We have to admit, playing the videogame version of Mage Knight - a deeply storied and popular tabletop game from WizKids - without having ever touched one of the collectable miniatures made us feel a bit like poseurs. But the action role-playing Mage Knight: Apocalypse w♑as so instantly addictive that we soon simp🌳ly felt like heroes.

Mage Knight immediately stands apart from its towering peers because of its stunning good looks and versatile controls. With a flick of the mouse wheel, we zoomed from the top-down isometric view (think classic RPG Neverwinter Nights) into an over-the shoulder view that was more like Knights of the Old Republic. The zoom levels in-between should find Diablo and Dungeon Siege players right at home, as well. This kind of versatility kicked ass because the c𒀰lose third-person view gave us a distant look at the horizon that let us easily🅠 scout ahead for enemies, while the top-down vista allowed management of big spells and an overall view of our party.

Each of the five main characters represented a "core" class, but also featured up to three different sub-classes within each. The drop-dead gorgeous, undead Kithana could follow a necromancer, assassin or vampire path; Tal Windstrider, the paladin, could take on mart♍ial, healer or holy spell-caster duties; Janos Freeborn is a face-mauling tank of a Dwarf, but could also become adept with firearms or explosives. Considering the replayability of some of our favorite action/RPGs, this is the kind of flexibility we like to see.