See the Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic(WMV, 10.7MB)

Monday 22 May 2006
With its constant in-your-face combat, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is set to deliver a far more action orientated experience than fellow first-person adventurer Oblivion. This new trailer will give you an insight into your ultimate adversary, an evil force summoned by a fiendish band of wrong-doers.

Don't let the cheddar-grade plot put you off. Dark Messiah's combat system and attention to detail is remarkable. Your environment is geared towards interaction, and using stacks of crates, fires and pointy things to your advantage is a satisfying way to gain the upper hand.

We've witnessed a fight between Dark Messiah's hero and a 10-foot-tall cyclops that was so impressive we couldn't stop smiling. The David and Goliath-esque battle kicks off in an underground cavern, with the cyclops stomping around after the main character.

The hero ducks between two boulders for a breather, but the cyclops simply heaves one of the huge rocks aside and plucks up the adventurer. Moments like this work brilliantly with the game's first-person view - the character is hauled into the air, in front of the beast's face, and subjected to an almighty roar before being thrown across the cavern.

The cyclops is too powerful, so you'll have to dodge these attacks and try to fight him by using your surroundings. To do this, the hero runs under an awning and lures the cyclops in close. On the right is a rope holding back a heavy log suspended from the ceiling. By cutting the rope and smacking the cyclops with the trap, our character leaves the beast vulnerable - before swiftly sinking his sword straight into the monster's single eye. Job done.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is due to emerge this autumn, so get your senses sharpened for some nail-biting fantasy adventure.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.