Venetica

The world of Venetica is beautiful and unique, but it suffers from some serious technical issues and an overall lack of polish. Still, with its fun, fast paced combat, good atmosphere and engaging quests it's a fine gaming experience nonetheless and a solid recommendation for those who are not looking for an all to deep role playing experience.

Venetica has a fascinating story, however, the game is not innovative enough to beat rival games of the same genre.

Venetica is a good Fable clone: the story is interesting, the gameplay easy to play. The only weak point is the bad graphic: the game isn't very enjoyable even on the newest computer.

And the good bits, for all their worth, are just that; good, but not classic.

While Venetica is completely playable, I never would have beaten it without a review assignment. Gamers deserve a little more incentive than the bare pleasure of leveling up and hoarding loot to no real end. Even if that's your only ambition, there are much more attractive and fun venues for it. The developers seem to have infused Venetica with at least a portion of their hearts, and I hate to see passion so wasted. Then again, I could be wrong, and Venetica is the dreary result of pure industry.

The shallow mechanics and technical problems make this one to avoid at full price. [Mar 2011, p.97]

A strong protagonist and enticing visuals make Venetica worth playing, but problems with the questing and combat drag this role-playing game down.

If you don't expect much from it, you'll have a pretty good time with Venetica. However, without the patience to figure out quests and gameplay elements on your own, you'll end up incredibly frustrated.

Don't expect an RPG of depth – it's heavy on the action, light on customisation, and rewarding loot is rare. It's also in desperate need of more time in the womb, and the results of that are felt all over. But by and large, the sense of location and the constant weft of combat meant that I spent much of the fifteen hours it took to complete in a state of gentle enjoyment – and that definitely counts for something.

Although the game has many and evident flaws, especially in its visuals, and it is not revolutionary, nor it differentiates itself from the rest of action and RPG games, it indeed is engaging and makes you keep playing thanks to its freedom.

If you can ignore the many faults, Venetica can offer a pretty good experience. The story and the collecting of objects and new abilities ensure that you want to keep playing. But even without the little problems that plague the game, Venetica would have never been able to be something truly special.

Catchy storyline on one side, crappy RPG elements on the other… Venetica amazes with stunning visuals and attractive heroine but the game mechanics undermine the overall impression. [Feb 2010]

Venitca's story is ok, but the rest of the game fails. The fighting system is boring, it has a lot of technical flaws and the world feels uninspired.

Despite quite a potential, Venetica takes elements from other different games mortifying all of them with a result that doesn't come even close to the quality level that an ambitious production needs to reach.

Despite the picturesque sights of the fictional Venice, Venetica is bleak and mediocre in everything, from two-bit quests and meager weapon selection to tiresome combat. Don't expect proper character development, because there are only four stats, two of which are health and mana. Don't expect colorful characters, because the entire city went through a copier two or three times. Don't expect brain-teasing puzzles, because there is only one variety: "Push four buttons in a correct order".