Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements

 Xbox 360
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Release Date: Feb 12, 2008
  • Also On: PC
Metascore
52

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 27
  3. Negative: 8 out of 27
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  1. TeamXbox
    60
    For a game that originally hit over a year ago, it’s surprising to see how rushed the console version feels. Still, if you’re hard up for adventure, you could do worse ... but you could do a whole lot better as well.
  2. Eurogamer
    60
    I love and hate Dark Messiah: Elements. For everything that's good about the combat intensity, the flexibility of the skill system, the quality of the puzzles and the brooding, engaging atmosphere, it's undone by massive technical problems.
  3. 360 Gamer Magazine UK
    60
    The multiplayer seems to work well enough and we hope for some tasty downloadable content to coax us back in later in 2008. However, it’s a tough market out there right now for average fantasy fayre and as a single player game, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements just doesn’t quite have the spark to stand out.
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  5. X-ONE Magazine UK
    60
    Poor dialogue and slightly dated graphics are made up for by thumping combat and comic battles. [Issue#30, p.92]
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  6. Xbox World 360 Magazine UK
    59
    Out-dated and out-gunned, Elements feels like a failure on 360. It may have been a hit on PC two years ago, but since then gaming has moved forward, leaving us wishing for a true sequel to Dark Messiah rather than this half-arsed port.
  7. Games Master UK
    58
    Just the combat would have been dumb fun. Sadly, too much clag gets in the way. [Feb 2008, p.58]
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  8. GameTrailers
    58
    Dark Messiah certainly had potential, but poor decisions and a sloppy conversion put a damper on what should have been an improvement over the earlier PC game. Oddly enough, we found ourselves continuing to play just to see if it got any better. Unfortunately, it didn’t.
  9. Planet Xbox 360
    58
    The reliance on platforming badly mars the gameplay, which never fares well with a first-person view.
  10. IGN
    57
    Tells a formulaic story atop repetitive gameplay and is troubled by frequent technical problems.
  11. Cheat Code Central
    56
    This not a good game. It's not an outright right failure either, but with limited gaming funds and time I suggest giving this title a wide berth.
  12. Game Over Online
    55
    When the PC version of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was released late in 2006, it had issues with both single- and multiplayer. Here we are a little over a year later, the Xbox 360 version doesn’t fare much better.
  13. Extreme Gamer
    53
    In translation from the PC it seems the evil porting gremlins have infected another PC-console port leaving gamers with experience that makes Dark Messiah really hard to love.
  14. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    50
    It's just a bit shallow, and technically flawed with it: the frame-rate is nowhere near as solid as you'd expect from a game that looks only "all right" and the physics system is prone to craziness. Despite all the time in development, it lacks polish. [Feb 2008, p.96]
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  15. VideoGamer
    50
    There's no denying that Dark Messiah has a certain bloody charm, with battles against numerous enemies being both challenging and rather gory. By the end though, things do become a little repetitive, and this prevents the game from being anything truly special.
  16. DailyGame
    50
    A poorly executed game that suffers from just about every malady known to gaming, from bad plot to sketchy gameplay. Best to avoid this one entirely.
  17. Video Game Talk
    50
    While not a total loss, there's just too many other titles to choose from to give this one a slight rental recommendation.
  18. Thunderbolt
    50
    An interesting experiment in genre-bending. Unfortunately, the process wasn't handled with enough care for the result to be anything more than an interesting interlude in between sessions of Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3.

Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2008
38
#38 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2008

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 58 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 58
  3. Negative: 14 out of 58
  1. TankH.
    Feb 27, 2008
    10
    I feel like a god when I
  2. JackJ.
    Feb 26, 2008
    2
    This game is awful, it is an abomination of the pc version. The game is changed to the point where it should not be called the same thing, This game is awful, it is an abomination of the pc version. The game is changed to the point where it should not be called the same thing, the levels and story are twisted and distorted from the pc version, which wasnt exactly a masterpiece, but was still clearly better than this trash.… Full Review »
  3. LT_Gruber
    Jan 10, 2023
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Very hard but amazing game with a lot of realism.

    Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements is a unique experience. It shares story and characters from the Heroes of Might and Magic series but is a completely standalone game with a surprisingly good story, solid mechanics and an unforgiving difficulty.

    In Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements, you are an apprentice called Sarteh, trained by a master magician named Phenrig, trained in the arts of combat and magic. You complete your training and need to go to an expedition to the city of Stonehelm. Your master plants a spirit inside your head named Xana, who guides you on your travels.

    You need to search for the Skull of Shadows, an artifact that your master Phenrig and his buddy Menelag, lord of Stonhelm want you find. You eventually meet Leanna, a chick that helps you on your journey.

    You learn that Xana is actually a demon that possesses you and besides finding and destroying Arantir, you need to banish her from your system, what you eventually do. Then you take the fight to Arantir, getting hindered by Orcs, Goblins and a Pao Kai in the process. You dispose of the Orc war chief and start your battle with Arantir. After defeating him, you decide the final fate of the Skull of Shadows, spawning one of the four different endings the game offers.

    You can earn skill points in combat to improve your skill tree. There is no bound class for you to master so you are free to spend your points however you want. However, you need to think about the feats and skills you want to master because “a little bit of everything” is not going to work out for this game.

    For the time, I thought (and still think) that Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements is one of the best-looking games out there. I was stunned by its realistic graphics, its animations, the view bobbing of the main characters, the fact that you could see your own feet and limbs and the incredible detail of the environments. Even today, this game looks like it is just four years old or something, but it is actually almost thirteen years. The enemies look horrifying and very detailed, and the overall tint is colorful but very grim at the same time. A unique combination.

    The music has that typical Heroes of Might and Magic vibe and never fails to impress when in combat, running away from hordes of zombies or when fighting epic bosses. The sound effects are solid, and this is one of the games in my personal top ten when it comes to sound. The *kling* sound of the swords, the impact of your kicks, the footsteps, the magic attacks, the sounds and speech of enemies, it is all just perfect.

    The controls work fine but because of the realism this game offers in movement and platforming, it can be a little stiff and clunky sometimes. Jumps need to be perfect, and your range is limited. It takes some time to master but when you do, it could just as well be a VR game.

    The combat mechanics and style of fighting in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements is also really unique and still one of the most realistic ones out there. You can block, dodge, kick and really need to get control of the situation. Mainly because of the outstanding AI that enemies use, in which they can outsmart you easily, drive you into a corner or simply land a hit on you before you got time to figure out what they are going to do. You can also interact with the environment, kicking enemies in spikes for example or smashing them off ledges. It feels so epic and satisfying when you nail an Orc to the spike wall behind him and overall, I think it is perfection. The enemies are almost human players in their actions and behavior and to this day, I believe it is one of the best and most realistic combat experiences I have ever played.

    The realism in combat, movement and platforming makes this game also really, really hard. The whole game has a vibe of danger, helplessness and caution over it. You cannot rush towards your goal and hope for the best, every step can be a trap, an enemy lurking around the corner or a jump that you need to plan carefully. I also thought this game had a very grim atmosphere. Your character Sareth is really cautious and overall, not that positive about the events around him and because this is one of the few games that let you bond automatically with the fate of the main character, you can feel his questions and cautious behavior too. It is a little hard to explain.

    In conclusion, I thought Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements was an amazing game that came out of the blue and it still a unique specimen in the Might and Magic series and games in general. It is hard as the seventh layer of hell but well worth it in the end.

    Definitely recommend this awesome game.    … Full Review »
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