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Gothic 3
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Don't get me wrong, I'm a die hard RPG fan. I love everything about them. I thoroughly enjoy developing characters, beating down the bad guys, stealing loot and snatching up the Princess at the end. What I don't like is not being able to kill the enemy.

Awesome lighting, if you've got a high-end PC.

In Gothic III, during combat when you down an enemy he/she is not dead. Instead you simply knock the enemy unconscious and in scenarios involving more than 2 enemies this can prove quite frustrating. When faced with 5 enemies, by the time you are working on your third enemy, the first one you took out is already conscious again and coming back to the fight. This means an almost endless cycle of participating in man porn-ish circles of sweat and throwing your mouse across the room. You can choose to kill the enemy after he's knocked out but you get docked morality points for 'executing' an unconscious enemy.

The band takes a much needed rest, note the primitive drum kit in the foreground.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I've got to admit that under this burnt crust of a game lies what could possibly be something worth playing. The world is laid out well and the cities each have different styles to them. It's not a perpetual Medieval themed world. You've got a few different cities and each one of them has their own unique style. Roaming monsters and animal are swell and the NPC's are easy to beat up.

Graphics are simply incredible if you have the computing horse power to generate it.

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit overly critical. Overall the game is not horrible, it is pretty bad but not horrible. This game is beyond open ended. You have the ability to take any path you choose to complete the missions, and unlike other games once you get the word on what quest you should be pursuing it's up to you to figure out where to go and what to do. This gives it a more life-like feel because you must roam your way through the world and find NPC's that will help you develop skill and gain attributes. You can sharpen your weapons via wet stone or undertake training to beef up your avatar.

Your one stop shop for nuts, berries and pistachios. These cities are designed with intense care and detail.

For die hard RPG fans there's more to this game then I'm giving it credit for. Lot's of people will enjoy the storyline and the way the story unfolds for the character based on how they choose to play the game. If you can get over the quirks of the game and have a PC that can run it, you might find yourself immersed in the game. From what I've gathered through my second opinion crew, they have boasted that the game is quite fun once you get in to it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do it.

Wandering your way from civilization to civilization provides a lot of scenery to gawk at.

Highs
Sandbox style gameplay; really great plot and story; simply awesome graphics if your computer can handle it.

Lows
Poor audio; lots of bugs; not enough information to accurately fulfill quests; laggy controls and interface.

Final Verdict
The core for a good role playing game is evident, it just lacks the polish that we hardcore gamers have come to expect from our RPG's. If you can get past the annoying stuff you might actually have some fun.

68%

Dec 12, 2006

Review by James Nonamaker.