Where was Dark Messiah of Might and Magic when we had the summertime blues? Barging through this fast-action fantasy story was as good as it gets - perhaps just shy of an Indiana Jones flick on full volume.

Sure, Dark Messiah could be billed as a fantasy action role-playing game, played from the first-person perspective - but it'll sucker punch you in the kidneys if you think it's an Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion clone. Dark Messiah is about as far from the lonely, ponderous, soul-searcher Oblivion as you could imagine.

Thanks to your mysterious guide, Xana, you'll never want for company or action. You play as Sareth, and although the wizard's-apprentice-saves-the-world story is a little stale, thꦅe objective-based plot stayed just far enough away from tight scripting to keep us riveted. And better still, you can rock the storyline any way you choose: stealth, heavy-duty magic, or sword and shielཧd.

In fact, experimentation with different approaches was exactly how we had to make our way -and live. The superb AI and random effects from excellent physics effects made each attempt wickedly unpredictable - and very fun.

The rollicking action favors novices by letting them jam through the high points of the story, but there are enough optiona🌺l missions and secret areas to be discovered that the break-open🍒-every-crate set will be satisfied as well.