Realms of Ancient War: Hack N Slash Goodness

Realms of Ancient War or R.A.W. has been released for PSN, XBLA and PC and the team at Focus Home Interactive have brought a fun twist to the hack n slash genre with their spells, inventory and RPG elements. R.A.W. offers players 3 separate classes to choose from all with their own varying skill sets and skill trees to allow players to progress them along the lines that they so choose. You can choose from your standard warrior, a rouge or the player I found most interesting and decided to use for my playthrough, the Wizard. While the Rouge and the Warrior can use the varying weapons they find throughout the many battlefields they will encounter the wizard relies solely on his spells and mana bar to survive.

R.A.W. doesn’t stop there in its twisting and turning of the hack n slash genre it also gives you an incarnation ability that can come in quite handy as you face insane numbers of enemies at any one time. The incarnation ability allows you to take control of monstrous creatures that will help you turn the tide of any battle. Such creatures include ents, golems and giant spiders to name a few.

Enemy classes do not vary as much as I would like with each faction sending out what amounted to be a tank class, ranged class and melee class enemy. Being that I was the wizard I was restricted from using some of the armors that dropped to me, however this was not as big a downer as it might seem as I was able to collect all of these items and sell them for access to more mana and health replenishing potions to allow me to continue my barrage of magical damage dealing.

The story in R.A.W. is delivered solely through text boxes and still art and leaves a lot to be desired. However, this is not as big a downfall as it might usually be for me as this game manages to deliver in almost every other way. The battles are fierce and constant and getting to the higher levels you begin to unlock devastating spells and abilities that have the potential to wipe out tens of enemies in a single cast. Spells can range from a simple fireball all the way up to a full-blown meteor shower that does enough damage to kill or seriously wound even mini-boss and boss level enemies.

R.A.W. allows you to team up with 1 friend and run through the game cooperatively and also allows player to go back and replay any level at any time they choose, giving players the ability to go back and unleash hell on the bosses and hordes that gave them the most trouble. While it’s not going to be competing for any game of the year awards I must say that R.A.W. was truly enjoyable and a fun trip back into the hack n slash genre I have ignored for so long. Realms of Ancient War can be downloaded now on PSN, XBLA and PC for $14.99 and is worth every penny. The replay value that the separate classes and skills provide makes this game well worth the download.