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Nox Review
Noel Brady
00/12/0000
Nox
After the relative disappointment of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, the once infallible Westwood Studios has been left scraping egg off its face. Like Tiberian Sun, Nox arrives highly-anticipated in these most depressing of times for the PC. In the last twelve months, its most established and respected developers have proven themselves unable to release games that go beyond the lacklustre and uninspired. Enter Nox which, unlike Tiberian Sun, actually lives up to the hype.
Seeing as Nox is a role-playing game, snides would dismiss it out of hand as a clone of Blizzard's Diablo. Indeed, the top-down perspective, a typical fantasy setting and assorted trimmings would appear to back this up. However, from the off, it's clear that this is no hackneyed fantasy quest. The FMV intro sequence opens with a scheming female Necromancer casting a sinister spell by uttering the usual faux Latin gibberish. It's when her candle fizzes out, she begins to grumble about her cheap magical supplies and the action cuts to a trailer park in the real world, where the hero of the game begins his quest by trying to get a better picture on his TV, that you know Nox is no tedious Diablo rehash.
Starting off with your amusingly contemporary character selecting one of three classes -- warrior, conjurer or wizard -- the game plonks you in one of three different locations, each of which branches out into its own plotline. Despite its RPG veneer at heart Nox is very much an action-oriented game. Almost every element which has personified western roleplaying is included, from its straight Tolkien clone setting downwards. One of the most striking elements of Nox, in fact, is its almost culture purist attitude.
Only the most peripheral of Japanese RPG influences appears: villages totally populated by citizens who exist to say but a single sentence. The most prominent step away from the east is in the game's plot being notable by its almost total absence. While theoretically you're a man -- sadly this is another one of those single-sex hero RPGs -- brought to a fantasy land by an evil necromancer, your origin bears literally no relevance to how the story unfolds.
You control your character using the mouse -- the right button walks you forward, the left attacks, talks and uses. In addition, punching the space bar causes your character to jump, and as your character acquires spells or special attacks they can be activated with keyboard shortcuts. Indeed, there are sections where the game resembles nothing so much as a top-down platform game.
In fact, Nox rarely plays like your usual role player. Though there are the expected small quests which build into a far grander whole, the ground-level detail is where the game wins time after time. For instance, should you decide to sell your trousers to a trader, you have to buy a new pair if you don't want to combat orcs amd spiders dressed in nothing but your underpants. The three selectable characters are wildly dfferent from each other. The traditional warrior and wizard may be expected, but their implementation shows a certain amount of flair -- as well as the standard array of explosive magics, the wizard's more than capable of placing combinations of his spells into traps.
Most praise must be heaped on the third class, the conjurer. While initially he seems merely a halfway house between the magical and martial poles, he quickly reveals his array of subtle nuances. The most impressive of these is the ability to possess -- and, at higher levels, summon -- certain beasts that you encounter, leading to increasingly manipulative play. Each of the trio plays through the campaign starting in a different corner of the world. Visiting the areas of Nox in alternative order upon replaying creates a degree of emotional resonance, as you see what would have occured in a place if you weren't there to defend it.
In battle you have the choice of fight or flight, so you can take to your heels and barricade yourself in a side room, square up to your foe or try to lure them into a trap -- which, if you are a magical character, may include a volley of pre-determined spells. Wisely, with such a focus on action and freedom, Westwood has incorporated a spectacular multi-player mode in the mix. As well as the usual Deathmatches, you can play Capture The Flag, or Hot Potato, in which an explosive spud is passed between the players.
While the solo play contains sufficent charm, Nox's success is really determined by its multi-player feature. Luckily, it matches the test as Nox is one of those games that once finished, is finished for good. Nox could well be the future of role-playing games. It makes the likes of Diablo and Baldur's Gate look weary and archaic. Even Final Fantasy seems tedious in comparison. This is the role-playing game which you'll enjoy even if you're a non-role-player. Actually, scratch that. You won't just enjoy it, you'll love it.
