Shadows of Cairn

The Good
The greatest thing about this game was it's incredible awfulness. It is incredible that you can play the whole thing on invincible mode and it's been awhile since I played it, but you can beat the whole stupid, useless thing just by climbing the castle wall in one of the opening sequences. That's right, you don't even have to play more than five minutes before you can watch the entire ending sequence complete with several women of various sorts who sound exactly like men. I sincerely believe that there was only one voice actor, okay two at the max, for the entire soundtrack. The greatest scene in all of video game history has to be where Quinn goes down to the sewer and talks to the fat guy who has stolen the crazy guy's 'dog'. And I quote: Quinn: The old man says you have his dog. I'm here to take it from you Fat Guy: That warn't no dog, it wuz a rat and I'm gonna eat 'im. Quinn: I can't let you do that. Wow! I will never forget the incredible psychoticness of those lines. I laughed till I cried.

You absolutely must have this game to pass down to your children as the best example of unintentional comedy ever created.

The Bad
Well, honestly, I think it was supposed to be taken seriously and if you didn't use the invincibility setting it was impossible to beat, well, unless you climbed that wall.

The Bottom Line
A game so incredibly crappy without meaning to be, that you have to respect it.

Besides that, an interesting role playing set-up with nice settings and good enough graphics for what you are paying.

The Good
The universe and atmosphere of the game were nice. I wouldn't mind reading a novel set in the Cairn, because I think it's a fairly creative environment. The music was excellent and successfully matched the look and mood of the game, and it was even reminiscent of Pink Floyd at times. Many people should consider buying this game just to have the soundtrack. The story is decent, albeit slightly cliche. Some of the graphics are nice.

The Bad
The gameplay was not good. It was nearly impossible to fight anything without dying, and these all too difficult confrontations were all too frequent. There is the option to become invincible, which allows the player to finish the game and see the ending, but this really should be possible without cheating. Furthermore, abilities like sneaking and hiding in shadows went essentially unused throughout the entire game. One of the puzzles, basically consisting of trial and error tactics, was much too long. Fortunately, the solution is included in the help document.

The Bottom Line
An action RPG that had a nice game universe and quite excellent music, but very poor gameplay. Unless you are an avid progressive rock fan, I would pass this game up.

The Good
CD serves as a handy-dandy drink coaster.

The Bad
Ridiculous acting/plot, quirky controls, and a truly god-awful rock music soundtrack. This game is a reminder of why consoles remained popular even when computers started getting downright cheap: PC action games have a strong tendency to suck.

The Bottom Line
If you play only 5000 games this year, makes sure this isn't one of them.