Gods: Lands of Infinity : RPG Review by Geek Woman

Gods: Lands of Infinity is an old style RPG that is unique among downloadable content games. It is enjoyable and it doesn’t require much effort other than to just play the game. GLI comes to us from the Slovak Republic–based team of Cypron Studios, which has just opened a north American studio after producing the State Of War and State Of War: Warmongers real time strategy titles.

The developers got in touch with us particularly because in the game you play as a “lost avatar”  named Vivien. The story line is evocative of Camelot and Arthurian legends blended together with the deific story in Guild Wars.  Your character has to explore the world of Antasion (sounds like Ascalon or even Avalon) . The point is to regain her goddess powers. She also seeks a special item which is a weapon to counter the evil god Mortagorn. This is very derivative of the first Dungeons and Dragons movie plot. But despite being derived from every mythos going, the game still has good points.

The game is a party-based RPG as she travels through the map Vivien eventually meets warriors and other and creatures to add to the party. You advance by trading, completing the quests and slaying monsters.

The interface is easy to understand and use, and it is something that has been around for at least ten years now. It has the familiar turn based combat system. But the first person party view is a bit different twist on it. You create alchemy using implements, recipes and reagents found in the game. Your character needs to consume food and water, and it affects your character’s stats. There are even eating sound effects. The consumption aspect is actually done a little better than in most sophisticated games like Dungeons and Dragons Online.

Game - play

The initial quests are very easy. They send you to escort various lost or confused villagers around. But the missions  don’t give any experience either. You have to engage in battle for experience points to increase.

You choose between Mage, Fighter or Alchemyst. There are seven damage types used which are pierce, crush, fire, ice, poison, holy and death. Vivian’s primary stats are strength, dexterity, intelligence, vitality and luck. A warrior can defend for up to two turns and would gain some extra ‘action points’ those add up to more devastating attacks. A mage could cast fire arrows the for two rounds, and even heal the others in the party too.

The Magic system throughout the game has more variations than warrior combat and is limited to combat situations. You can’t heal your party or resurrect them unless you are still in fighting mode. The spells are stored inside crystals, which you purchase and add then add to your book of spells. You can also summon creatures. It’s always possible to flee, but it makes a serious experience penalty.

You can upgrade your weapons for additional damage, add extra abilities and armor. Gods: Lands of Infinity has a good economical strategy opposed to other over simplistic although addictive games like the infernal RuneScape.

It’s a bit annoying that there is no  jump function and you can get tripped up by tree roots and invisible barriers. It does get weird at times because your character is effectually invisible in the first person perspective. You can wade a bit into lakes.

Graphics

Gods: Lands of Infinity has good full 3D graphics. This is powered by Cypron’s own Spirith engine. The game uses DirectX 9.c. The environments and textures don’t seem balanced with the bright lighting effects and and water surface reflections. The three areas of the game, interface, environment and effects do seem as though they were cobbled together from three separate games. Despite the nostalgic appearance of the game’s graphic presentation the first person interface is more often interesting and fun than inhibiting. The backgrounds themselves are well done with waving blades of grass and flowers. The scenery is pretty but not breathtaking or particularly a jaw dropper.

Sound and Music

Music is synth based and repetitive it sounds medieval and ambient. The music and sound effects never rise above average. The voice acting is poor. The audio in the game is generally unremarkable.

Multiplayer n/a

Enjoyment

This is a fun game. It does have its quirks and a sense of humor. It is easy to play and it will run on older machines too. You can become immersed in the role-playing aspects of the game and it satisfies that acquisitional sort of game greed that all gamers have as we collect up our loot, gems, shiny weapons and armor. It succeeds well at this. The game has some mobility issues that you gradually get used to. You do feel as though you are on an adventure, and even though the quests are predictable they are enjoyable too.

Marketing Efforts to Women

Cypron kindly gives us a first person RPG involving a strong female goddess character. That is a pleasant change. However there is not an opportunity to pick a male character if that is what a gamer is more interested in playing as. It’s all about choices in the games of the future. Even though having Vivien as the main character is fantastic, it does no good if the pendulum of in-game sexism swings back the other way to exclude the choice of a male avatar.

Conclusions

Gods: Lands Of Infinity will appeal to the RPG fans no doubt. We rarely see adventure games for PC these days. It’s like being fond of wearing moccasins, when one pair has worn out and fallen apart, you hope that the next pair will be just like the last ones that you had. You really don’t want something different, you want what you had in the past that is gone. Gods: Lands of Infinity uses a nostalgic formula and does it well enough. I give it a solid 8 out of 10.

Pros: It’s an old style point and click adventure RPG.
Cons: There is nothing unique about it.

Total Rating -8
Gameplay - 7
Enjoyment - 8
Graphics - 7.5
Sound/Music - 6
Multiplayer - n/a

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