Pros: Interesting character advancement system, easy to use interface
Cons: Stupid opponents. VERY Linear plot. One dimensional NPCs. No interaction with NPC's.
The Bottom Line: Overall there just isn't much thinking involved in this game, or much freedom of action for the player. Just a long slog through endless fights against repetitive and brainless monsters.
keith-hartman's Full Review: Might and Magic 8: Day of the Destroyer for Window...
Ok. I admit it. I really enjoyed Might & Magic 6 and M&M 7 back in their day. Unfortunately, I lost interest in this newest release very quickly. For one thing, the designers haven’t done a thing to update the game engine, and it pails against some of the games that are out there now. And even judged against it’s predecessors, M&M 8 is the weakest of the lot. I'll spare you a description of the game's storyline (covered nicely in the other reviews) and get straight to the big problems:
HOARDS OF UNINTELLIGENT MONSTERS: No matter what they look like, all monsters in the M&M universe behave in exactly the same way: They run straight at you and attack. As a result, every fight feels the same. And there are A LOT of fights. There are so many friggin monsters in this game that your finger will get sore from pressing the attack key, and the repetition gets pretty mind numbing.
Even worse, once you’ve killed these damn monsters they don’t stay down. I particularly got sick of the pirates on the first island. There’s a trigger zone that creates more of them every time you enter it. How many times does anybody really want to keep killing the same monster? It makes the game world seem particularly false and unreal, and makes it clear that your actions are having no long term effects.
MONSTERS DON'T REACT TO EVENTS AROUND THEM: The game uses the tired D&D cliche of the dungeon crawl. You go into the first room, kill everything there. Rest. Move on to next room. Repeat. Guards in other rooms don't react to your presence until you attack them, even if that is months later. Frankly, I would be happier if the next game in the series used a system like the one in Fallout 2, where all the guards in a complex react in a coordinated way to your presence once they realize that you are there. This forces you to use stealth, dialog skills, and to really think about who you attack and when.
THE STORY IS STILL VERY LINEAR: Do quests for the good guys, kill the bad guys. The world consists of people you talk to and people you kill, with no overlap between the two. You have no choice in how to proceed, or in what you want to accomplish.
THE NPC SYSTEM COULD BE VASTLY IMPROVED: You have no choice in how you handle NPC's. You hear what they have to say, then do their quests for them. I would much rather see the game move towards an NPC system like the one in Fallout 2, which is really quite good. Your lead character's INT determines how many things he can think of to say, and his oratory skill determines how well he can lie and manipulate people. And you always seem to have at least two or three different ways to approach any NPC.
Info Line: 415-503-9089 Email: sales [at] tekgems.com MIGHT AND MAGIC 8 - DAY OF DESTROYER view larger image Description UPC: 5037999006701 Unit Weigh...More at eBay
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