Gamestock 2001: Hands-onNightcaster

Nightcaster is a third-person action adventure game from VR-1 Entertainment. The game has been in development for about a year now, and so far, it's looking pretty nice.

Nightcaster puts the player in the role of Arran, a staff-wielding wizard. At the game's outset, Arran will be a young, inexperienced magician. However, as you progress through the game, your youthful energy will be replaced with aged wisdom, turning Arran into a magic-using powerhouse. The game currently has lots of elemental spells, which can be cast at varying levels. The developers hope to have over 45 different spells in the game by the time it ships this fall. Spells range from simple lightning bolts to gigantic volcanos that sprout up from the ground and decimate nearby foes. Other spells can be used to create shields around Arran, some of which can also heal him at higher levels. Magic is broken up into four groups: fire, water, light, and dark. Obviously, things like fire shield spells and fireballs come in handy while traversing the winter portion of the game, which was shown at Gamestock 2001 along with a gigantic boss, an axe-wielding ice creature.

The interesting thing about Nightcaster that helps set it apart from other third-person action games is the orb. The orb is a glowing ball that normally sits on the end of your staff. But you can move the orb separately from Arran using the Xbox controller's right analog stick. The orb serves as a sort of aiming device, letting you run one way while firing spells in a different direction. One button press can retract the orb.

Graphically, the version on display at Gamestock looked great, though the framerate bogged down from time to time. However, this probably won't be a problem by the time the game is released later this year. The main character is made up of around 5,000 polygons, and the whole environment makes good use of bump mapping for realistic-looking textures.

Overall, Nightcaster appears a little similar to another Xbox launch title, Azurik: Rise of Perathia. Both use elemental magic, and both are third-person adventures. However, Nightcaster's spell-slinging gameplay made it seem a little more action-packed than Azurik. However, we'll have to wait until both games are finished to know for certain.