Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Xbox 360 Co-Op Review

Review System(s): XBox 360, Playstation 3

Marc "DjinniMan" Allie Monday 25th of May 2009 03:07 PM

The online co-op works well for the most part with a little more seamless experience than the local. Players aren't tied to the same area, and menus can be manipulated separately. There are a few issues with connections, mostly server issues - but from what we hear all this will be ironed out in an upcoming patch in the next few weeks.

Even with these quirks, Sacred 2 is a fine co-op experience. Both players share experience, no matter who completes the quest or gets the kill shot. The experience does scale somewhat based on level, with lower characters receiving proportionally less than higher partners. Buddy tactics work very well in certain situations, like having a melee character wade in and take a few hits while a caster or other ranged attacker hangs back and unleashes the damage. The whole game has an MMO feel to it, which I find intriguing. I can see myself hanging onto Sacred 2 for a long time, and revisiting it often.

I don't normally explain my scores for reviews, but in this case it deserves mentioning. The PC version earned a 4, and the console version adds in local co-op, which I consider worth at least half a point more. However, I must deduct that same half-point for the puzzling lack of local item trading. Nonetheless, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is great, arguably excellent, and hopefully a patch will fix this issue in the future.

The Co-Op Experience: Up to four players online (including two local) can team up to hack, slash, and sling spells to victory. Almost unlimited customization will keep you coming back for more. The addition of local co-op is appreciated, but the lack of local item trading is puzzling.

Score: 4 out of 5

Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience. Our General Score is more representitive of the overall experience.

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Tags: playstation 3 xbox 360 sacred reviews

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Reader Comments

justabaldguy at 03:25 PM on 5.25.2009

It seems like you graded this one down from mostly the local co-op perspective. Most of your beefs aren't present in online co-op. If you took off half a point for a local co-op flaw that isn't present in online, it doesn't really seem right for the whole review. The issue about two players in the menu at once isn't there on a Live game. In fact Ash1138 and I were great at leveling at the same time just to avoid waiting on another person.

The issue about the birds eye view is also puzzling. You CAN zoom in on your character with one of the sticks (left I believe?). Granted, it won't stay there when you move to certain locations, but you can zoom in. The second picture in the article give an idea of what I'm talking about.

Should you have give it yet another score? I don't know, but I think it's worth at least addressing. I know this is a bit picky (and it is NOT an attack on Marc, please make sure this is understood everyone!) but it seems like the review is slanted more towards local co-op's concerns affecting the game's final score.

All that said, there are issues with the game. I do have a some specific gripes! Firstly the loading. Why does it load 8-10 times when you approach a city?? What is that? It was annoying all in our party the other night.

The other main concern is we've experienced quite a few headaches trying to get into the same party. Last night we spent a full hour trying to get 4 people in one game. We never succeeded. We kept getting the server denied message. I don't think this is as much a Live issue or a user connection as much as an issue with the Sacred 2 servers.

bapenguin at 03:39 PM on 5.25.2009

You can't zoom in during the local play. And there are definitely some issues with connecting online as well, we experience a few lag issues.

phrozenfearz at 05:25 PM on 5.25.2009

The inability to trade in local co-op is being fixed in the first patch due out in less than two weeks.

rafoca at 05:35 PM on 5.25.2009

I am loving this game!

It´s incredible how I convinced a lot of friends to buy this game (even if they weren´t a fan of hack and slash games) and how they are enjoying the experience!

I can´t remember a game that made me play so much and so often, like Sacred 2 is doing to me.

This is SUCH a game!

BUT PLAY IT IN CO-OP!!!

rafoca at 05:37 PM on 5.25.2009

justabladguy, the SERVER DENIED issue has a very easy fix:

Just exit completely of your game, by going to the Dashboard. Then restart the game and you will be able to join. It works always with me. Ask everyone in your party to do it, in case you can´t join.

Mrxknown_JG at 06:01 PM on 5.25.2009

No matter what you guys said, I'm glad I didn't get this. I don't see it as a bad game, but it's 100% not for me. Thanks for the review and the comments helped.

smurphster at 06:46 PM on 5.25.2009

i'm sure online co-op is fine, but the issues DjinniMan brought up were enough that my wife and i can't play it. maybe it would be better if we had an HDTV but that's lame to release a game that is unplayable on an SDTV. i think that's worth a point drop. if i had to rate it on local co-op alone, it would get a 2/5. online co-op would probably be 4.5/5. i'm glad you guys are enjoying it online but give local co-op a try and you'll see how flawed it is.

Sinnix at 07:48 PM on 5.25.2009

I own this game on PC and I rented it on 360 to give it a shot with my gf. To be honest, the menus on the console version are SO HORRIBLE I'd be amazed if anyone could make sense of it without first seeing how it was done on the PC.

That said, I'm surprised to say that I find the combat in the 360 version a little better thanks to having easier access to your spells. It's a good rent for a week, but I don't know if I'd buy it.

BigBadBob113 at 08:08 PM on 5.25.2009

Just my thoughts on the PS3 version- havent played the 360, but they are pretty similar:

I finally got around to an online game with a buddy a few nights ago. We had no server errors at all, and experienced almost no lag. Getting the game going was quick and easy. Voice chat worked great with no problems.

I LOVE how you can explore on your own while in your buddys world. We can divide up in a dungeon and take different forks in the road, or if he wants to go to town to buy sell some stuff or trade in runes, I can stay in the field racking up XP for us while he does that. Its great. I havent played local co-op yet, since the misses isnt into RPGs. If only she was...

Mrxknown_JG at 08:13 PM on 5.25.2009

Yeah, that's what I hope future co-op RPGs allow

@smurphster I hope you read that a patch is coming so you may want to wait for that in case it fixes some issues.

smurphster at 08:56 PM on 5.25.2009

yeah i saw that but honestly i never get my hopes up for patches on console games. most games only fix the bugs and there are rarely major functional changes. we'll see...

it is nice to see console RPGs starting to catch up to PC RPGs. still a long way off but they're improving.

xxW4R EAGL3xx at 10:33 PM on 5.25.2009

Badbob just reading your comment makes me wish I had this game, sounds like fun!

BigBadBob113 at 10:42 PM on 5.25.2009

Like Marc said in the review, its an awesome co-op game. The best part of it is the replay value...its INFINITE!!! Six characters, fully customizable from skills to equipment, two paths to follow, 600+side quests, and doing all this WITH UP TO THREE BUDS is why this game is a must-have!!!

seshat at 10:44 PM on 5.25.2009

Please keep us updated about the patches. At the moment it seems I may pass on Sacred 2, but if they allow local co-op trading, and the PS3 fixes the local co-op with online co-op problems I may buy this (and convince some friends to get it)

Tino at 12:54 AM on 5.26.2009

So. This review is pretty much 100% accurate. I do hear local trading will be patched in.

However I don't recommend playing it locally. It's built and bred for an online co-op experience.

Zonf86 at 05:35 AM on 5.26.2009

2 more weeks and I can join you all for some co-opness!

Biohzrd451 at 06:55 AM on 5.26.2009

I played local with my wife and yea it zoomed out but it was not unplayable for me at least. As others have stated to true point of this game is the online capabilities.

justabaldguy at 08:07 AM on 5.26.2009

Cool that so many people have opinions on this. It is a great game despite the concerns. Last night we finally got around the server issue (see the post in the S2 thread). I guess I'm the only one with a concern on how the article gave a review score. Crazy Baldy.

DjinniMan at 10:08 AM on 5.26.2009

Baldy, basically, when we do a review, we have to review all of the co-op at once. Nick's score for the PC version was a 4, so I went from there. Adding in local co-op for the console version makes it a better co-op game, and so I would have added the half point for that. However, the implementation of local was flawed, so I felt like I had to count off for that somehow. As you say, the online co-op is very strong, and a 4 is an excellent score regardless.

Mrxknown_JG at 10:53 AM on 5.26.2009

From a recent Adam Sesseler Soapbox, he said it's increasingly difficult to be critical of a game after its release when patches and DLC can very much change the initial build.

I don't disagree with anything about the review, but I figured this comment could be beneficial somehow....

Fate at 11:14 AM on 5.26.2009

I don't have the game (yet). But can't you drop items from your inventory? Because that's how I always traded with a friend in Sacred 1. That would somewhat solve the local trade problem.

rafoca at 12:28 PM on 5.26.2009

@Fate, you can´t drop items

Total Comments: 22

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