Fallen Kingdoms

Added August 4th, 2004 by Derby

While we all sit holding the crown of 'Best X-Box RPG', we wait patiently for Fable's release so it may steal the crown from Knights of the Old Republic. Meanwhile Warthog is busy working on the game that may steal that crown. In due time. Unfortunately with a proposed 2006 release date, and with Microsoft talking about a possible third gen console by that time, Fallen Kingdoms may not even have a chance to usurp the crown Fable is already reaching for. That's all theory though, for now we'll stick with the facts.

Set in the fantasy world of Aegion, the Wraith Lord, Undrath, created an evil and horrible army. Aegion was without a single King and was unable to mount an effective defence against the Wraith Lord and fell quickly. However there were survivors, these survivors created an underground force with the sole mission of defeating Undrath and retaking the Fallen Kingdom. Not really a foreign story line so, unfortunately, we're already lacking in originality. From the preliminary information on their website it looks like you'll have five playable 'classes': Cavalier (appears as a kind of Rogue type class), Warrior, Archer, Druid, Wizard.

For a second I thought I was talking about Gauntlet.

One positive thing about this game are the preliminary screenshots, they've spent a lot of time (money) and made the world, 3D effects, all of it looks excellent and these are just teaser shots on a game tentatively scheduled for two years from now. Think about the refinements you can make to that system in two years. Warthog is also boasting threaded loading for no downtime between maps, a diverse quest system that won't leave you bored, and decent animation. Decent animation seems to mean that when you hit someone, there's no pausing before a reaction like in those horrible low-budget Kung Fu movies. Another thing they have advertised, which I thought was cool, was the reactionary environment. When you use a fire type spell the environment actually catches fire and then spreads! I'd be lighting everything on fire. I just hope you can't burn holes in the virtual ozone layer or decrease the virtual oxygen supply.

Will this game be able to compete with Fable? Only if they expand the character selection and really work on the quests and story line. There's not much information about this game available but right now the lack of originality will severely hurt its ability to compete with Fable and other RPGs now available.