MRG
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- Mar 24, 2007
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Greetings all,
Every so often, a game gets released that quickly stands out as being unique. It does not happen often, but it does happen and when it does, the enjoyment factor that such a game garners for the player is much higher than a "normal" game would provide, even if the unique game was of another genre than that which the player usually found him or herself playing. Because I burnt myself out doing tech support & game reviews for 5 other gaming sites, I was taking a VERY muchly needed break from all aspects of the PC, even from gaming as it would later turn out. It was at this time, a friend gave me a game he didn't like and told me to give it a try since I was a fan of the games genre.
The name of the game he gave me was called "Fate" & for those that have not heard of or played this game, it is a point-n-click, hack-n-slash RPG themed game from Wild Tangent that was released back in May of 2005.
What I found to be so unique about the game, was the sheer amount of enjoyment, replayability & just features in general that a 125mb game provided. Yes, you read that right, the game is only 125MB! (Installed, the game is roughly 225MB) As you may or may-not be able to tell from the screenshots below, the game is in full 3D, not to mention good audio & special effects such as weapon & armor glowing effects and the large selection of spells to choose from.
You begin the game by picking the gender of your character and modifying your appearance, such as face & hair. You then give your hero a name and proceed to picking a faithful companion. There are 2 choices, either a Dog or a Cat. Now name your pet and proceed into the game. The game itself revolves around 1 town, with all the merchants and quests you could ask for, which has a dungeon attached to it. Now i'll admit, it does sound rather simplistic, but as the saying goes, "Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover" The same applies to this game.
Once you gain your first level, you'll see that that you also have full control over your 4 main stats, which are; Str, Dex, Int & Con. After making the above changes you then head over to the skills section and place points into the skills you want to learn. There are 15 such skills you can place points into. All the melee weapon groups are covered in their own sub-section, such as Swords, Axes, Maces, Clubs, Hammers, Spears, Staffs & Polearms. If you choose to Duel Weild, that option is provided as well & you actually notice your damage increase ingame once you place points into the different skill options. For those that like to avoid close combat, Bows & Crossbows are also offered, as are the skills to use them. For those that play defensivly, you get the option to improve your armor rating by placing points into using shields effectively, which like placing points into the various weapon skills, you actually notice your chance to block incomming enemy attacks, be it from close quarters or by a ranged attack. No RPG themed game is complete without the option to train in the ability to do critical damage attacks. Well that ability is also covered in Fate. Last but not least, the ability to rain down death onto thine enemies with a spell from any of the 4 elements, not to mention poison, is of course available. Magic is broken up into 3 sub-catagories, Attack, Defsive & Charm. Each class having it's own selection of spells, which as i'm sure you've guessed, that as you place more & more points into them, they become downright deadly to anything or anyone foolish to come up against you.
As you progress deeper & deeper into the dungeon, which itself has over 50 levels, you'll come face to face with over 100 different types of enemies. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses, that actually play an important part in how you go about attacking them. For example, one of the early enemy types is a Crimson Blob, it's like an oozing wad of colored snot. Beating on it with a blunt type weapon will do little damage, but go at it with a bladed weapon & you'll soon chop it up into little pieces. Fight a Skeleton on the other hand & your bladed weapon will do less damage than your mace, club or hammer would. You could also just blast it to smithereens with a spell, but then again, some enemy types have immunities to some spell types. You get the picture. I'm not going to compare this game to Diablo, but you'll soon notice that some features ingame very closely resemble some of those found in that amazing game. Gave me a laugh, but then again, how else are you expected to get back to town from Dungeon lvl 15? Walk all the way back up? I sure as heck don't think so! Simply cast "Town Portal." Again, you get the picture.
Each and every piece of equipment can be modified. Either by taking a chance at shrines scattered across the dungeon levels or having an NPC in town modify them. Some items have sockets that you can add jems into, which will augument the items properties. So you'll find a large selection of socketable jems, all of differnt qualities which effect any bonuses they might provide. Yes I know other games have done this, but it's still cool to buy that Superior Jem that gives +10 to Frost Damage or Fire damage or whatever. So if you don't like that feature, do us all a favor and STFU about it. Don't use that feature or don't play the game. The choise is yours.
You remember that part about having a pet? This little bugger is extremely useful & a great feature that Fate offers. Not only is it novel to have a pet follow you around, barking or hissing at enemies, but they also level up with you and will go all out to protect you at all costs. That means attacking everything in site. However, thats not all. You can also store a limited amout of items you find in your pets inventory. Once it fills up with junk you don't want/need, you can send your pet back to town to sell the items in his/her inventory! Once your pet returns, the gold from the sale of the items the pet took to town is added to your total amount. You pet can't buy anything, only sell. Also the deeper you get in the dungeon, the longer it takes your pet to return to you. When I was on dungeon lvl 6, it took my pet 45 seconds to go to town. At which time your pet is away from your party. One last feature i'll mention, is that even though your pet gets stronger the he levels, he/she is by no means a Tank. Your pet can't Die, but it can take so much damage, that it no longer follows your commands. You have to heal it before it'll follow your directions again.
*SPOILER ALERT*
(Youcanbuyorfindafishingpoleandfishwhereverthereare
bugsflyingoverwaterThefishyoucatchwilltransformyour
petintoamightybeastforashorttimewithenhansedabilities
suchasturningintoagiantspiderandhavingpoisonattacks
orintoadragonthatbreathsfire!!)
Final Thoughts: - This game is a suprising amount of fun. It's also extremely easy on your PC. Only requiring an 800mhz CPU, 16mb Video Card, Generic sound card, 128MB to 512MB RAM (512 RAM for Vista Users) It's also children friendly, not to mention only 225MB fully installed.
Official Website:
http://games.wildtangent.com/fate/
Demo: - Limited Play Time
http://games.wildtangent.com/fate/playgame.html
Final Score: - 3.5/5.0 Stars
-MRG
Every so often, a game gets released that quickly stands out as being unique. It does not happen often, but it does happen and when it does, the enjoyment factor that such a game garners for the player is much higher than a "normal" game would provide, even if the unique game was of another genre than that which the player usually found him or herself playing. Because I burnt myself out doing tech support & game reviews for 5 other gaming sites, I was taking a VERY muchly needed break from all aspects of the PC, even from gaming as it would later turn out. It was at this time, a friend gave me a game he didn't like and told me to give it a try since I was a fan of the games genre.
The name of the game he gave me was called "Fate" & for those that have not heard of or played this game, it is a point-n-click, hack-n-slash RPG themed game from Wild Tangent that was released back in May of 2005.
What I found to be so unique about the game, was the sheer amount of enjoyment, replayability & just features in general that a 125mb game provided. Yes, you read that right, the game is only 125MB! (Installed, the game is roughly 225MB) As you may or may-not be able to tell from the screenshots below, the game is in full 3D, not to mention good audio & special effects such as weapon & armor glowing effects and the large selection of spells to choose from.
You begin the game by picking the gender of your character and modifying your appearance, such as face & hair. You then give your hero a name and proceed to picking a faithful companion. There are 2 choices, either a Dog or a Cat. Now name your pet and proceed into the game. The game itself revolves around 1 town, with all the merchants and quests you could ask for, which has a dungeon attached to it. Now i'll admit, it does sound rather simplistic, but as the saying goes, "Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover" The same applies to this game.
Once you gain your first level, you'll see that that you also have full control over your 4 main stats, which are; Str, Dex, Int & Con. After making the above changes you then head over to the skills section and place points into the skills you want to learn. There are 15 such skills you can place points into. All the melee weapon groups are covered in their own sub-section, such as Swords, Axes, Maces, Clubs, Hammers, Spears, Staffs & Polearms. If you choose to Duel Weild, that option is provided as well & you actually notice your damage increase ingame once you place points into the different skill options. For those that like to avoid close combat, Bows & Crossbows are also offered, as are the skills to use them. For those that play defensivly, you get the option to improve your armor rating by placing points into using shields effectively, which like placing points into the various weapon skills, you actually notice your chance to block incomming enemy attacks, be it from close quarters or by a ranged attack. No RPG themed game is complete without the option to train in the ability to do critical damage attacks. Well that ability is also covered in Fate. Last but not least, the ability to rain down death onto thine enemies with a spell from any of the 4 elements, not to mention poison, is of course available. Magic is broken up into 3 sub-catagories, Attack, Defsive & Charm. Each class having it's own selection of spells, which as i'm sure you've guessed, that as you place more & more points into them, they become downright deadly to anything or anyone foolish to come up against you.
As you progress deeper & deeper into the dungeon, which itself has over 50 levels, you'll come face to face with over 100 different types of enemies. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses, that actually play an important part in how you go about attacking them. For example, one of the early enemy types is a Crimson Blob, it's like an oozing wad of colored snot. Beating on it with a blunt type weapon will do little damage, but go at it with a bladed weapon & you'll soon chop it up into little pieces. Fight a Skeleton on the other hand & your bladed weapon will do less damage than your mace, club or hammer would. You could also just blast it to smithereens with a spell, but then again, some enemy types have immunities to some spell types. You get the picture. I'm not going to compare this game to Diablo, but you'll soon notice that some features ingame very closely resemble some of those found in that amazing game. Gave me a laugh, but then again, how else are you expected to get back to town from Dungeon lvl 15? Walk all the way back up? I sure as heck don't think so! Simply cast "Town Portal." Again, you get the picture.
Each and every piece of equipment can be modified. Either by taking a chance at shrines scattered across the dungeon levels or having an NPC in town modify them. Some items have sockets that you can add jems into, which will augument the items properties. So you'll find a large selection of socketable jems, all of differnt qualities which effect any bonuses they might provide. Yes I know other games have done this, but it's still cool to buy that Superior Jem that gives +10 to Frost Damage or Fire damage or whatever. So if you don't like that feature, do us all a favor and STFU about it. Don't use that feature or don't play the game. The choise is yours.
You remember that part about having a pet? This little bugger is extremely useful & a great feature that Fate offers. Not only is it novel to have a pet follow you around, barking or hissing at enemies, but they also level up with you and will go all out to protect you at all costs. That means attacking everything in site. However, thats not all. You can also store a limited amout of items you find in your pets inventory. Once it fills up with junk you don't want/need, you can send your pet back to town to sell the items in his/her inventory! Once your pet returns, the gold from the sale of the items the pet took to town is added to your total amount. You pet can't buy anything, only sell. Also the deeper you get in the dungeon, the longer it takes your pet to return to you. When I was on dungeon lvl 6, it took my pet 45 seconds to go to town. At which time your pet is away from your party. One last feature i'll mention, is that even though your pet gets stronger the he levels, he/she is by no means a Tank. Your pet can't Die, but it can take so much damage, that it no longer follows your commands. You have to heal it before it'll follow your directions again.
*SPOILER ALERT*
(Youcanbuyorfindafishingpoleandfishwhereverthereare
bugsflyingoverwaterThefishyoucatchwilltransformyour
petintoamightybeastforashorttimewithenhansedabilities
suchasturningintoagiantspiderandhavingpoisonattacks
orintoadragonthatbreathsfire!!)
Final Thoughts: - This game is a suprising amount of fun. It's also extremely easy on your PC. Only requiring an 800mhz CPU, 16mb Video Card, Generic sound card, 128MB to 512MB RAM (512 RAM for Vista Users) It's also children friendly, not to mention only 225MB fully installed.
Official Website:
http://games.wildtangent.com/fate/
Demo: - Limited Play Time
http://games.wildtangent.com/fate/playgame.html
Final Score: - 3.5/5.0 Stars
-MRG
