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Graphics & Sound

With a 190MB download, we expected high-res textures and quality sounds, and for the most part we got them. There isn’t much in the way of music, or at least music worth noticing, but otherwise this demo really delivered the goods. The medieval-fantasy castle and town settings are really slick; the textures stand up nicely by themselves and when combined with the dynamic lighting give a very immersive experience. It may be a little hard to notice in the thick of combat, but during the respites between battles, it’s easy to appreciate the work that went into the world. The settings in the demo are a little limited in scope compared to the full game, by all accounts.

Characters are even more detailed than the game world. From the lowest grunt through the player characters, they show style and imagination in addition to good execution. Polygon counts are really enormous on them, and the animation is extremely fluid. There could be a few more motions per character per weapon, but given the variety of characters and weapons in the final game, the problem isn’t severe.

Bang a lang

Sniping

Purrty

Gameplay

The gameplay in the demo, as with Rune, is extremely simplistic: you run around like a chicken with its head cut off, and try to cut the heads off everything in your path! Well, the one difference is that you actually can’t dismember your foes like you could in Rune. Otherwise the analogy works perfectly.

The variety of characters and weapons do make up for any disappointments might feel at not being able to run around lopping heads and arms off. The demo is somewhat generous, with about three enemy characters per side to beat down. The Dark campaign has the player fighting against human foes, which leads to a lot of combat with enemies that are a variation on the basic soldier. The Light campaign sheds light on nicely designed enemies.

There are a few clever scripted sequences, but the independent AI actually seems quite poor. Enemies will routinely fall down any and all crevices large enough to hold them. The combat algorithms are ridiculously simple; melee attackers move in close and try to hack the player to bits, while ranged attackers hold position until forced to move. They don’t make use of cover at all, if attacked by ranged weapons (except the soldiers who use their shields), nor do they seem to co-operate very well.

She's kinda small

OK maybe it's just the knight who's huge

So sexy :o

Combat is also a bit irksome, particularly in melee ranges. Part of the problem is the AI of the enemies, but a more pressing issue is the “feel”. With Rune it was possible to become very proficient, while Enclave is slightly more sloppy. The analogy would not be unlike Quake vs. Unreal in multiplayer; both are fun but one is clearly more tangible (for lack of a better word.)