Avencast: Rise Of The Mage

by Lighthouse Interactive

Product Features

• Many hours of exciting gameplay set in diverse worlds
• Over 30 Fantasy Based Monsters with Advanced A.I.¿ Each with their own combat strategies, attacks, and defensive moves, their reactions are dependant upon the player's behavior, attack strategy, and even health
• Strong Player Personification ¿ In 3rd person view, the character's appearance changes as they acquire new equipment, armor, and weapons
• State-of-the-art 3D Engine - A fluid combat system with special lighting and shadowing effects. Players are immersed into ominous settings like dark dungeons with looming pillars; creatures are more imposing with their highly detailed silhouettes
• Learn Special Moves from Different Skill Trees ¿ Blood Magic (elementally charged blows; varying speeds, ranges, and damage properties) and Soul Magic (all kinds of ranged magic spells with better area control)

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000SKWLLI
• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 30, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,091 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

AVENCAST: Rise of the Mage effectively balances both combat and non-combat interactions for a perfect combination of both brains and brawn. By drawing from player-skilled action games like shooters and beat-em-ups, and combining those elements with the game mechanics of an RPG, Avencast offers players the excitement of crafting a powerful character, but also requires them to bring their own skills to unleash their hero's potential. The game will bring a refreshing new approach to the present action RPG genre given its combat system that favors skillful gameplay over dull mouse clicking. Avencast also has strong adventure elements involving numerous perilous quests, scouring vast environments for powerful items, solving riddles, and engaging with various NPC's to advance the compelling story.The player begins their journey as an adept attending the renowned magic academy ¿ Avencast ¿ a place of learning in a world of wizardry, wonder and untold mystery. As an apprentice, the player is expected to complete a number of diverse quests to hone their skills in spell casting, weaponry, and melee combat. Demonic hordes descend upon Avencast and the very survival of the hero's world is at stake. Armed with over 60 different combat moves and spells, and over one hundred different equipment items plus variations, the player must fight various nightmarish creatures and transcend dimensions into the past. The intriguing plot thickens revealing treachery, deceit, the tragic destiny of a forgotten people, and an astonishing truth that will forever change the battle scarred Wizard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE cRPGs ARE BACK: ANOTHER GOOD EDITION TO THE GENRE!, December 17, 2007

By 

NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Avencast: Rise Of The Mage (CD-ROM)

From Moses and Oliver Twist to BALDUR's GATE and FABLE, the story of the gifted orphan who has to fight hard to eventually find its niche has been told again and again. This one turns out to be a mage...Not that original a story but they manage to pull it off - as it gets really fun!

You may have no choice on your character and only limited customization options, but the novel gameplay and innovative controls will reward you. Tapping sequences for combo attacks and dodging in a PC cRPG?! I loved it!
You can opt for either Blood Magic (melee) or Soul Magic (ranged), but to mix-and-match from the skill trees is a solid advice.

As with another cRPG gem to come out of Eastern Europe this season (THE WITCHER), loading-delays are a nuisance; surprisingly, though, they are shorter than those encountered in games developed by much larger studios. The BALDUR's GATE Saga had long loading times as well, yet I hardly ever noticed.
What WILL get on your nerves though is the...camera. If you thought that NWN had bad camera movement, well, this is worse: it moves in a very limited range and will take some time to get used to and find a comfortable setting.

Graphically it would be placed just above DUNGEON SIEGE: the spells have been impressively designed and the cut-scenes have been done in stills of exceptional taste. Moreover, one has to appreciate the fact that all dialog is spoken, not just written. The music though is a collection staple cRPG themes that are neither annoying nor unforgettable.

The official Minimun Requirements will hardly ensure a smooth gameplay, so make sure your system at least meets the Recommended Requirements (provided below):
· P4 3GHz (or AMD equivalent)
· 1GB of RAM
· nVidia 256MB 7600GS (or ATI equivalent)
· 4.4GB HDD free space
· WinXP

This is a long cRPG, spanning for over 20-25 hours if one undertakes all possible quests (ranging from funny to quite intense). Both cRPG fans and novices will undoubtedly enjoy this one!

RECOMMENDED!!

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A streak of fun heading is heading your way, December 7, 2007

By 

Christoph Sitar - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Avencast: Rise Of The Mage (CD-ROM)

Did you know that with Avencast a small developer in Austria/Europe was aiming to challenge big names in the game industry (Diablo, Titan Quest, Sacred and the like) to a duel? Well, neither did I.

Nevertheless I bought the game and played it a lot. The first thing I have to say about the game: In it's handling it's very different from other Action-RPGs. The second thing: Once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun!

Even though the textures and leveldesigns sometimes seem to be a bit rough, the effects totally make up for that. Some of the highlvl spells have effects that just leave your jaw hanging open when you use them for the first time. Pretty impressive.

The controls are different from other Action-RPGs. You move your character around with the WASD keys and cast spells or melee attacks with the right or left mouse button. If you wanna use combos, you just press a simple combination of keys and execute via left or right mouse button. For example: You run up to an enemy, press "a" and "d" followed by the left mouse button and your character does a neat 360° swipe with it's staff. I haven't seen anything like this in other games I've played and I really enjoyed this new approach.

The only problem I had with the game was the handling of the camera. Very often it's just not where you need it. Allthough when I found out that pressing the middle mouse button focuses the camera behind the main character it made the whole game a lot easier to play.

Overall I loved Avencast because it offers a new gameplay approach in a genre that's dominated by titles where you continuously hammer on the left mouse button until the last enemy has fallen.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very nice effects but controls are difficult, April 20, 2008

By 

Deoren (USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Avencast: Rise Of The Mage (CD-ROM)

I was immediately reminded of Dungeon Siege when the first level loaded and expected controls similar to that, but with "W A S D" keyboard movements.

Perhaps my patience level wasn't what it should be, but I just couldn't get into this game and it's because of the controls. To be fair it does offer 3 different camera modes (Easy, Expert and Chase cam) but it just didn't seem intuitive.

In summary, pretty good graphics, great spell effects and clunky controls. My 2¢ anyway.

Grab the demo and see what 'you' think.