Reviewed by: Ebow
Developer: Piranha Bytes
Publisher: JoWood

And lo, on the 15th day of the 27th age of RPGs, another sequel to another RPG franchise did arrive. And not unreasonably, we did expect much from it, not least because we had travelled through lands elsewhere and destroyed Oblivion gates. Surely this would at least be on a par with that wondrous journey?

Well, honestly, no, it isn't. That this view of the game is based purely on a love of ES: Oblivion may seem harsh to some, but as an example of the genre that held appeal for non-genre fans, it's not unrealistic for me to have been excited about Gothic 3 because they surely must have included some of the gameplay elements of that game in this one.

Tsk, no.

There must be some positives, and the main one is how it looks. Gothic 3 looks fantastic. Well, the scenery does. Well, the scenery does that has been drawn in it's entirety for you. There is a blurring effect for the distance and while initially this looks lovely it quickly adds to the sense that you are playing a computer game, and that game has (nicely perhaps) decided to render what you need to see in your immediate vicinity and leave everything a teasing blur. This will make the game run smoothly on lower end machines, I'm sure, but I'm sitting here playing on a rig from the Gods, so why isn't it scaling? Even with everything turned up???

Which is a shame, as the game starts very well. Nicely rendered intro setting the pace for the implied action RPG to follow, this belief enhanced by the straight in at the deep end start to the game proper. Steam right in and 'av' it, you filthy Orc scum!

Then the game reveals its shortcomings in rapid succession.

The combat is poor. I'd like to feel like I'm actually fighting things, not triggering a combat animation that once triggered I can't get out of. The controls themselves feel clunky and non-responsive during the combat, adding to the feeling of detachment. This may be my expectations of how combat should work in environments like this, but to see them so completely dashed upon the rocks was the beginning of the end for me and this game. AI we'll get on to later, as nails in the coffin.

The quests are a good point, following the standard "thou must go to place X and speak with person Y" format to lead you into new areas, while offering you a swathe of local quests to get your skills up and be annoyed by the combat system. There is a sense of story to these, and if there was no combat involved I would have been interested (although the lack of menu option to better handle the tedious "select line of text, then say it, then click to stop saying it and move on" didn't add to the experience), and would indeed have cared about my foray into the lands on quests of rescue, battle and delivery. Dammit, this paragraph was going so well.

NPCs. Sigh. I've patched the game. Yet I can still walk very very close to a gaggle of Orcs without them doing anything to me. Perhaps I've discovered an invisibility item? No. Perhaps I'm creeping? No. Then what is going on? Was the AI built to only kick in when combat starts? How come within a few minutes of leaving the starting village I'm fleeing like a girl from a pack of wolves that have somehow detected me (if I remember correctly, it was many hours ago, and my will to remember is fading rapidly), and yet I can approach Orcs and have any sense of dread or fear of them be lost completely because they're just so dumb?

Maybe they are dumb, and I've missed the point. Again, it's down to expectations. The first game segment does make them out to be savage nasty beasties that would require a brave and bold adventurer to slay. Perhaps that was a rogue group and all the others just want to be left alone huddled round their campfires to laugh at me as I run screaming past them being pursued by hungry wolves.

There is also very little sense of the world existing around you. Unfairly again perhaps, Oblivion gave you a sense that if you weren't there things would still happen - it was a living breathing world. Gothic 3's world exists purely for you and if you're not there, it'll wait for you. People stand around waiting for you to approach them and kick off their scripting, and if you don't want to kick it off right then (maybe have a bit of a wander first, then come back to them later), hell, it'll kick off anyway. A puddle would be more immersive.

I wish I could apologise for my apparently harsh views by holding up the fact I'm not a normal RPG fan as an excuse for this rant. But in fact it's only a reason to think that Oblivion was a one-off and for the casual RPG-er, the only choice.

If the RPG elements are your main requirement, the management of your skills, abilities and inventory, then this game is as good as any other, perhaps. My only regret is that the trailers for this made it appear more like an experience than the chore that it is, and I allowed my marketing cynicism to fall for a moment and believed it.

For dedicated genre fans only.

Buy 'Gothic 3' from GAME and help support the Alfies!

Minimum Spec	Reviewed on
Windows 2000/XP 2GHz processor 1GB RAM 4.6GB hard disk space 128MB graphics card DVD-ROM drive	Dual AMD 4800+ 2GB RAM 7900GTX 512MB gfx