i bought this game thinking it was goin to be like oblivion then i was about to buy my friend told me that it isnt a free roam i decided to buy it anyway beacuse the fighting and the magic looked cool as soon as i got home and played it was terrible the graphics are average the gameplay is abmismal...

This sorry excuse for a Xbox 360 first-person action RPG that premiered on the PC in late 2006 remains solidly third-rate even with the word "Elements" strangely appended to the original name.

When a game's over a year old – Dark Messiah was first released on the PC in September 2006, fact fans - you'd expect the developers to use the extra time and feedback to iron out flaws and concoct the best adventure possible.

For me, right off the bat Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements was trying to be like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. The graphics are average for the release date and the gameplay isn't that interesting. It has the odd fun element like spartan-kicking an enemy off a ledge but that's about it.

We review an awful first-person fantasy adventure.

It's admirable when games go out of their way to break the mould. So many of them are shoveled out each week, grasping for dollars in an all-out advertising war. How many WWII shooters have their been in the past decade? More than the number of countries involved in that conflict, I'm sure.

All of which paints a pretty dismal picture. When the combat mechanism comes together and everything works as it should, Dark Messiah shows some real promise, which is perhaps the most annoying thing here.

A port of the PC game, "Dark Messiah: Might and Magic - Elements" is an average first-person action/RPG (although it's mainly an action game), focusing on Sareth, the apprentice of Phenrig, who is sent out to retrieve the Skull of Shadows.

Did you know the Might and Magic franchise is over 20 years old? My introduction to the series came back in the late 80s, when a friend of mine bought me Might and Magic II for the PC. I played that game to death, though I don't believe I ever finished it.

Combat Devolved