Sacred 2

For a game which often has its forked green tongue firmly in cheek, there's a lot of traditional fantasy questing to be done here. I've spent most of my time killing set numbers of enemies, collecting lost items, delivering messages and rescuing a surprising number of wayward children.

But attacking Sacred for its bread-and-butter fantasy roots would be unfair. It offers some interesting new takes on the genre, such as the consistent mix of hi-tech and medieval elements - realised most obviously by the Temple Guardian and Stargate-style projectile staffs. The fact Sacred 2 is in many ways a very traditional game is not a bad thing. However, many of the traditions it carries on would have been better scrapped.

Aside from the legions of formulaic questlines, there's also the time-old issue of female characters' attire. I'm no prude, and have a healthy appreciation of the female form, but much of the pathos parts of the game tries to imbue is lost because half the characters look like malnourished strippers on their way to a bondage convention. All the shoes and boots which I came across for female classes were high-heeled, and a great deal of their 'armour' consists of tiny skirts, plunging halter-neck tops and throbbing, six-bladed sex toys.

All right. Not sex toys, and doubtless this sort of thing will attract as many - if not more - as it repels. But it does feel like time we graduated from the T ‘n' A school of fantasy. The fact that much of the character art feels like it was churned out by a talented and priapic 14 year-old detracts from much of the other pretty and imaginative design.

Fields of flowers and grass dominate the first areas along with golden beaches, murky caves and ruined temples. Typical fantasy fare, but well drawn and executed. The architecture often conveys a real sense of place. Enemy models are detailed and charismatic up-close, although there's a lack of variation between species. Zooming right in gives you a chance to admire these well-drawn models and smoothes the frame-rate a little, but restricts the range of your vision to the point where you'll miss a great deal.

For a game so firmly aimed at loot whores there's a shocking lack of inventory management options. The dozens of shinies you'll end up carrying cannot be rearranged, even manually. Despite a relatively reliable 'autoequip' function the reams of stats and bonuses conveyed by each piece remain a dark science - upon which neither the manual nor the scattered tutorials deign to shed any light.

Buying new equipment from a merchant is a massive pain too. There's no way to easily compare the gear on offer with what you're currently wearing - a basic function of RPG equipment management. What could have possessed Ascaron not to include such an important feature in a game so keen to encourage cramming your skimpy metal bikini with junk?

If you're a real loot addict, looking for a quick fix before Diablo 3 turns you into a precious-hoarding, daylight-shunning, subterranean Gollum, there are worse options than Scared 2. It presents you with a giant world, one that has some unique aspects and is generally seamless and deep. With patience, tolerance and a willingness to ignore all the problems and the awkward hokum, there are dozens - if not hundreds - of hours of playtime on offer.