Sacred 3 (PS3)

Game Info

A high-quality opening cinematic, a good game does not make. In fact, the opening cinematic for Sacred 3 is about as good as it’s going to get. Sadly, if you’re a fan of either Sacred 1 or 2, as I was, or you’re just looking for a Diablo-like experience, Sacred 3 is not your port of call.

What Sacred 3 is essentially is a simplified hack and slash where developers Keen Games have hacked out the appeal and slashed the gameplay into tedious, bite size chunks. I cannot for the life of me figure out why Sacred 3 was developed the way it was.

It’s not all bad per se – it’s just that it consists of a lot average to poor design elements that were strung together without rhyme or reason. I don’t think Keen Games quite gets why we play games. We don’t play them merely because they exist, and we certainly don’t play a sequel simply because it’s part of a series or franchise we love or once loved. That is Sacred 3’s biggest problem – it’s a game that exists purely because it can.

As I see it, there are three basic reasons you’d want to play a hack and slash RPG: The loot or character development mechanics are addictive and rewarding; the gameplay is either fun or challenging, or both, and encourages play; or, finally, the narrative is interesting, gripping or entertaining and merits your attention. Sacred 3 rewards the player with none of these things, and then you realise that it really is just a hack and slash, but not a particularly good one.

Take character development, for example. Levelling up allows for new abilities to be used, but you may only ever use two abilities at a time. That wouldn’t be so bad if the abilities were interesting or allowed for diverse styles of play depending on what you take, but they aren’t really. Some can be fun at first, but all are equally effective and a little generic and so don’t really warrant experimentation or a strategic use of them. Moreover, you must assign your abilities before entering each level which is a little frustrating to be honest. It would be okay if there was a reason for it, but it doesn’t seem like there is one.

Perhaps, then, more customisation can be eked out of the inventory and equipment system; Sacred 3 does have one, right? Technically, Sacred 3 does sport an equipment system, but, again, there is no reason for it. Every so often, you unlock a new weapon, each with nary a difference but a few unremarkable passives between them. Like with character abilities, you can invest gold into weaponry to increase their effectiveness in combat. The issue being the improvement trees are linear and so there’s no point in levelling them up in the first place. The game might as well do it for you once you reach the next level; it’s the same result. My entire experience with Sacred 3’s character development mechanics were marred by mechanics that didn’t need to be there, were poorly implemented and a general sense of monotony.

So it’s up to the game’s general gameplay to save it – not a chance. When it comes to most games of this sort, length or size of its world is a very basic indicator for scope or scale. In Sacred 3, as a set of linear missions, size doesn’t really apply. And length, which it sort of has, doesn’t equate to scale so much as it does to dreariness and rehashed level design. Very nearly every mission is composed of fighting some bad guys, then fighting an elite baddie, dodging an incoming volley of some sort (be it from a volcano, trolls lobbing rocks or cannons from ships) and then taking on a boss. I’m not kidding; I cannot tell you how many missions had me dodging raining obstacles and they always, like clockwork, did a quick panning shot of the landscape at least once in each mission. The only reason that didn’t happen was when I was playing a shorter wave survival arena or some other such mission type.

If that sounds like a winning formula to you, then buckle down for a limited variety of enemies, spamming one or two attack types (outside of your abilities) and dealing with the same traps every time. I seriously cannot fathom why Keen Games believed this to be a good idea, although I can bet it was relatively cheap to develop.

With little left to redeem Sacred 3, the narrative steps up to the plate. As such, you might as well go home folks because it will not impress. The game tries not to take itself seriously, perhaps because it realises it can’t, and so is chock-full of comical characters, very few of which are actually funny. Most are dry, a little too cheesy and mitigate the experience you might gain from the story. Worry not, however, because the game’s story (told primarily through animated stills and told by a narrator as well as the characters) isn’t really worth paying attention to.

Sacred 3’s only saving grace is that it’s above average in the graphics department. The setting, theme and overall aesthetics of the game compliment the attempt at humour and vivid colours. It’s not bad, that is until you run into anyone of the frequent frame rate drops that occur throughout the game. Actually, you know what: Sacred 3 isn’t terrible, but there really is no reason, whatsoever, to play it. And don’t get me started on the fact that they locked an entire character class (and the coolest one to boot) behind pre-ordering the game. Thanks Sacred 3, but no thanks.