Nine Parchments Review

Nine Parchments

Nine Parchments answers the age-old question, “What would happen if the developers of Trine made Magicka?” We’ve all wondered that, right? Not surprisingly, the end result is basically the same gameplay as Magicka—a top-down, light action RPG with magical spells—but with the drop-dead gorgeous graphics that the Trine games are known for. It always astounds me how much detail they put in the background, detail that many gamers may not even notice. And, frankly, why would you be looking at the background when you’re getting your butt kicked by a bunch of fire, ice, and electric creatures?

The combat in Nine Parchments is easier to control than Magicka, because you can quickly cycle through set spells, but the difficulty is still there. This is a hard game that absolutely must be tackled co-op. When you do play co-op, however, you’ll wonder why the game wasn’t called Friendly Fire: The Musical instead. More than half the time, I died, or my teammate died, because we accidentally electrocuted or fire-bombed each other. Fights are chaotic, and it’s very easy to get caught in the crossbeams. Healing spells didn’t seem worth investing in, either, because healing can just as easily apply to enemies as they can friends.

Overall, the quest is a nice length, if not fairly repetitive. You run down a narrow path until a group of monsters pops out. You vanquish them and continue down the path until another group of monsters pops out, etc. etc. It’s definitely fun to experiment with new spells, though, and some battles can be almost puzzle-like when you realize the monsters at hand are immune to your best spells. There are also a few spots where you can take on an optional challenge to unlock a bonus character. Alas, you can’t actually use the bonus characters until you beat the game and start over. Considering how repetitive the game is, though, I don’t see myself ever doing that.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.