Microspft | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

As I happen to love isometric views in my games (not for everything, mind you) and am no stranger to the action or turn-based role playing game experience, Sacred 3 is going to be right up my alley. Of course, I loved the first two games quite a lot for their large open maps, ridiculous amount of side quests to take and and surprises to stumble upon. Some would say the games are far too open and allow for wandering into death traps off the beaten path, but those people would be wrong, as no one asked them to get nosy and follow that trail of bones or gold coins into that pack of much higher leveled enemies or dark place with the nasty surprise or way too large and powerful dragon (and so forth and so on)…

Anyway, Sacred 3 hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer. If it’s too quiet around here during that time, you know where I’ll be.

I’d say “it’s about time!” or something like that, but I knew developer Asceron was working on Sacred 3 and didn’t mind waiting at all. With publisher Deep Silver coming to the rescue and getting this out worldwide, this bodes well for fans of the franchise wanting more after the solid Sacred 2 and its expansion. For the uninitiated, the Sacred series is an open-world isometric action RPG that some compare to Blizzard’s Diablo series, but is actually a bit better in some respects. The freedom to go where you wish (at your own peril, as enemies can be quite brutal if you get in over your head) and variety of male and female human and non human character classes make this one an evergreen series with massive replay value.

The great thing is this one’s coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC this summer, so there’s no need to run out and buy a new console to play it on if you haven’t made the switch yet. I’m all for that, as it takes a while for these new systems to really get going and show what they can do. As for that multiplayer mode? I don’t need it at all as I play for the story and characters, but I’m glad it’s there for those who want to beat up on each other or how need help with the tougher bosses in the game…