Cgrundertow Realms of Ancient War for Playstation 3 Video Game Review

This is a game based on old things. You know, ancient stuff. Which is ironic, because the gameplay is pretty ancient, too. It’s a dungeon crawler so retro that, like the dragon and the large-breasted orc huntress, it may not have ever even existed. Cue the mind blow! It’s Realms of Ancient War for the PlayStation 3. But of course, this game does actually exist. Shortened down to RAW, this is a new release on the PlayStation Network...and another in a long line of old-school dungeon crawlers that have resurrected the genre. I played this freaking thing for hours, but in retrospect, I’m not sure if that’s because this one was so good...or because these games are just addictive in general. RAW was definitely good fun, but I’m leaning toward the latter. So the story is your typical fantasy about heroes and war...and orcs and trolls...you choose one of three characters up front, each with different attributes. There’s a melee character, the long-range character, the guy in the middle. Or in this case, the chick in the middle...with the ***. Two genre conventions with one stone! Obviously, RAW can be a pretty cliched affair, but the thing is...it’s built around some pretty classic gameplay. You hack and slash your way through forests, deserts, caves and all the environments you’d expect...slicing enemies, collecting loot and of course, leveling up. It’s simple stuff, but games keep returning to it because it works. I was definitely hooked by this game, despite its flaws. So what are those flaws? Well, the general one is that...RAW does have a pretty indistinguishable feel. It’s just a little too cliched. And the unique ideas it does have, which include a possession mechanic, just aren’t implemented as deeply as I’d like them to be. There’s also the issue of defense or the lack thereof. You can’t dodge enemy attacks, which makes the game feel even more button mashy. There’s also this weird thing about soulstones. These are magic rocks that, for the purposes of the game, basically serve as continues. So if you die, you can only come back to life if you have a soulstone. Otherwise, it’s game over...and I guess that’s an interesting idea, but in practice, it seems kind of unnecessary. Nonetheless, I really did enjoy this game. There’s a kind of comfort to it. You can jump right in and just start grinding and slashing...and there’s an undeniable hook to that, as well as a polish to the game itself. It looks good, and it plays even better. Conceptually, this is about as standard as it gets. But if you’re looking for a dungeon crawler with old-school sensibilities, this is a good choice. And it’s a very big game for the asking price, so it’s a good value, too. It’s Realms of Ancient War...a game where expected is entertaining.