Customer Reviews

Microsoft XBOX-NIGHTCAST Nightcaster: Defeat The Darkness - Xbox [xbox]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Got an opportunity to extensively play this game. I have a mixed reaction to it. On one hand, while the graphics aren't state-of-the-art, the environments are rather extensive and detailed. Each level has a massive amount of terrain to explore. Took me 4 hours plus just to explore one level. There's a wide range of spells from four different element schools that are each useful in some way from fireballs to runes that cause damage when creatures passed. The spell effects are pretty impressive. On the other side, this game is a bit arcadish to me. Most of the monsters are generated through these miniature portals that will pop out creatures left and right. It's too easy to have 10+ creatures swarming in on you while you're running around in circles a good amount of the adventure. At points in the game, it's really frustrating to be constantly assaulted by an endless supply of creatures popping out from these portals. Adding to this frustration is the save game system that only allows you to save your game in designated spots. During parts of the game, the distance between save points is long. Often times, these portals will be guarded by a lot of creatures and portals. This leads to a lot of annoyance as it's very easy to be quickly overcome by a group of monsters. However, later on in the game things improve as you will be able to get a healing rune so you can sit back and chill while you're healed in a zone you've cleared of monsters. Still, I found myself frequently waiting 2-3 minutes each time to heal and I had to heal often. The game is rather linear and consists of moving up the map to advance. However, if you explore the area, you will find new spells and mana. Overall, a decent game. If you enjoy arcade-style fantasy game and fighting tons of monsters while running around in circles, you might find this game appealing. If you're like me and enjoy a more sophisticated adventure game with a detailed plot, puzzles and a less arcade-feel, you will probably be disappointed.

Although I didn't see this in any other review, I found my game to be very buggy. I would get to the end of a level, then it would ask me if I wanted to proceed, I would say yes, then nothing, It would put me back to the end of the level. Also, at the end, fighting the NightCaster, it all of a sudden deceided that my own spells should hurt me and I would kill myself. It took about 8 times to finish due to bugs with the final battle. Also my friend finally had the store replace his copy due to lock-ups. Other than that I thought it was fun, not a diffucult game, graphics were pretty cool, Ice world and it's reflections, WOW! I found the controls easy. All around fun! Good deal, especially with the lowered price.

This game has very good graphics and a great story line. The environment is 3D and very nice. I do believe that it would have been better as a first person shooter game like Halo. However, the game is still worth buying. You may find, as I did that the controls seem extremely hard. I almost gave up on the game because of the difficulty of the controls. Hang in there and eventually you will get used to them. The save points are also a little far apart, so you may find yourself having to replay parts time and time again. Even so, this game is a lot of fun to play and worth the money.

Well I bought this game on 1/25/02 and I have to say its pretty cool . The spells affects look great and there is plenty of enemies. The world that you are in is awsome looking with real looking tree's. This game is very hard though and the enemies come at you in packs. I like this game. Its differnt

The first few times I sat down to play this game I got a bit frustrated and didn't play for long. It was tough to get used to the game play style of the game. But finally one time I really s at down and got the hang of it and the game got awesome. I love the story! The visuals are stunning and the spell look incredibly. You'll be itchoing to find th enxt spell or level up for a current spell. Imsut say the light spels are my fav. One key to game play is getting the hang of quickly switching between spells. Once you get used to the controls you'll find them nicely laid out.
My only other criticism is that because of how the spells work the final boss is rather easy to defeat.
But all in all I really enjoyed the game. You nee dto tottaly explore each level beacsue themor eyou power up the more fun the game becomes. The story kept me enthralled and coming back for more. The bosses in general we're challenging and increased nicley in difficulty.
In the few erros I did have trouble with I found myself only getting determined to kill the badies rather than getting bored. Another thing to keep in mind is that their are limited saving locations so you've got to know when to save and when to "save" the saving point for later.
All in all I LOVED this game and highly recommend it. I hpe VR1 continues the Nighcaster story as it left me itching for more as well.

If you were expecting this to be some kind of mature RPG, well, too bad, it isn't. You're typical hack and slash kind of game: you have a pretty big, some-what impressive looking level in front of you, countless monster spawn points, and your job is to just cast and cast and cast until you find the right way to get through. As far as all the complaining I'm seeing about the saves, this system makes perfect sense in the context of the game. Let's get a definite number straight here on the spells: 4 schools, 4 spells per school, 3 levels per spell; 48 total possibilities. I agree with the fact that there should be schools in it, and it should have an effect on the damage to the monsters, but they could've made it less obvious what monsters would be damaged by what; I felt very underestimated when I saw little red things running at me, and had to be told that the spells highlighted in red wouldn't damage them. It's not a bad game...the spell effects are very nice, particularly on the glyph/rune spells. Unless you're a little kid though, I wouldn't reccomend buying it.

This game isn't that bad, the graphics are awesome, the spells are cool, and it isn't so boring! The only bad part is the storyline stinks and there is little room for spell improvement. If you read other reviews that say that it [stinks] notice that people who read it think that their review isn't helpful. As for the monsters, they might be color coded but that doesnt mean that you will know what spell to use! For instance, if your up against a red monster you could use water, light, or dark spells but chances are that the monster is with other monsters of similar color so you have to think twice about the spell that you use. Also each of the four spell groups has 4 different spells which will defeat certain monsters quicker and certain monsters slower. So as you can see this game isn't an awful game, yet it may not be for everyone so I recommend that you rent it before buying.

This game is pretty cool. Great graphics and fast frantic gameplay. If your expecting an RPG then your in for a surprise. This game has more in common with classic arcade games like Robotron, Gauntlet and R-type than an RPG. The spell combat is beautiful and strategic and you'll find yourself in some tough combat situations. The bosses are massive ( you take on a 100 foot tall ice giant at one point ). There is some NPC interaction and a basic story but these are not the main purpose of the game.

If you enjoy fast paced action wrapped up in next generation graphics then you'll love this game. If your after a deep RPG game then you may want to rent it.

p.s If you think that movies are what makes a game fun then go to the cinema or by a DVD instead.

if your a fan of magic and/or gauntlet you will love this game. It has a great flow and interesting attack system, I only rented but it could be a game I buy in the near future for it was fun to play and not just a simple hack and slash game, also there is a complex story behind and learning it will become a challenge in itself. Great gameplay and graphics, very enjoyable for the right kind of fan.

When I was at the E3 expo in the summer, this was one of the few Xbox titles on display that was actually fun and felt like a console game. Which was suprising given that it was hidden away in a corner of the Microsoft booth. My impressions of it then was that Nightcaster isn't a totally original concept (it's a 3rd person shooter with some RPG elements thrown in), but it was a lot of fun once you got used to the controls, and it had pretty graphics as well.