Next-Gen Reviews

Sacred 3 Review

If you’ve played either of its predecessors, Sacred 3 is destined to be a deeply divisive experience. Both the series’ loot system and its open world - two of its most beloved features - have been resigned to the dustbin of history, to the extent that it’s fair to say that this isn’t really an RPG any more. Instead, what we have here is an online multiplayer hack n’ slash brawler; a game that seems (as some series fans are sure to attest) like it’s aiming exclusively for a younger and more console-friendly crowd.

 

So Sacred 3 isn’t really Sacred, but if you’re prepared to go along with it, it IS undeniably fun. Newcomers will probably be surprised by the ridiculous amount of humour in the game: this categorically isn’t some dark and dour world of life-and-death pledges and quests to the innards of the human soul. Instead it’s more like spending a few hours inside a world concocted by sugar-rushing teenagers, as they commentate the whole thing beside you and try to make inane gags every few seconds.

Those jokes aren’t particularly funny as such, but they do create a likeable and very amiable tone which should be inviting to anyone who usually swerves this kind of rowdy action romp. Developed by Keen Games (following the demise of Ascaron Entertainment during the development of the console versions of Sacred 2) this is a top down hack n’ slash action RPG in the Diablo mould. However, there is far less loot than you may be expecting: you can pick loot up from dead foes but you spend a truly minimal amount of time searching for chests and whatnot in the very boxed-in environments. This is not a world that’s filled to the brim with secrets. 

 

This isn’t a grand and expensive game either, and if you’re playing on your own, the frame rate occasionally gets crazily choppy when lots of fire (and other environmental effects) are occurring on the same screen at once. However, when up to three other people join you over the internet, those problems just flat-out stop happening. This is a game that has clearly been optimised for four-player online co-op, and that fact simply has to be commended. After its sketchy opening section it was easy to suspect that Sacred 3 was going to completely buckle under the weight of other three people… but thankfully does nothing of the sort.

 

On PlayStation 3 the game handles all sorts of frenzied four-player craziness without a single technical hitch. The structure of the game is very standard: you move across a large map, and new environments are flagged up with a suggested character level. You can make pit stops in between the main missions either to grind for a level-up or earn more cash, and because of the aforementioned lack of loot, you’re free to focus expressly on the fast and furious combat; which is intuitive and slick enough to stand up against any of its genre contemporaries.

 

Important word of warning though: there is a BIG difference between character ranks, so if you’re keen to nurture your own sense of achievement, make sure that you lock the ability for anyone who isn’t close to your level to join your game. The difference between a Level 8 and a Level 11 may not look like much on paper, but you’re going to feel mightily disappointed when seemingly well-matched players end up destroying a challenging boss in all of ten seconds flat.

 

Make no mistake, Sacred 3 is a very simple and accessible game, and arguably it should have been created as a piece of new IP rather than cruising off the back of a series that it doesn’t even resemble that much any more. Some fans are clearly up in arms about this new direction - and that reaction isn’t unfair at all, really - but even though it’s trying to appeal to as many people as physically possible, it’s impossible to deny that it is a thoroughly entertaining ride. The mildest RPG elements are still here - such as weapon skill trees - but this IS a co-op action game, and you shouldn’t go in expecting anything else.

 

If you tend to play games that feel (and look) like this quite frequently, then it’s tough to say exactly how well it will hold up under close scrutiny: it is, after all, staggeringly derivative. But the complete lack of seriousness and the taught combat are nothing to be sneezed at, and hats must be taken off to the creators for placing an emphasis on online co-op rather than local. Deep and complicated it most certainly is not, but is Sacred 3 enjoyable? No question.

 

 

7/10