There are sleeper hits, and
then there are sleeper stinkers. When someone finds out about the former, they
begin to recommend it to everyone and they all have a good time. The latter
usually just stays on the game shelf, with perhaps a few people trying it out,
and then returning it. Unfortunately, Nightcaster 2 is the latter. I didn’t
even know it existed until about a week before it came out (probably not a good
sign for a sequel) and I hadn’t played the first Nightcaster, even though I was
interested in it, so I figured I would check this out.
The game actually sounds
okay to a degree. You have a little orb that is controlled via the right
thumbstick. Not only does it light up the surrounding area, whenever you cast a
spell it shoots out in the direction of the orb. You also have two different
melee attacks – one weak, one fierce. Unfortunately, these melee attacks aren’t
very useful, and I found myself almost never using them.
The enemy AI is also a large
problem. At any one point, you usually have a bunch of enemies charging at you
and attacking. Aside from a few exceptions, they don’t do much else. And since
your melee attacks tend to be useless, you end up just using your most powerful
spell. There is actually a neat magic system incorporating fire, water, light
and darkness, and enemies are each designated to one of those elements – the
opposite magic is most effective against them. It’s too bad that since you
always just have mindless enemies coming at you very quickly, there’s no time to
change your magic and swing your orb around to attack each enemy. Instead,
you’re often just running in one direction, using the most effective overall
magic in the general direction of the enemies.
But of course there are
times when you’re totally surrounded by evil creatures. You are going to die.
And thanks to the ingenious designers, you re-spawn in exactly the same spot you
died, and the enemies are still there. Usually after a few deaths you’re able
to break free of the group, but you’re undoubtedly going to run into the same
situation in a matter of time. Hooray.
The graphics in the game can
actually make things worse. Following the word "night" in the title of the
game, nearly every stage is shrouded in darkness. The only thing that’s going
to brighten things up is your orb. And since you usually point it at enemies in
one area, this makes it easy for other enemies to come up and attack you from
other directions…leading again to the above scenario. Seriously, didn’t any
beta testers notice these problems?
What you can actually see
thanks to the orb doesn’t look quite amazing, either. Levels can drag on
forever because everything seems to look the same, and the lack of an onscreen
map doesn’t help. Actually, the map you can see when you pause the game doesn’t
help much anyway. And since the level design isn’t that great in the first
place, there’s not much incentive to get to the next stage. The framerate
doesn’t help much either. It’s bearable, but not quite what one would call
smooth. Things don’t get any better in the lame cooperative mode either – in
fact, the framerate just suffers more. That’s about the only difference.
The game’s sound is merely
okay. It’s nothing memorable, but it works. You’d probably rather listen to
your own music, though, and Nightcaster 2 doesn’t have a custom soundtrack
option. Time to look for the mute button…
All in all, Nightcaster 2 is
a game probably best left on the store shelves. If there’s some fun in this
title lurking around, I sure couldn’t find it. It was masked by poor gameplay,
cruddy graphics, and mediocre sound. And unlike Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance,
the co-op mode does not make the game worth it; you’ll probably just end up with
two frustrated people, instead of one. In fact, if you’re looking for a title
in the same vein, I recommend Baldur’s Gate highly over this. Skip this one.
Gameplay: 3.0
I honestly can’t imagine
anyone having a fun time with this game. Mindless hoards of enemies come at you
from nowhere while you simply use the best spell you’ve acquired. Be prepared
to die over and over again with no clue as to what killed you, and manage your
way from Point A to Point B on poorly designed levels, fighting nonstop of
course.
Graphics: 4.5
Some of the screenshots
looked kinda cool, but does the actual game look nice? Unfortunately, no. A
bad framerate, choppy animation, glitchy spots, hard-to-see enemies, and way too
much darkness not only makes this hard on your eyes, but a pain to get through
levels. Only the area where your orb is at is lighted up. Everything else is
dark.
Sound: 5.0
Again, nothing special. The
music won’t inspire you to kick butt, and the sound effects aren’t that
satisfying either. Voices are merely decent, too. You’re better off muting the
TV and popping a CD in your stereo.
Difficulty: Hard
Good luck finishing this
game. If you manage not to tire of it, you’re still going to be dying over and
over and over again. The mediocre map and bad level design don’t help, either.
Concept: 6.5
The unfortunate thing is
that Nightcaster 2 actually sounds decent on paper, but is executed poorly. The
idea of using an orb to cast spells is pretty neat, and two different attacks
are nice, but the game ends up being un-fun. More time should have been spent
on level design, too.
Multiplayer: 4.0
I think the game might have
been shooting for a fun co-op mode like the one in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance,
but since the game is practically no fun to begin with, there’s little point.
In fact, unlike Baldur’s Gate, the game actually gets worse, with even more
slowdown than before.
Overall: 4.6
Please avoid this piece of
unfinished game. If level designs were better, enemy AI was better, melee
attacks actually did something, and a whole host of other things were worked
out, the game wouldn’t be so bad. As it is, it feels unfinished, and most
importantly, un-fun.
