The Xbox has really been graced with some nice PC-style role-playing games. Joining The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox is Arx Fatalis. You may not have heard of it. It got thoroughly lost in the holiday 2003 shuffle. But it is an extremely competent and atmospheric entry into the RPG category that fans of this genre will definitely want to pick up and give a spin around the block.

Arx Fatalis is a "dungeon crawl" in the most literal sense of the term. In the medieval-like world of Arx Fatalis the sun has disappeared from the sky and the inhabitants of the world have moved underground to protect themselves from the harsh conditions on the surface. At first all the races populating the world work together to carve out a place to live but soon fall back into their hostile ways. The story opens with our hero Am Shaegar, a name that means "he who has no name" in the local vernacular, waking up in a goblin prison with no memory of who he is or what he is supposed to do. At the urging of a fellow inmate (who also gives him his new name) Am Shaegar breaks out of his cell and begins his epic quest.

At the beginning of the game, the player creates his hero by assigning a fixed number of attribute points to a generic character. These points will boost such attributes as strength, mental powers, dexterity, intuition and many others. This gives the player the ability to balance a character that will fit his playing style. Attributes can be further enhanced during the game as the player gains experience. The player may also choose a face for his character. This is not really that important since the actual game play takes place from a first-person perspective.

This game is loaded with atmosphere. Unlike Morrowind with its great expansive views, Arx Fatalis takes place in dark, close passages which are suitably creepy and filled with all kinds of well-detailed critters and enemies that would love to put an end to your questing days. Walls look like you could reach out and touch them and they would feel solid under your hand. Almost any item the player sees from the game's first-person perspective can be manipulated in some way. If the gamer kills an enemy and leaves, that enemy will still be there when the player returns to further plunder the body. Since this is a PC port, the game doesn't take full advantage of all the Xbox can do graphically, but even so the graphics look pretty darned nice.

The sound effects are not quite as good at setting the atmosphere of the game as some adventure games are, but it does not really detract from it either. Let's just charitably call them "serviceable" and move on. On the other hand, the voice work is quite good and adds a great deal to the experience.

Control is one of the definite strong points of Arx Fatalis. Moving around is accomplished with the now very familiar Halo scheme of directional movement with the left analog stick and looking with the right analog. The left trigger makes the player jump. The right trigger initiates an attack. The D-pad handles inventory management. In the button cluster, A is to use an item or search things, B draws the players currently equipped weapon and readies it for battle, X brings up the magic mode, and Y releases any spells the player may have set up for pre-cast.

Magic is an integral part of Arx Fatalis. Players may choose to use either the magic simulation or arcade magic modes. Using the magic simulation the player must collect runes, enter the magic mode using the X button, and then execute the combo for the runes he wishes to use. These combos draw the runes the player wishes to use on the screen. Once the desired sequence is complete, the X button is pressed again to cast the spell. A player may also choose to pre-cast a spell, which involves the above procedure but ending in a Y button press to save the spell to memory. The spell can then be instantly used by pressing Y again. Just the thing when you desperately need that magic missile in the heat of combat.

In the easier "arcade magic" mode, players collect runes and combine them to create spells. Once combined, they are part of the inventory of spells in the player's spell book. Spells are then simply cast by pressing X to bring up the magic menu, selecting the desired spells, and then pressing A to cast it.

Inventory management is very intuitive. Rather than an encumbrance rating point system that lets the player carry a certain weight, Arx Fatalis uses a grid that the player may fill with items. Once full, he may not carry more items. Items may be used, discarded, combined or, in the case of food, consumed. A nice little touch was the ability to cook the raw meat of some slain creatures at fires and thus make it consumable.

Game play is not as wide open as Morrowind but nor is it completely linear like a Japanese RPG. A little digging about in the environments is usually rewarded but the game does pretty much keep you on the track of the main quest. To me it seemed like a nice compromise. I had a few instances of just wandering in Morrowind. It was nice to have a little more direction without the strict path of an eastern RPG.