Nox for PC - Review

originally written for PC Accelerator

Diablo-clone – 1. Any role-playing game that takes place in a fantasy medieval setting featuring a single character (rarely a party) facing insurmountable opposition viewed from an isometric third-person perspective, that focuses on action and combat instead of story and dialogue: See Gauntlet.  This term defines many role-playing games (Revenant and Darkstone come to mind), fortunate enough to be released during the wait for Diablo II.  Gamers are so bloodthirsty for the much-delayed Diablo II, that games-to-play-while-waiting-for-Diablo II is practically its own genre.  Westwood’s newest release, Nox, is another game that fits neatly under the umbrella of Diablo-clone.

The land of Nox has enjoyed a time of peace after Jandor brought an end to the Necromancer Wars.  Wielding the Staff of Oblivion, Jandor banished the Necromancers and captured their essence in a crystal orb, which he then flung into another dimension.  That was many years ago.  Now the lost child of the Necromancers, Hecubah has grown into a vengeful, and might I add, rather shapely and voluptuous adult.  She has summoned back the orb from its prison in time, and with the orb in her possession, Hecubah can raise the dead and take control of Nox.  Here is where your character enters the story.  The orb was banished to a trailer park in Florida, where the hero of Nox, Jack, lives.  When Hecubah parted the seas of space and time to retrieve the orb, she inadvertently tore Jack from his humble life, and placed him in Nox.  Since Jack fell from the sky Army-of-Darkness style, he was pronounced the savior of Nox and tasked with defeating Hecubah.  This is all told during the installation and introduction of the game.

As Jack, you can play as one of three classes: a warrior, a conjurer, or a wizard.  Each class will start Jack in a different location in Nox with a different set of objectives and a distinct mentor.  All of the classes basically funnel into the same story, but this kind of variety is rarely found in role-playing games such as this.  Not since (dare I mention) Daggerfall, can I recall a choice of class or race changing the way a game starts (excluding MMORPGs).  The story is pretty linear, and there isn’t much in the way of “role-playing”.  Nox focuses on action rather than branching dialogue trees.  There are chapters that have a set of objectives within a certain area of Nox.  When Jack completes these objectives, he moves to the next chapter and is given a new set of objectives, and the story is told in this manner.  It feels almost like a first-person shooter in which you level and watch from outside your body.  Loading the chapters takes away from the immersion of the game and makes it feel like you are playing missions rather than playing through a story.

Graphically, Nox is not that striking.  It looks very much like Diablo in its presentation due to the 2D backgrounds.  The characters look cartoony, which would fit with the comedic nature of the game, only there isn’t any “comedy” during the actual game.  It is only found in the intro.  Nox even hides items and gold in barrels, which may be a purposeful homage to Diablo.  Nox does sport dynamic lighting and very nice spell effects, and the environments are very interactive.  Most any item that is not attached to a wall can be moved.  As Jack runs through a corridor filled with bones, he kicks the bones around and stirs up dust revealing gold underneath.  You can push tables to block doors, smash barrels of water to put out fires, and knock around the skulls of adventurers past.  The biggest graphic leap for Nox, and the thing that will set it apart from all other role-playing games out now, is the TrueSight system that only allows the player to see things line-of-sight.  It can be a little distracting at first, but after playing a bit, it really adds to the game, and it is much more effective than the “Fog of War”.

Multiplayer is where Nox will capture its fans.  The multiplayer of Nox can only be described as Deathmatch.  It is fast-paced, high-action, and you are constantly searching for weapons and items.  There is also CTF, Elimination, and Noxball, but these are all spin-offs from the FPS multiplayer modes.  This kind of multiplayer innovation will open the door for a whole new kind of deathmatch in a third person perspective,