NIGHTCASTER (XBOX)
With Microsoft in need of a fantasy exclusive for their powerhouse system, NightCaster seemed to fit the bill perfectly, releasing a few weeks after the Xbox’s European launch. The promising prospect of casting elemental spells and saving the world certainly has surface appeal, but unfortunately, VR1 Entertainment would bring these ideas together in perhaps the least compelling way possible. Lacking deep growth systems for an RPG, suffering from a myriad of repetitive design choices and wrapping all this together with a technically proficient but unremarkable presentation leaves this early exclusive zapped of its power. Only exclusive aficionados need apply here for completion purposes.
In a rural village, a young boy Arran is playing hide-and-seek in the woods. Stumbling upon a sentient magical orb that reveals the lads’ true destiny, it puts the boy in suspended animation, only to wake him years later to a world ruined by darkness, his parent’s dead at the hands of the Nightcaster and his friends far away. Only through gaining new magic powers can Arran stop this evil. The story, although told through aesthetically pleasing storybook panels, is completely generic, featuring tropes and twists you can see coming a mile off. It’s also very barebones, with few story interactions during gameplay and brief cut-scenes bookending each stage. You’ll stop taking notice long before you reach the game’s climax.
This dark Diablo clone soon runs out of steam, with lacklustre combat and poor design
On the surface, NightCaster follows in the footsteps of the likes of Diablo and Dark Alliance: a top-down action-RPG which takes you across decent-sized levels with branching paths to find extra powers. A surface glance isn’t awful, as VR1 would make good use of the console’s capabilities with spacious levels, attractive colours and plenty of action on-screen without slowdown. Nothing looks overly detailed and its beset by a weird fogging effect that never seems to clear, but you can tell this one benefits from the hardware boost. The audio isn’t quite as fortunate, with dreadfully dry voice acting, uninspired music and poor sound mixing which leads to some spells blowing your speakers apart. But still, these types of games usually focus on the gameplay rather than presentational potency.
Unfortunately, things deteriorate when you spend significant time with NightCaster. The main hook here is the ability to cast magic from four elemental schools. Arran starts with a small list of spells, but eventually gains four in each school which run the gamut of long-range attacks, glyphs and targeted zaps. As you uncover scrolls – both mandatory and optional – you can eventually charge spells for more damage, with the third-tier proving devastating but costly on mana which takes time to recharge. There’s also a melee stun available, but it’s borderline useless. You can also uncover runes which add buffs that drain mana through use, such as regenerating health and a speed boost. This isn’t a bad concept on the surface and some may find being able to role-play as a powerful spellcaster might be enough to satisfy.
Unfortunately, things deteriorate when you spend significant time with NightCaster. The main hook here is the ability to cast magic from four elemental schools. Arran starts with a small list of spells, but eventually gains four in each school which run the gamut of long-range attacks, glyphs and targeted zaps. As you uncover scrolls – both mandatory and optional – you can eventually charge spells for more damage, with the third-tier proving devastating but costly on mana which takes time to recharge. There’s also a melee stun available, but it’s borderline useless. You can also uncover runes which add buffs that drain mana through use, such as regenerating health and a speed boost. This isn’t a bad concept on the surface and some may find being able to role-play as a powerful spellcaster might be enough to satisfy.
Sadly, the controls don’t accommodate this system well. The right analogue stick guides your magical orb, directing your spells outward further than simply casting from the default stance. But it all feels fiddly, as you have to constantly pause to swap spells and runes, pull the left trigger to change between equipped spells and constantly squeeze the right trigger to use powers, all the while the D-Pad is completely unused which could have been handy for mapping spells. The action of simply casting spells grows tiring and will cause your right-hand strain. It never feels like a flowing system, and despite how powerful some of these spells feel and Arran ageing in-game bringing more potency, combat never really evolves. These issues turn fighting creatures into a repetitive chore that lacks the necessary development or growth to keep you hooked.
Worse still is the level design, conjured so haphazardly that it seems to actively discourage fun. While enemies cover a wide range of monsters, each is colour coded to a school of magic. Whatever colour they are, using the opposite element will deal much more damage. But the fiddly controls can make juggling magic difficult, especially when multiple colours start attacking you. Enemy distribution is all over the place, sometimes leaving you either underwhelmed or swarmed quickly. The latter is compounded by spawners which continuously throw creatures at you until destroyed, and add in larger foes whom can knock you backward, and you can get curb-stomped really quickly during certain poorly designed stages. While save points are dotted around the level and portals let you align with a school of magic and increasing damage, the erratic difficulty will see you breezing through some encounters or continuously dying on others – and either way, it’s not much fun.
Worse still is the level design, conjured so haphazardly that it seems to actively discourage fun. While enemies cover a wide range of monsters, each is colour coded to a school of magic. Whatever colour they are, using the opposite element will deal much more damage. But the fiddly controls can make juggling magic difficult, especially when multiple colours start attacking you. Enemy distribution is all over the place, sometimes leaving you either underwhelmed or swarmed quickly. The latter is compounded by spawners which continuously throw creatures at you until destroyed, and add in larger foes whom can knock you backward, and you can get curb-stomped really quickly during certain poorly designed stages. While save points are dotted around the level and portals let you align with a school of magic and increasing damage, the erratic difficulty will see you breezing through some encounters or continuously dying on others – and either way, it’s not much fun.
NightCaster isn’t short, taking close to 20 hours to polish off. Exploring maps fully rewards extra spells and mana capsules which increase your spellcasting capacity, but sometimes the journey isn’t worth it. Each handful of levels concludes with a boss fight, almost all of which are the same dragon albeit with a different skin. There’s very little else to sink your teeth into here, and most will likely struggle to even finish this one due to sheer boredom.
NightCaster is a novel concept executed poorly: a tedious affair that squanders its spellcasting premise under repetition, frustration and stagnant gameplay. The best of this genre, while often repetitive, hook you with the tantalising prospect of growth, a world of lore to uncover and memorable encounters. DR1 would implement none of these, dooming this fantasy adventure into mediocrity. And when you add in cumbersome controls, a generic story and other weird design choices, and it mounts up into a poor experience. Xbox fans wanting to explore every exclusive may still find value, but for anyone else, this spellcasting adventure is better left in obscurity.
NightCaster is a novel concept executed poorly: a tedious affair that squanders its spellcasting premise under repetition, frustration and stagnant gameplay. The best of this genre, while often repetitive, hook you with the tantalising prospect of growth, a world of lore to uncover and memorable encounters. DR1 would implement none of these, dooming this fantasy adventure into mediocrity. And when you add in cumbersome controls, a generic story and other weird design choices, and it mounts up into a poor experience. Xbox fans wanting to explore every exclusive may still find value, but for anyone else, this spellcasting adventure is better left in obscurity.
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VERDICT
"NightCaster is a novel concept that's executed poorly: a tedious affair that squanders its spellcasting premise under repetition, frustration and stagnant gameplay." OVERALL: 4/10 |