Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Xbox 360, 2009)

Sacred 2 is a dungeon crawler game very much like the old Diablo games. The camera view is played top-down without an option to play over-the-shoulder or first-person which may bug some but the game isn’t designed to be played like that. The game can be played with 4 people on Xbox Live but it was the offline local multiplayer that really sold me. I was looking for a new game that the wife and I can play together and the top-down camera removes the need for a split screen (or awkward shared screen like Fable 2) and really works great.

The game itself is HUGE! There are only 6 characters (3 male and 3 female) with little or no customization but everything else is immense. The item catalog is gigantic with a large number of item slots on each character, the skill customization has so many paths to mix and match (this looks to be the most confusing) and the local multiplayer allowing both players to use and save their personal characters really makes for a great deal of variation. Even the controls feel huge. You map your spells and actions to your 4 buttons then each trigger opens up 4 more slots. Then add in customizable combos that can be set up and mapped to a button slot. The map also is huge, it's amazing how big it is. I think I have 5 hours logged on 1 character which I’ve spent just exploring and have 3% of the map discovered. And that's skipping many of the quests (which is another gigantic piece, there are quests at every turn in this game) and ignoring the mini dungeons.

Here are a few tips for this game. First, turn off the follow cam. Unfortunately this has a shaky feel that many complain about and static is much nicer. Second, buy the carrier imp off the marketplace. I think it was about $3 but it allows you to access your hero chest (bank-like storage that is shared with ALL characters you have) from anywhere in the game rather than just major towns. Lastly, local multiplayer (if one player like my wife doesn’t have Xbox Live) should be set up in “offline’ mode and enters the game by pressing “start”. They kinda left that part out of the manual and it took time playing around for us to figure out.

Overall a great RPG with a nice and different feel and one of the best local multi-player action games we have played.

With multiple characters, (six 2 male, 3 female, 1 robot) to choose from, and special attributes to each one, setting up to play is most important as playing the game itself. The game depth gives you the ability to set your attributes as you level up. Tgis is most important for when you get to platinum and niob levels. Gold and silver are fairly easy to beat. Bronze you can beat the main quest in a day of hardcore gaming. I have yet to complete all the side quest of any given level and have dedicated hundreds of hours to the game.....
With both a light and dark campaign, this is a typical hack and slash across the map game. Eye blinding HD graphics and great control and controller response. The online and game system link play are fun, easy, and very cool. I had to get two copies so I could play online with wife. Lots of special treasure to be found and lots to explore. Full size dragons to kill....With all the side quest and the main quest you can pass a 100 hours easy. If you liked Oblivion this is a must have. If you hate Oblivion, dont buy this......

If you like action rpgs or want to get your money's worth in playing time you will probably like sacred 2. I've spent over 500 hours playing this game and sill can't get myself to move onto another game. The lasting appeal of this game is in building various characters and seeing how they fare in either campaign or versus other players mode. The console game has some glitches but all games with an open world format that have hundreds of sidequests have the same issues. The game is just too large to be bug free. It's not as good as Diablo and it isn't as story driven and well polished as fallout 3 but when you compare the amount of time you will spend playing this game to what you pay for it the answer is easy, it's definitely worth buying.

I love that it's an RPG with 4 player co-op with an array of characters including hot chicks that have the chance to ride animals all day long! You never even need to get off your steed if you wish. My husband and I bought two copies of this game just because it affects the graphics when playing with each other on the same 360. The capability for two players on one console is nice but we didn't care for the backed out aerial view to accommodate two players on one machine, it made our characters too small for our taste. Camera control was a little annoying but other features like tons of arrows being seen piling up on a creature's head after a barrage of bow shooting made this game fun and worthwhile.

Great game to play with friends or even random people online!

Fun game to play the graphics and game play have some minor adjustments that could make it a much better game, but definitely worth renting and potentially buying if you're into large world RPGs

Pluses:
Expansive world
Fun character upgrades
Lots of quests
Dark and light main quest lines
Online collaboration and PvP
High replay value, or long time single play to do all of the quests

Minuses:
Available camera angles can be frustrating
Challenging control system to learn
No real in-game tutorial