When people think of Wild Tangent the word casual comes to mind, and it's no wonder - the company is best known for creating and selling games that the average Joe might pick up and by from its myriad of partners like Real Networks. But Wild Tangent's next big game, a role-playing game called FATE, might just grab the attention of hardcore action RPG fans.
That's mainly due to the fact that the game is designed with everyone in mind - from the casual gamer to the hardcore. After playing FATE I have to stifle the urge to call it Dungeon Siege Jr. That's because the game does borrow a lot of conventions from the mainstream action RPG genre, but the gameplay itself is very straightforward and easy for gamers of all ages to pick up. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, let's learn a little bit about the backstory before delving deeper into the game.
The Beginning
FATE tells the tale of a dungeon locked by hind a gigantic gate on the outskirt of a small town called Grove. While the evil contained in that dungeon isn't directly affecting the town, it has been a hotspot for adventurers over the years. The player is the latest would-be hero to saunter into town with aspirations of entering that dungeon, descending to the 46th floor and best the wickedness that lies within - namely a legendary Drake named "". So off you go, light axe in hand and pet in tow as you break barrels, crates and urns for loot, slay thousands of monsters and even stop now and again to do a little fishing...
FATE begins by letting you create a hero (male or female), adjusting his or her appearance, naming him or her and then choosing either a cat or a dog as a pet. From there the player can talk to the townsfolk, by some goods from the local merchants, accept any viable quest from the townsfolk and do then head to the large wooden gate leading into the dungeon.
Dungeon Delving
Most of your time will be spent exploring, killing things, collecting loot and selling it to the merchants in town and descending deeper and deeper into the dungeon. As you progress you'll earn experience points which will give you skills and stat points to spend and decide in what direction you want to take your character in terms of development.
There are no set classes in FATE but rather a variety of skills like weapon skills and different schools of magic that you can learn. Your pet can also gain experience as it travels alongside you and helps you take down various creepy and cute monsters.
Weapon stats that you can tweak include swords, staffs, polearms, axes, bows and crossbows, Club and Mace and hammers. There's also a couple of combat skills like shield battle Critical Strike and the ever popular dual weapon wielding. On the magic side there's your generic spell casting skill and specifics like charm magic, defense magic and attack magic. For stats players have strength, Dexterity, Vitaltiy and Magic that they can tinker with to their liking.
Old and New
During your travels in the dungeon depths you'll run across all kinds of merchants hawking wares, unique objects that let you do random things like change your weapons stats or give you a health boost, or even fishing spots where you can catch fish and occasionally find treasure. The main meat of the game is obviously clearing the enemy fodder in the dungeon and completing the various quests the townsfolk will send you on.
FATE doesn't deviate too much from the tried and true conventions of the genre - you have your pack mule style companion, a town portal spell for traveling back and forth to Grove, treasure hunting and loot reselling and twitch based combat that is very easy to handle.
But what it does do is create a gameworld that is cute, enjoyable and fun. The graphics, art, music, character design - everything just looks gorgeous and the light and sunny theme makes it the kind of game that you won't mind letting your kid playing. The themes are pretty neutral and there's no blood or gore to worry about save the animated violence you have to have in any decent role-playing game.
There are a few things that set FATE apart from other RPG's. For one thing the combat is twitch based, meaning you have to hit your button every time you want to attack. Another interesting element of the game is your pet. You cat or dog helps you fight and carry things, but you an also send it back to town to sell your goods, or feed it fish to temporarily change it into some other monster. Your pet also earns experience points as it kills things and can evolve into a more powerful creature over time - in both appearance and power. And unlike most other games, your pet doesn't die - worst case scenario if it takes too much damage it'll simply run away.
Another thing that is neat about the game is that you get choices when you die. Upon your demise the Grim Reaper (we think) will give you choices for returning to life. You could return to the surface and lose some gold or lose some experience and be return to life a few levels up from where you feel. This isn't a new idea but it sure gives the game an old school kind of appeal that i find refreshing.
Finally there's gems and weapons that can use them. Some weapons and armor have slots that you can put gems into for added bonuses like magical attack damage or stat bonuses. Best of all if you put a gem into an item and want to remove it a later time there's a merchant in town who will do the deed for you for a nominal fee.
Final Thoughts
What little I was able to play of FATE I found very enjoyable and addictive - too bad I couldn't progress to a deeper level of the dungeon in the preview code that Wild Tangent sent me.. But having said that I really enjoyed the flow of the game. Fans of Dungeon Siege or Diablo will have no problem picking this game up and enjoying it immediately. My only worry with FATE is that it doesn't offer a diverse set of character skills that the big budget RPGs like Dungeon Siege offer. Time will be the judge, but if I had to vote yay or nay on this game I'd have to give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. We'll have a full review of the game when it is released later this month.
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