Games in the adventure action genre have a huge fan base. Gamers around the world are ready to go through such quests day and night. But, unfortunately, in the pursuit of success in a particular genre, developers forget about the quality of the plot, graphics and gameplay. This story happened with the game Cursed Crusade.
Description
The Cursed Crusade is a Kylotonn project. The French collaborated with publishers in many regions. In Europe, it became DTP Entertainment AG, in Japan - Ubisoft, in America - Atlus, and in Russia - 1C-SoftKlab / Snowball Studios.
Despite the fact that a huge number of people worked on the project, it did not live up to expectations and turned out to be a complete disappointment. The game was released in 2011 for desktops, PS3, and for the Xbox 360.
Main story
A review of The Cursed Crusade is worth starting with the storyline. The game takes us to the events of the third crusade. Christians were defeated in it. Territories in which bloody battles took place have not yet recovered after fires and battles. But preparing a new campaign, which is filled with hope and the desire to take their own.
Two warriors who have long received the Curse of the Templars are going to try their luck. Templar Denza and mercenary Esteban want to try their luck and free themselves from a heavy burden and a damned soul.
The main characters have a lot to go through. The gamer will manage them over 5 chapters, in which there are a total of 38 missions. Denza and Esteban will watch the knightly tournament, storm the castle of Biron, participate in the siege of Zara. They will go to conquer Constantinople and go to visit the crusaders from Crac de Chevalier.
System requirements
In 2011, the game The Cursed Crusade appeared. A review of system requirements will surprise few people now, especially avid players. For the game you need a mouse, keyboard, pre-installed operating system Windows XP, Vista or 7. The game will take 8.3 GB of free space on the hard drive.
Minimum Requirements:
- CPU Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 with a frequency of 2 GHz or more;
- RAM from 2 GB;
- nVidia GeForce 8600 or ATI Radeon HD 2600 graphics card.
Recommended Requirements:
- CPU Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 with a frequency of 2.6 GHz;
- from 3 GB of RAM;
- nVidia GeForce 9800 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card .
Gameplay
One of the project’s weaknesses is The Cursed Crusade gameplay. A review of it comes down to a couple of simple actions. The player needs to “cut” his way through the enemies, push various things and look for secrets. This is not a game in which there is a free world and you can do whatever you want. Everything happens much easier here.
Not bad developers thought out the fencing system. And if at the beginning of the game it seems that getting through a crowd of enemies is very simple, then over time the mobs begin to dodge and counterattack. After a couple of hours of passing, the player will begin to notice that the number of enemies and the complexity of the battle with them are increasing. From here you need to pick up the battle style again and get used to control.
The gameplay allows you to use not only swords, maces or axes, you can pick up a crossbow or bow. Moreover, some tasks require such a battle without fail. Long-range combat significantly diversifies the gameplay and allows you to escape from near battles.
The gameplay involves pumping the main character. Passing the level, the player receives additional experience points that can be spent on improving the character. So there is an opportunity to increase his combat performance or discover new abilities.
Since not only familiar soldiers, but also some magical creatures will meet on the hero’s path, the corresponding skills will have to be pumped to cope with the undead.
The main task is fights
If you take a quick look at the review of The Cursed Crusade, it becomes clear that battles are the main entertainment for the gamer. Therefore, it is important to know everything and understand the principles of battle.
For example, if you use one weapon or combine it with another, then you can get completely different combat combinations. Thus, you need to carefully study them in order to think through battle tactics. It is also important to remember about targeted damage. Damage is distributed to different parts of the body.
During sparring, it is worth remembering that the simultaneous blow of two blades usually puts two heroes in equal positions. In this case, it is important to quickly repel the enemy in order to immediately strike back at him. But you need to remember that the opponent can do the same.
The peculiarity of the gameplay in The Cursed Crusade is that just clicking on enemies will not work. Especially if the character is much stronger against you, or there are several of them. It will be necessary to make circular strokes, to walk and dodge correctly. It is important not to forget about parries and think through every movement.
Walkthrough
As mentioned earlier, the passage of The Cursed Crusade consists of five chapters. In each of them there are 5-7 tasks. After the prologue, the gamer learns about Jean de Beil. Already in the first chapter, he tells us about his son, who also decided to become a Templar. In the first chapter, you need to fight the robbers, and then run away from the Soul Reaper to the church.
Next, the game takes us to Biron Castle. Then the player gets acquainted with Esteban. Both warriors participate in the siege of the castle. In this task, you will need to fight with everyone who meets on the way. After these events, the heroes continue the journey and fall into the knightly tournament, where it will be possible to hone combat skills. This will help in the next mission to cope with the Boniface robbers and then get rid of the former commander Baudouin.
Plot advancement
In the second chapter, you need to participate in the assault on the city of Zara. In the first mission, you will have to kill a lot of game characters. After that, it will be necessary to disembark at the port. Here you have to dodge the arrows, demolish the barricade. In Dawn, you need to find the main gate of the city and open them. At the end of the second chapter of the player, Zara’s fall and very interesting information about the father of the protagonist await.
The new chapter will have to get into the territory of the fortress of Constantinople. Then you will need to deal with Boniface and Baudouin, who are already waiting near the Golden Gate. Get ready for a long and stubborn battle to come soon. In it, you will need to show all the fighting skills that the hero trained in battle.
Denza and Esteban must participate in the assault on Constantinople. At the same time, resolve the issue with the villain Murzufl.
When things are over in Constantinople, the heroes will again be in a new location. First we are looking for a princess and a third relic. After this, there will be a chance to fight with Baudouin and, finally, to end him. After several minor tasks, you will need to meet with three gigantic demons.
The end of the fourth chapter is sad: not everything worked out as the hero wanted. Some characters turned out to be dead, and those who were supposed to die escaped. But the main character has more important things to do.
The final
The passage of the game The Cursed Crusade in the fifth chapter leads us to the fortress of Crac de Chevalier. This is where Father Denza is, who turned out to be the keeper of the relic of the Lord in the story. The main task is to close the gates of the underworld.
Review
The game was not the best. This is evidenced by the reviews of leading gaming publications, and the players themselves, who were given the opportunity to play The Cursed Crusade. What went wrong?
"Gambling" categorically stated that there was nothing but boring fights in the game. And it's really hard to argue with that. The locations are cramped, and the so-called bosses are in fact simply enlarged knights. A good idea, according to many players, was the existence of the other world with its demons and curses. But its implementation turned out to be chaotic.
But for some gamers, the technical component of the project turned out to be a weak spot. And reviews of The Cursed Crusade confirm this. Despite some omissions, nevertheless, the authors thought over many points: cooperative mode, complex fencing, various strike options and the use of magic.
The scenario turned out to be good too: the story of father and son, the curse and the other world, really captures. But at a certain point, everything collapses due to inconvenient controls, gray levels and strange puzzles. As practice shows, it is best to pass The Cursed Crusade with a friend.
Saves and Cheats
For those who are completely lazy or could not get the atmosphere due to difficult battles, there are cheats for The Cursed Crusade. For example, you can set saves that have the full development of the character, but at the same time preserve the main plot. You can also download files with cheats that will simplify the passage. With one click you can ensure the immortality of the hero, reduce the power of the curse, etc.
Reviews
The Cursed Crusade game did not live up to expectations. It turned out to be poorly implemented technically. Despite some really good ideas, it was difficult for the players to find something that would interest them and draw them into the game.
And although some still say that the problems with the graphics are related to the fact that the project appeared in 2011, even at that time the picture turned out to be deplorable: the animation is clumsy, the shadows are not drawn. There are even gaps in the textures.
Many gamers who mastered this game were looking forward to the second part. And they waited for it for a reason, because the ending turned out to be intriguing and promising. But after 7 years, there is no information about the continuation, which means that many simply forgot about the game.