Normally I only play FPS games, but I made an exception for this because its in the Source (Half-Life 2) graphics engine which I am very fond of. The sword combat is amazing and really fun, as well as sneaking up on enemies and kicking them into spikes or fires, or even off cliffs. The story line was nothing too special, but it didn't really matter cause the game play was so cool. If you think "Action RPG" isn't your thing, don't be afraid because its really not super-complicated like an RPG, its basically a First Person Action game with a very large inventory.

Also the graphics are beautiful, I'd recommend having a GeForce 7800 Video card or better and 2 GB of RAM to get the most out of it.

For an action rpg, this game is extremely linear and short, it is a blast while you are playing it but ends like the 2nd day! I would recommend elder scrolls oblivion over this game, although very very fun, it seems like it leaves you wanting so much more, there is a huge empty feeling this game leaves you with, thats the only way I can explain it.

This is an awesome game. The graphics are fantastic and the game play is great too. I only have two complaints. 1) I wish the game was longer or you could add expansion packs to continue game play. 2) I wish that the game could store multiple gamer profiles like Halo. As it is, 1 player has to complete the game before an other player can start. Other than that, I can't say enough good stuff about this game. I plan to buy more Might & Magic titles in the future.

To begin with Dark Messiah is linear. Does it really have to be linear? The atmosphere is also way to gloomy in the single player. This is an outlook of all the atmospheres in each level

Level 1 - City
Level 2 - City by Night
Level 3 - Underground
Level 4 - Ship
Level 5 - Caverns with some vistas at the end
Level 6 - Caverns
Level 7 - Caverns
Level 8 - Burning City
Level 9 - Caverns

There are no forest environments in this game. The majority is spent underground. It is also a little too short

Graphics are very good, character models are excelent, environments are very detailed, and HDR Lightning can be run with anti-aliasing. The best thing is that the graphics take almost no toll on my PC. There is hardly any lag during the single player mode (same is not true for multiplayer). I run Dark Messiah on a 1280 x 1024 resolution with hightest detail settings and 8x AA and 16x anisotropic texture filtering and I have never experienced any lag during single player.

Gameplay is also great, the combat system is so realistic you will constantly have to remind yourself that this is a game. The artifical intelligence in this game is great, enemies will constantly engage in conversations, when they have not seen you. They also use strategies such as trying to surround you or pin you against a wall or cliff.

Sound is mediocre, no more to be said.

The story itself is not really that intrieging. Your basic fantasy with dragons, swords, orcs, and gouls

Multiplayer is probably the part of the game you will spend most time on, in multiplayer, you chose from five classes, in seven maps, with four modes. The unique feature of this game is the mode Crussade. In crussade, the teams (Undead and Human) battle it out to take control of a series of maps, until they are at the other army's stronghold. One complaint here is that there are only seven maps. Yet, those seven maps are well designed and very fun to play on.

One more thing, this game has very long load times. Longer than any other game I have ever played.

Graphics 9/10
Gameplay 10/10
Sound 6/10
Story 7/10
Length 7/10
Multiplay 9/10
Stability - Impressive Performance, Minor Glitches

Score 8/10 - Good

This is my first Might & Magic game I have ever played, and I have to say I was not dissapointed. I loved the graphics, settings, and broad range of characters. The weapons array was exceptional and the magic skills were extremely complimentary. I would be happy to try another version of M&M when I get a chance and finish the games I am currently working on. I also want to add that the cheats and walkthrough were extremely helpful and a fun bonus whenever you get bored with the game after playing through once. The only problem I have found is that the graphics were significantly slowed down and jerky after using the cheat codes for a little while.