The Cursed Crusade

There's potential there, but it's squandered by the fact that none of it really matters. Hammering away on one button gets the job done nine times out of ten, usually ending in a finishing move animation that can last up to seven seconds. At every turn, this is a game you watch more than you play.

Control is sticky, with combos defeated by noticeable input lag. Attempting the lengthier button sequences is barely worth the effort, so most of the fighting system ends up surplus to requirements. Swords pass through enemies, attacks fail to connect, and blocks don't always work. Most of the depth (and I use the word in its loosest possible sense) comes from pressing the shoulder buttons to counter and parry attacks, depending on what colour your enemy glows. Hit it in time, and you'll leave them open to your button-mashing assault.

You also have a crossbow, which you'll sometimes have to whip out to deal with archers. These guys pop up at windows and on balconies with all the realism of targets at a funfair shooting range, and the game slips briefly - and awkwardly - into a ham-fisted pastiche of Gears of War while you slowly fire invisible arrows at them until they fall down.

These core combat problems are compounded by a horrible lurching camera and an ill-constructed gameworld that's full of scenery snags and baffling physics; bump into a table and it can float off into the air like a helium balloon. Enemies can frequently be found standing around in corners or trying to walk through walls.

Even basic button prompts are inconsistent, so you can spend a lot of time trying to find the way ahead, only to discover it was right under your nose the whole time, waiting for you to stand in exactly the right spot.

The killer blow comes from the fact that The First Templar already did the Crusades co-op melee combat thing back in May, and did a far better job of it. Even with its cheap production values, the combat in First Templar was at least fun and varied, and kept things motoring along in a pleasing budget game style. Cursed Crusade, in contrast, feels thick and gluey, bogs itself down in interminable cutscenes and generally allows its low budget roots to tangle up the gameplay itself.

It's a real pity, as we desperately need more mid-range games. As the industry becomes increasingly fractured, with mega-budget blockbusters on one side and perky low-priced indies on the other, it's the middle ground that suffers. The decent time-wasters that fill in the months between the must-have classics are the ones that get squeezed out of the picture.

But Cursed Crusade isn't a decent time-waster, it's just a waste of time. Too clumsy to satisfy any action gaming urge, and too wrapped up in its own turgid mythology to realise it's getting things so badly wrong, releasing it right before the onslaught of massive winter releases is a decision more audacious than any design choices in the game itself.