Summary
Light and addictive, but shallow
The Good
"Nox" doesn't have the heavy atmosphere and the intimidating monster design of
Diablo, but instead, it offers plenty of light action and a good opportunity to release the stress.
The action is really furious, enemies attack you at enormous speed, and you have to be even quicker than them in order to survive. The game apparently doesn't take itself very seriously, which is a pleasant change after the monotonously humorless "Diablo". The action is also much better balanced than in "Diablo". Dungeons aren't terribly long, and you often change locations, so that there's hardly any backtracking in the game. There is a nice variety of locations in "Nox" - caves, temples, swamps, strongholds, villages, etc. I particularly liked the final location with its clever traps and fearsome enemies.
You can play the game as fighter, wizard, or conjurer, and some locations and the ending vary depending on which class you chose.
The plot itself is nothing really special, but the premise is quite interesting: you are a 20th century guy who suddenly gets sucked (via your TV set) into the medieval world of Nox, where you must defeat an evil sorceress and her countless minions.
The gameplay is almost all action, but there are some little puzzles to solve on your way (like figuring out how to avoid deadly rays in the final dungeon), and the action itself is not as heavy and as boring as in Diablo games - there are less enemies, but they are quicker and smarter.
"Nox" contains many little gimmicks and pays a lot of attention to detail. For example, you can fully customize the physical appearance of your hero, dress him the way you like, choose his hair color, etc. The interface is great, very comfortable and natural, with handy quick item slots and a small overview map, information about your enemies, and other useful things.
A really nice feature is the ability to break almost anything you meet on your way. You can enter a house with nice furniture and barrels standing around, and after several seconds magically turn them into a pile of wood. Everything can be hit, struck, slashed, bashed, and ruined. Great to unload frustration and to unleash our dark violent instincts. Another cool addition are secret areas that you can find by ruining walls. The downside of this activity is that your weapons wear off quicker.
The Bad
Well, it is even less RPG than
Diablo. Except heavy weapon/armor development, there's hardly anything in this game that can be called role-playing. Your stats increase automatically. They don't depend on the amount of enemies you've killed, and you get no feedback after defeating an enemy. You defeat him just because he was in your way, like in action games. The battles cease to have meaning and become arcade-like obstacles on your way to the goal.
Gameplay contains hacking enemies and solving an occasional simple puzzle, but not much more. This is why the game becomes very repetitive with the time - you just jump from location to location, kill everything that moves, and receive your next assignment. There isn't much to do in "Nox".
The plot almost doesn't develop at all, and although the game is fairly short, it seems longer than it really is, because the story line is too static. There are no twists in this story, it's as basic as it can get: there is somebody evil you have to defeat, that's all. All those quests you get are just excuses to transport you to a new location. The NPCs are totally uninteresting.
The game also lacks atmosphere: some of the locations and the overall graphical presentation are too light. "Diablo" did this part much better (one of the reasons why it has become more popular). You don't really feel immersed by the game world of "Nox".
The Bottom Line
+ Fast-paced action
+ Attention to detail
- No role-playing
- Thin, basic story
- No real characters
- Not enough atmosphere
Without a role-playing system that would make all those battles meaningful and encourage you to develop your character and to make him stronger, "Nox" becomes a pure action game with a light atmosphere. Since it has little content, all it can offer are the fast-paced, but meaningless battles. It's a nice game to play through, but not one of those you would remember afterwards.
