay, and an outdated graphics engine. This is not the awe-inspiring warlock I was wanting to see on screen, and I'm almost certain noone could have anticipated that this game would be so disappointing.
Nonetheless, it disappointed me and made me almost gag seeing the visuals.
Gameplay: The character controls extremely well, although the camera does occasionally harass your aiming and general path-finding. But all in all, the controls are mapped out well to the character's abilities and create a tight controlling warlock.
Graphics: This is absolutely embarassing.
Why in the world would I dare say this game even looks like a "next generation" game let alone use it to show off my Xbox? If you guessed Ole' Laz wouldn't- you'd be right. The games textures and environments are unimpressive and almost disgusting when you spend hours behind Halo and DOA3. The only thing keeping the score from a flat 1.0 is the spells (and they ain't much to look at either).
Sound: Well, this was not my focus of attention- so there for I can't really criticize it, but there was nothing noticebly wrong with it. :-)
Suggestions: Graphics wise, the game needs an overhaul- and mix up the environments and abilities a bit more. Otherwise, its a time-consumer and very mundane.
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 30 %
Sound: 80 %
Masterchief1018
Date reviewed: February 4, 2002.
Overall: Good attempt at heavy spell combat, very nice visual effects on the spells but lackluster visuals keep this title grounded. If you are really into magic combat and irish accents :) this one is for you
Gameplay: The Gameplay is somewhat addictive, the lack of good "wacking" skills can be frustrating at times but the feeling of frying a monster from regular to extra crispy more than makes up for it. Not quite what I was expecting though.
Graphics: The games dreary, unpolished enviorments can become a bit boring after the first 45 minutes or so. The spell effects are truly impressive saving the whole category.
Sound: The sound is nothing to write home about, the Irish orb/narrator can be a bit annoying. The other voices are not too badly done though.
Suggestions: This game could have been a whole lot better. I do commend you on your effort, but the game is not deep enough to keep me hooked. I played it for about a week and then bought Genma Onimusha. I would recomend using experience based char development. It would put a little more meaning into the game.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 40 %
silverx10
Date reviewed: February 2, 2002.
Overall: I rented this game from Blockbuster because it was an overall crappy day for me (seeing as I nearly rear-ended a car and couldn't buy a tarantula without parent permission), so I rented Nightcaster (because not only was Max Payne rented out, but I didn't really like the game to much anyway?hell, the only thing about Max Payne anywhere near remarkable is the Bullet Time?) as well as Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (hey, I need a game that I know I can cheat and kick some cheap arse). Got home, plopped in the Nightcaster CD, and it didn't work. Why not? Because the last person to rent the game must've eaten a hamburger on it! I spent at least five minutes cleaning the oil off of it, and then I popped it in again. It worked, and I spent the next six and a half hours playing. I've gotta admit that it's a kick-arse game. The graphics are extremely smooth, and of course: the orb glows! Nothing beats shiny objects, right? And oh yeah, the gameplay is awesome as well. I love casting those spells. And it's layed out sort of like Pokémon: creatures of one type (i.e. fire, water, light, and dark) are weak against their opposite (i.e. water, fire, dark, and light, respectively).
Gameplay: The gameplay is excellent, and I am extremely happy that the game didn't use the gamepad, when it had the two analog sticks at its disposal. Everything was very well laid out, but I did have one problem with the controls: and this was the fact that to get the camera behind you again, you couldn't just tap the left thumbstick when you were moving, you'd have to stop to hold it down for a second. But even so, the rest of the controls have extremely great fluidity. I also liked the way that the spells and the spellbook were laid out?excellent touch. Because of this, I give Nightcaster a 5.0 in this are
Graphics: Glowy things... Glowy shiny things that move when commanded to do so... And extremely rounded off characters, bright text, and awesome visual effects. Hell, this game has everything that I look for as far as visual appeal goes... In my opinion, this game is a lot better than games like Diablo, but that's just MY opinion?I could never get used to the slow-moving characters in Diablo...
Sound: Awesome sounds, but I have to admit that the character saying single and double-word phrases to cast a spell got a little annoying sometimes... But regardless of this, I still think that the sound was excellent in the game. Five point oh!
Suggestions: When you tell us that we only need to TAP the left control stick, you should only have to TAP it, not hold it down. I mean heck, I tap the right control stick to recall the orb, so why not the left one to re-center the camera? Other than that, I think you guys did an excellent job here. Keep it up.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
MrCandymann
Date reviewed: February 2, 2002.
Overall: Overall - This game is not what I originally expected. There was alot that would have made this game great, but it wasn't there (check my tips for developer). I played it, and it is so linear that it is comparable to Super Mario. This is not an RPG, and not close to one, so dont go into the game expecting any similarities. This game is Gauntlet Legends except with one class: The Wizard. There are a few spells, but most of them are the same but the colors are different (blue for ice, red for fire, etc). The game, unfortunatly is very repetitive. You use your spells against bad guys, finish the level, possibly picking up some new spells on the way. While it was fun in a way, I am glad I did not buy it; I beat it in two days while I rented it (though take note, it hasn't taken me more than two days for any xbox game so far, so go on a scale). Its a fun little action game, but the story isn't that immersive, and the character improvement over the game isn't that noticeable. You will find yourself using the same spells at the end as the beggining. Maybe if it had multiplayer capibilities and an archer or warrior... but for a single player only game, it wasn't immersive enough.
Gameplay: Decent gameplay, but it stops there, decent. If you are a decent gamer you will be able to beat this game in 2 rents at mosts, and be glad you didnt spend the 50 required to buy it. I made sure I played through the whole game before I rated it, and while its fun, thats not enough for a single player game - the gameplay is pretty much color coding. ex. "That monster is red, so I'll switch to a blue spell and kill it, while running in circles to dodge arrows." Thats pretty much the whole game, except the colors of the spells and monsters will vary. Get this game for a few night(casters) and get it under your belt. Don't use more than 5 bucks for it.
Graphics: Pretty good spell graphics, and that is probably the best part of the game. Getting higher level spells that look cooler (but not too much else) was the reason to go on. The backgrounds were contantly dark, and you can never see far due to the top-down view, but what you could see was mediocre. Just remember the spells...
Sound: I dont recall the sound, I think I may have turned it off during the process of the game, but you don't buy a game to listen to the music, you can turn on the radio or somthing (I use a mp3 Jukebox, great stuff).
Suggestions: Add some multiplayer (co-op, and if you want allot of fun, allow players to take their characters to others houses and duel or trade items, etc), and more player choices - allow the player to specialize their character. The attraction to being a dark mage or fire mage may be enough to build a fan base, but you as developers controlled what spells the character recieved and how they were. Also, a casting game isn't complete without a variety of spells, instead of many that do the same thing (deal damage) add some spells unique to types. Light - healing, Dark - lifedrain, Water - water elemental summon, Fire - Flame blade etc. Add items or somthing to make the player be proud of their character, make him be his own.
Overall: 50 %
Gameplay: 50 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 50 %
ir8prim8
Date reviewed: January 31, 2002.
Overall: Not the flashiest game in the world, but makes pretty good use of the power of the box. The first spellcasting game out for Xbox, features easy to learn but tough to master addictive gameplay.
Gameplay: Dual analog controls make for fast and furious blasting of monsters with a variety of spells. Plays kind of like a 1-player cross between gauntlet legends and PSO. Creatures and spells belong to 1 of 4 elemental types, which oppose each other. You'll often have to experiment with various spells to find which one to use to roast certain beasties with maximum efficiency. Most of the bosses are tough and some of the best boss fights I've played since PSO. I beat the game in a week (about 20 hours), although that is due in large part to it's addictive nature. No multiplayer, options or difficulty setting seriously reduce replay value.
Graphics: The backgrounds are decent looking but unspectacular. Where this game really shines is in it's lighting, shadows and spell efects. Your shadow is realistic and deforms with your movements and the terrain. It's really quite impressive to spin the glowing spell orb around your character to watch the shadows dance around you. The spells are huge and varied, and look really great. My favorite has a giant skull that burst out of the ground, spinning and spitting out poison.
Sound: Forgettable music. Decent to lousy voice acting. You will definately get sick of hearing your favorite spells spoken over and over and over (and over) as you lay waste to the opposition.
Suggestions: Need multiplayer (coop and deathmatch), more options, some other game modes, and difficulty settings.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 40 %
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