Fate

The Good
Ok, I'm not going to sit here and once again explain in vivid detail what an action RPG is. If you've never played one of these suckers, this is all you need to know: delve dungeons, slay monsters, chug potions, grab loot, complete quests. Oh yeah, and click your mouse. A lot.

Are we up to speed? Good.

WildTangent does add a few extra elements to the mix that warrant mention. You are given a pet at the beginning of the game, which will help you with your quest by attacking enemies independently and also leveling up to become a stronger combatant. The real twist in this mechanic, however, comes with the addition of fishing. That's right, you can buy a fishing rod at the local shop at cast out a line anywhere you see fireflies over open water (which turns up surprisingly often in the subterranean depths of the dungeon). The fish you catch can then be fed to your pet to transform him into a myriad of fantastic creatures, either for a limited duration or permanently. These features don't by any means revolutionize action RPGs as we know them, but it's nice to know that developers are trying out new ideas instead of mindlessly pumping out Diablo clones in the hopes of cashing in on a popular genre.

It should be noted that there are no set character classes in this game -- how your adventurer evolves is completely defendant on your primary attributes (strength, dexterity, magic, and health) as well as the points your assign into skills, which range from ability with swords or bows to proficiency with different types of magic (destruction and restoration, to name a few). This classless system makes you feel like you have more control over the customization of your character, and the number of different configurations you can think up runs surprisingly deep for what seems like such a simple game.

WildTangent has also been nice enough to release modding utilities to the public, and the result is a reasonably healthy modding community. This means that once you're finished with the official content, you can hop online and add all sorts of interesting things to your gaming experience such as items, new monsters, different quests, just to name a few.

The Bad
As cool as playing this game is by yourself, playing cooperatively with others online would have been a blast. I say "would have" because no online options have been included in this product at all, save for the ability to upload your scores to an online leader board. But honestly, who cares about leader boards? I want to get a party together and run dungeons with my buddies. Wildtangent's lack of online play keeps this game from being a truly memorable offering.

The Bottom Line
With solid gameplay and a few new ideas, Fate manages to keep itself head above water in a world of copy-cat dungeon crawlers. The omission of online play almost sinks it, however. As it is, Fate is a solid entry into the action RPG genre that a lot of people probably won't stick with due to the lack of online play. If you aren't phased by the fact that you won't be able to take your character online to play with others, Fate would make a good addition to your PC library.