Prior to 2005, Snowblind Studios had developed only two games for the PS2. The first was the 2001 hit Dark Alliance of the ever-popular Baldur’s Gate franchise, and then came Champions of Norrath in 2004. Both titles were well-received by critics, so the company evidently decided that action-RPGs were its true calling, and got to work on another game. And now, a year later, it has released its third title for the PS2 – Champions: Return to Arms.
As it should be, Return to Arms’ most stand-out features are its good, solid hack-n-slash gameplay and level design. The game boasts many areas to explore and countless interesting and diverse enemies to dispose of, as well as decent visuals and an epic soundtrack. While a few fairly important flaws keep it from achieving greatness, Return to Arms is ultimately a worthy addition to the handful of games of its kind.
Nothing spectacular about Return to Arms’ opening here – new players to the Everquest realm may even have trouble finding out what’s going on. With no introductory cut-scene whatsoever (well, except for the load screen if that counts), you’re suddenly plopped into some place floating in the sky with a pretty elf lady telling you abruptly that she needs your help "once again" to stop some "unspeakable new power," and so on and so forth. Let me tell you – if you’re planning on buying this game for its story alone, then don’t. Return to Arms’ plot is very weak; in fact, it seems to be almost nonexistent. Hopefully, Snowblind Studios can conjure up a stronger storyline for their next title.
"As it should be, Return to Arms’ most stand-out features are its good, solid hack-n-slash gameplay and level design."
|
Including the newly-added Iksar Shaman and Vah Shir Berserker, Return to Arms offers seven character races and classes, all customizable to allow you to change attributes such as hair style and color, skin, facial hair, etc. Each character comes with its own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, so players can choose the one that suits their style best. Whether you like casting magic or just simply charging up and bashing skulls, there’s someone for you. Of course, I encourage you to try out all of them. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find that you enjoy playing as an elf instead of that hulking, ugly barbarian man who surprisingly can speak English. (That was just a joke, by the way, if there are any more barbarians still left in the world.)
Return to Arms presents twelve levels, some lasting longer than others, but all good sizes. There is a large amount of areas to explore (over fifty, in fact), and tons of treasure and items to find. That means you can discover things in the most random of places, including statues and dead people that have been covered by hardened lava. The stages are in large part quite fun, but most are slightly repetitive. For example, you might be asked to destroy a couple of portals located in different places on the map, or plug up some holes with rocks, etc. But even though the level designs aren’t the most interesting around, there are a good deal of enemies to kill, which is what we’re mainly here for, right?
The enemy A.I. isn’t exactly the smartest around. While ground forces can do quite a bit of damage if given the chance, they won’t find any surprising ways to strike at you. All they’ll do is run up to you and either hit you once or start slashing at you madly. After blocking for a while or running around them, you can dispose of them fairly quickly. Same goes for many of the bosses and mini-bosses. You can kill some of them simply by running around in a circle and shooting magic at them. That’s it. Or, if you’re playing co-op, just tell your partner to put up his shield, then you hide behind him and cast projectiles at the boss. He will stay where he is and keep on hitting your partner’s shield. It’s almost a fool-proof method. Cheap, I must say, but fool-proof nonetheless.
On the other hand, archers are extremely clever. You’ll often find that they’ll be able to put an arrow into you, even when you’re running. They’re pretty hard to avoid, but still beatable. Overall, though, I think you’ll find the diverse array of enemies interesting, and many times challenging as well.
As I mentioned before, more than one player can play Return to Arms. You can gather up to three of your buddies and play as a four-man team. However, everybody has to play each time, because there is no option that allows someone to quit so that the remaining people can play without the last character. So, make sure you choose friends that can play often, or else you’ll be stuck with an extra burden to move around. Unless, of course, you want to let that character die or use him as monster bait... whatever makes you happy.
"The stages are in large part quite fun, but most are slightly repetitive."
|
If you don’t have any friends, or your friends are just way too annoying, then head on over online and play with strangers you have never met before. You’re doing the same thing you’ve been doing in the campaign – which is, killing the same monsters – on the same levels, but the difference is that you’re alone, away from physical human interaction. My only gripe about online play, though, is that you can’t import characters from previous saved games unless you’re the host of a game, which, admittedly, really sucks.
Snowblind Studios has also thrown in extra levels called Medal Rounds, in which you are presented a challenge that comes with objectives that must be completed. Once you have finished the Medal Round, another hidden level will be unlocked, say, a mini-level, or an arena where you can place bets on certain fighters. I didn’t particularly think that the Medal Rounds were that great (the one in Kerriel’s Cave was especially ridiculous), but if you have extra time on your hands or like to complete things, more power to you.
After completing Return to Arms, players may want to replay the game with their current characters in harder difficulty levels, or even start anew with different characters. And since they have the option to choose between the good or evil side, they will want to check out "the other side" for a deviating storyline and different objectives to complete. As you can tell, doing all these things can rack up a huge amount of play hours, and will no doubt keep players busy for a long time.
True, Return to Arms could have been better, but with some very solid hack-n-slash action, it more or less gets the job done. If you’re any kind of action-RPG enthusiast, you’ll want to make sure you strongly consider purchasing this game.
