Drakensang The Dark Eye PC

Last year's hit from Germany, Drakensang: The Dark Eye, has arrived in North America with a budget price and a classic scope that evokes the likes of Baldur's Gate. Production values are wanting in spots, but even with voice acting that might make your ears bleed and some convoluted character development, this remains an involving, old-fashioned heroic saga. The Radon Labs-designed game still hits the spot if you're looking for a traditional RPG with just the right mix of wizards in pointy hats and unsung heroes looking to fulfill their destiny.

Drakensang's story and setting have been compiled from so many fantasy novels, movies, and games that Drakensang will initially cause deja vu. You play a stereotypical hero who starts off as a nobody, yet soon becomes a legendary adventurer as the fulfillment of--yep, you guessed it--a prophecy. Everything here seems to have been randomly pulled out of the grab bag of RPG cliches. Gruff but lovable dwarves, hippie elves who just want to be left alone, mysterious messages from old friends, rampaging goblin hordes, and forgetful mages who are mirror images of Gandalf make up the cast of characters in the medieval fantasy land of Aventuria. As with timeless RPGs such as Baldur's Gate, you manage an entire party of up to four adventurers. Quests are many and feature myriad goals that run the gamut from keep-busy jobs such as killing a white wolf and tracking down a stolen diadem to cleaning out a crypt of the undead and solving riddling rhymes. Just about the only touch of originality comes from the main plotline's focus on dragons, which at one time ruled the world before a scaly civil war.