There seems to be a Crusader Renassiance going on in film, literature, and video games these days. One of the most popular franchises is The Assassin's Creed Series which takes placed in both the Crusader & Renassiance periods. My only angst with the Assassin's Creed games is that they depict the Templars as bigoted villans bent on acquiring lost treasures. I have long desired that a developer would decide to tell the other side of the story; to put the player in the Templar's boots. At last, my wish has been granted by Kalypso. The First Templar takes place around The Fourth Crusade. You assume the role of Celian D'Arestide, a Templar Knight on a quest to find the Holy Grail. On your journey you are accompany by Roland, a synical Templar veteran and later Marie D'Ibelin, the daughter of a famous Templar. The gameplay is redundant, but quite addictive. You can easily get away with buttom mashing, in fact its often the key to survival. There is an RPG element, as you dispatch enemies and open chests, you'll aquire XP that you can spend on skills such as Toughneess (increases you Health orbs), Vigour (increases your staminia for special attacks), and other abilities.
The Levels are rather linear, you go from point A to point B, fallowing a Golden arrow on your map to reach the primary objective. There are bonus objectives marked by silver arrows. The graphics are gorgious! The landcapes of Italy, France, and The Holy Land are breathtaking! The Enemy A.I. is actually not completely incompetent. Unlike Dynasty Warriors, the Enemy A.I. actually endeavors to slay you. This is a nice change from the dumb A.I. in other action/adventure hack'n'slash games.
The actual narrative is very engrossing. The story of the Templars and the hunt for the Holy Grail is exciting and captivating. As for values, the game is relatively pro-Christian. Although it does emphasize the corruption in the Church, in particular this is displayed through the Holy Inqusition, The French, and *Spoilers* The Templars themeselves. The moral of the story is that aboslute power corrupts absolutely. A Templar even expresses, "Can the Divine be corrupted by sinners?" The Holy Grail, The Chalice of Christ becomes a object of man's greed and lust for immortality. It taints the pure in heart and drives men mad. The Grail itself is not evil, but its power compells men to do nefarious deeds. Ultimately, such power does not belong in the hands of mortals, that as Celian puts it, "We were not meant to possess the Grail's power, we have placed our faith in the wrong place." I concur with Celian, too often do saints trust in relics and artifacts, believing God resides within them. Before long Christ is forgotten, and all that people flock to is a cup or cross for mircales. :(
The Multiplayer is a highlight, you can either play local with a friend or go online to join someone across the globe on the quest for the Grail. A nice feature is the drop in play, which simply means that at any point during your progress a friend can join your quest. The replay value is actually quite high, there are numerious collectables to find in each levels ranging from new outfits, new weapons, and chronciles. There is also a extra downloadable level "The Arena" which is reminascent of Gladiator.
In conclusion,
The First Templar is a fantastic game. It is by no means original: It is obvious to the gaming veteren that it barrows from The Legend of Zelda Series (Treasure chests anyone?:), Dynasty Warriors (Those Mamulukes looks awefully like Chinese Soldiers:), Assassin's Creed (Backstabilicious:), and Pandemic Titles like The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Despite not being innovative, I still consider The First Templar a great game. It has just enough of everything, and its polished. So many games today, especially A list titles tend to be unrefined and repeative. So many developers sacrifice gameplay for story telling. Have they forgotten gamers pay $60 for a video game, not a movie? Kalypso has done it right, they have combined a intriguing story with addictive gameplay. They have succeeded were many fail. I take my helm off to them and hope that a sequel lies somewhere in the future. ;)
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