Sacred 2 Fallen Angel originally came out for the PC sometime in 2008 and when I reviewed it I scored it at 84% citing that although it was rather cliché in its storyline and it did infact crash frequently it was actually a game that was well worth playing with a sense of humour and that the hours you would spend playing it would actually be hours very well spent. Well now it is out for the consoles (360 and PS3) and the developers have actually made a spot on job at producing a very playable version of an RPG on a console – something that a lot of developers plainly fail to do. It is actually a mixture of two types of games. On the one hand it is your standard RPG dungeon crawler type game but it also mixes in a fair amount of the style normally reserved for a mmo type game. The story is set in the a land called Ancaria, an epic sized world filled with interesting locations, that are varied and fascinating to explore. There are lots of quests and side quests for you to attempt as well as lots of various different characters for you to meet and monsters for you to kill or be killed by. Unlike other games of its type no two locations are alike as one moment you could be in treacherous marshlands and the next you will be in a lovely picturesque city location with a lot of attention being made by the developers to minute detail found throughout. However impressive this may sound, the main thing that impresses though is the controls of the game. Usually this is the type of game that if you cannot use a mouse and keyboard I would say forget it, don’t even bother trying but here the developers have made a point of making it as easy as possible to play on your console.
Each of the attacks used within the game are assigned to the four face buttons on the 360 controller and not only that, if you are not happy with the default layout you can change it to one that you are more happy with. Initially you actually will never need to use anything than these four buttons and it is only later on when you have developed your abilities or learned new skills that you need to combine these buttons with holding either of the triggers. Doing these changes what each of the face buttons does giving you a full twelve functions you can do from the comfort of your joypad. Another bonus for this game is not only can you play through the entire game on your own, doing whichever quests you choose to do or not do, you can actually play the game in co-op mode with a friend. This can be done both online and off and infact up to four players can go through a quest at any one time.
This multiplayer aspect of the game actually makes the whole thing seem a lot less daunting because with over 600 quests to complete this will actually take you a long time to play, especially if you are a completist like myself. Graphically as with the pc version there is occasionally some frame rate issues but actually for once the images on the packaging do not do justice to the actually game inside. As I said before the landscapes are varied and interesting, and although the characters you find are actually a variation on those found in most games they are still very well designed and thought out. The camera angle used can sometimes be a right pain in the arse sometime though. Sound wise it is a mixed bag. Some of the vocal acting is a little lame but there is actually some very interesting conversation that occurs during battles and the music and ambient effects found within the game are very well done. Overall for anyone looking for a game to take their time up this is certainly the game for you. The humour of the PC version is still very present but unfortunately some of the technical errors are as well such as the lack of a pause function and the occasional frame rate issue. The multiplayer aspect of the game however is a god send and if you have three friends who like this type of game as much as you do then this is an essential purchase. The developers should be especially praised for their unique use of the control pad to bring this type of game to the 360 and although it probably won’t be the biggest seller in the world it really, in this case is a shame because it deserves to be. Despite its problems it is still a game that is highly recommended. | 
XBox 360 
