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Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements

EMAIL PRINTxbox360

7.8 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 27 critic reviews
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Based on 24 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Annecy Studio

Genre(s): First-Person Action, Role-Playing Game

Players: 32

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: February 12, 2008

Summary

In Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements, players are introduced to the dark and unforgiving world of Ashan, scarred by a bloody history and threatened by the apocalyptic prophecy of the Dark Messiah. The game sports a refined experience thanks to several improvements in gameplay, design and other technical aspects. Players embody the young hero Sareth and choose his evolution path to acquire spells, skills and abilities that will set his destiny. Experience Might and Magic like never before, with refined game mechanics carefully crafted for pad-controlled carnage, including a brand new lock-on feature and tweaked level design and game statistics. Explore three previously unreleased secret levels with new objectives, gameplay, and rewards. New multiplayer maps have been created exclusively for Xbox 360, while all other features have been completely remastered for an optimal Xbox Live experience, allowing you to play with up to 10 players. Enlist with the Humans or the Undead and choose to play as an archer, priestess, mage or knight. Make use of powerful and unique skills and spells on the battlefield, including powers such as meteor shower, berserk charge and rain of arrows. [Ubisoft]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Pelit (Finland)

A well-polished remake of the excellent action RPG from PC. It is only due to the far too simplified and illogical character class system that the new version falls slightly behind the original. [Jan 2008]

Game Informer

If you can put up with the game’s complete and total linearity and don’t mind a largely forgettable multiplayer offering, there is a ton of brutal amusement to be had with Dark Messiah’s excellent melee combat.

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Team Xbox

For a game that originally hit over a year ago, it’s surprising to see how rushed the console version feels. Still, if you’re hard up for adventure, you could do worse ... but you could do a whole lot better as well.

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Eurogamer

I love and hate Dark Messiah: Elements. For everything that's good about the combat intensity, the flexibility of the skill system, the quality of the puzzles and the brooding, engaging atmosphere, it's undone by massive technical problems.

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360 Gamer Magazine UK

The multiplayer seems to work well enough and we hope for some tasty downloadable content to coax us back in later in 2008. However, it’s a tough market out there right now for average fantasy fayre and as a single player game, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements just doesn’t quite have the spark to stand out.

X360 Magazine UK

Poor dialogue and slightly dated graphics are made up for by thumping combat and comic battles. [Issue#30, p.92]

Xbox World 360 Magazine UK

Out-dated and out-gunned, Elements feels like a failure on 360. It may have been a hit on PC two years ago, but since then gaming has moved forward, leaving us wishing for a true sequel to Dark Messiah rather than this half-arsed port.

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Games Master UK

Just the combat would have been dumb fun. Sadly, too much clag gets in the way. [Feb 2008, p.58]

GameTrailers

Dark Messiah certainly had potential, but poor decisions and a sloppy conversion put a damper on what should have been an improvement over the earlier PC game. Oddly enough, we found ourselves continuing to play just to see if it got any better. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

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Planet Xbox 360

The reliance on platforming badly mars the gameplay, which never fares well with a first-person view.

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IGN

Tells a formulaic story atop repetitive gameplay and is troubled by frequent technical problems.

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Cheat Code Central

This not a good game. It's not an outright right failure either, but with limited gaming funds and time I suggest giving this title a wide berth.

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Game Over Online

When the PC version of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was released late in 2006, it had issues with both single- and multiplayer. Here we are a little over a year later, the Xbox 360 version doesn’t fare much better.

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Extreme Gamer

In translation from the PC it seems the evil porting gremlins have infected another PC-console port leaving gamers with experience that makes Dark Messiah really hard to love.

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Official Xbox Magazine UK

It's just a bit shallow, and technically flawed with it: the frame-rate is nowhere near as solid as you'd expect from a game that looks only "all right" and the physics system is prone to craziness. Despite all the time in development, it lacks polish. [Feb 2008, p.96]

DailyGame

A poorly executed game that suffers from just about every malady known to gaming, from bad plot to sketchy gameplay. Best to avoid this one entirely.

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VideoGamer

There's no denying that Dark Messiah has a certain bloody charm, with battles against numerous enemies being both challenging and rather gory. By the end though, things do become a little repetitive, and this prevents the game from being anything truly special.

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Thunderbolt

An interesting experiment in genre-bending. Unfortunately, the process wasn't handled with enough care for the result to be anything more than an interesting interlude in between sessions of Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3.

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Video Game Talk

While not a total loss, there's just too many other titles to choose from to give this one a slight rental recommendation.

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Official Xbox Magazine

This mediocre trudge is definitely one you'll regret. [Apr 2008, p.79]

G4 TV

Dark Messiah is a frustrating title, since moments of fun are outweighed by long stretches of tedium.

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GameSpot

Nearly two years after its buggy debut on the PC, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic comes to the Xbox 360 with even more problems.

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Game Revolution

I could inundate you with tales of vital objects disappearing, level-ending enemies failing to appear, and an A.I. that fluctuates between omniscience and fetal stupidity.

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GameSpy

The staggering lack of quality apparent in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements has left us incredibly disappointed.

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GameTap

While the content is a mediocre for-gaming-babies version of a solid game, the technical issues are a whole new drag. In kind words: This is a pretty terrible port.

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1UP

Of all the painful aspects of Dark Messiah, the bulk of the problems lie with the controls. It feels like you're moving through a bowl of thick, hearty pea soup; simply walking through the game is exhausting.

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GameShark

It’s sad to see a beloved series sink so low—like watching a childhood friend fall to drink and destitution, stumbling into the street to be hit by a truck.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark S gave it an8:
I have played through the PC version prior to this and have only played this games single player mode. I dont know what the professional reviewers problem is with this game. Possibly Arkane did not line their pockets like EA, Ubisoft or Eidos would. This is an above average shooter. If you are expectiing Oblivion, you will be disappointed, however if you are looking for a medieval/fantasy FPS with some RPG elements this is a great choice. The game uses Half Life 2's Source engine w/ HDR effects. It looks pretty good on the 360 but not near as good on the PC. The voice acting of one of the main characters is downright terrible but I cant say that has a huge impact on gameplay. If you like mainstream FPS games, get this and you will enjoy. I typically own and play only shooters rated 7.5 and higher on here/IGN but I can honestly say this should be rated MUCH higher.

Doberwoman H. gave it a9:
the fighting system in this is pretty basic, but it's really fun. kind of old school. straight up mash 'em up slashing, fire and iceball shooting - ya know. M/M stuff. highly recommend it!

Ray C. gave it an8:
Pretty impressive! Reviewers are bashing it but their standards are too high. If you're like me and you're not into the kinds of games that take you 5 years to master, it's awesome. Short and sweet, REALLY nice graphics, REALLY nice story to back it up. 8/10!

Puya E. gave it an8:
the musical composition for this game is pretty good. that's what drew me in originally.. and the graphics. the overall aesthetics are riveting to be honest, which makes up for the slightly awkward gameplay. 8/10.

Rick G. gave it a9:
the reviews for this title weren't so hot, but i'm about a millimeter away from believing there's a conspiracy of reviewers to make most of ubisoft's games look bad. but that's another story altogether... DM Elements is not a bad game - obviously not as in depth as its predecessor, but whoever claims that it was meant to be doesn't understand the game.

Will A gave it a9:
my favorite thing about might and magic games are always the classic fantasy monster elements. this one has them all: orcs, trolls, zombies, skeletons, giant spiders, weird... winged... fuckers... and my next favorite thing is smashing the bejesus out of all of them. GREAT GAME.

Tank H. gave it a10:
I feel like a god when I’m ripping some poor fool a new one in this game. The kills are BIG, things like crushing something under falling debris or a trap that drops crates on your enemies. Kicking your enemy square in the chest and sending him careening off of a cliff. Impaling someone on a wall full of spikes. Big. BIG! God this game is fun.

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Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements

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