It's really not THAT bad...
You could say ARoT is a disappointment because, at the time, people believed Azurik would be Microsoft's mascot, much like Sega had Sonic, and Nintendo had Mario, but - as we all know these days - Microsoft has failed countless times in trying to put out a proper mascot, and ended up with Master Chief as its most iconic character (purely by accident, but that's beyond the point).
As Azurik, you play the role of a Lore Guardian, a citizen of Perathia who's in charge of protecting the Elemental Discs that keep the world in order. During the intro, you see those discs having a bad day, and your venerable teacher dying to protect you. So now you're the only one left to recover those discs and, hopefully, preventing Perathia from falling into total chaos.
And you'll do this armed with an Axion (a kind of double-edged halberd), and your natural ability to apply the power of the elements upon it - 4 of them, Air, Earth, Fire, Water. There's also Life and Death but, for some reason, you don't get powers for those, which is a shame,since a healing ability (Life) would have come in handy, and it's not like the Xbox white button is used for anything else anyway.
Regardless, the whole point of the game is to slowly explore the world of Perathia and fighting is meant to be used as a last resort. Perhaps the best example of this is in the Earth realm, when you find the controls to raise a tower. You COULD stop and fight every creature in the room... and end up frustrated, or you could make a dash, activate the machine, and then run out. Since you don't get any items or experience points for killing enemies (they're really just there to be an obstacle), that seems to be the best approach.
Still, you always have the option to go at it kamikaze-style (in which case, you should study all of Azurik's fighting moves which, sadly, aren't mentioned in the game manual or even in the game tutorial), or you could lure a couple of enemies and pick them one by one until you clear the room. Takes longer, but it's a choice, and choice is always good.
In some areas, however, you really have to fight, at which point knowing your opponents weaknesses can make the experience more appealing. Your first power, Water, is ideal when you go into the Fire realm, while the combination of Air + Fire + Water will make short work of Golems and the like.
Besides exploring, solving puzzles, and fighting... you'll also be doing quite a bit of platforming, and this is where I want to address one of the things I found weird in the original GameSpot review was the comment about physics. Yes, when you jump your character tends to float for a while but... since when Perathia has to obey the same laws of physics we have on Earth? You know, you can really tell when reviewer is biased when they treat "quirks" as "flaws".
Graphically, you have to remember this game was a launch title and the only thing it could be compared to, at the time of release, was PS2 games, and first-generation GameCube and Xbox games. With that in mind, ARoT is not really bad looking, although a bit of a mixed bag.
For instance, all outdoor levels are large with great draw distance, and some levels are particularly impressive, like the Stormy area of the Water realm or some sections of the Air realm. On the other hand, the Fire realm looks absolutely basic, and the Ice area of the Water realm isn't any better.
For the most part, lag is not usually a problem, even when there are lots of enemies on screen, but some areas - like the beach in the Water realm - suffer from severe lag even when there are no enemies on screen at all. Possibly a coding issue that wasn't optimized before the game was released, but fortunately not something that will hurt your character.
Another complaint that seems to be popular for ARoT is its camera. All I can say is that I see no issue with the camera other than, perhaps, the lack of transparency in the water when you're trying to look from above and into the water. You literally can't see your character until you shift the camera, or press the sink button to go lower (although you'll be doing it blindly for a few seconds, and that's assuming there's enough depth).
In terms of audio, again, it's a mixed bag. The soundtrack is clearly the best part of the game, as it has the hand of Jeremy Soule. If you don't know who that is, think of who made the music for other epic-themed games like "Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance", "Dungeon Siege", "Elder Scrolls" 3 and 4, "Icewind Dale", "Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic", and many more.
A common complaint, however, is that the music plays too softly in the background... and I'm kind of inclined to agree. I understand it might have been a conscious decision, to make the music just something that blends in without being intrusive, but I personally wouldn't mind if the music had a more active role in the environment, like in Halo where the music shifts according to what's happening - and that was a launch title, so totally doable.
The sound effects, on the other hand, are nothing special, and some - like the Axion attacks - can be annoyingly repetitive after a few hours. Creature grunts and pretty much everything sounds simplistic, and it feels like sound design was left for the later stages of design, forcing the team to rush it when the deadline arrived.
Voice acting is average, but the dialogue writers really didn't make it easy on the actors.
Balthazar - "Get away old man... I am the master now" *attacks*
Eldwyn - "Balthazar! I will not allow this!" *counter-attacks*
Azurik - "..." *watches*
I've seen a lot worse, but then, I've seen a lot better. Besides, other than the intro, most of the game has you playing alone without a single (non-monster) soul in sight. The only exception is when you visit the village, and the people who touch you have a handful of sentences like "help us, Azurik!" which gets old fast, and you'll end up avoiding people like someone with a social issues.
In terms of replayability, ARoT is lacking as once you finish it, that's it, you're done. However, the game is very long, even if you just want to get the story over with, and it gets particularly long if you try and maximize your character by collecting all the Obsidians and Elemental Gems.
I never needed a walkthrough for this and, frankly, I'm appaled by comments that claim you can get "confused" or "lost" in this game. There are plenty of spots where Eldwyn's spirit contacts you with all the information you need for a particular area, and not knowing what to do next is virtually impossible because everytime you visit the temple in the village, you'll be given specific instructions to where you should go at that point in the game.
Anyway, considering ARoT was a launch title, it actually deserves to be considered a "good" game. It's ambitious. It tries to give you a world to explore, with a combination of puzzles and combat but, in doing so, it ends up not pleasing either side as well as it should. The combat-oriented gamers claim the game is boring, while the intelectually-endowed gamers will scorn the way the story is delivered (or isn't, as the case may be).
This is no Zelda, and it never tried to be, but when you approach it for what it is, saving Perathia can be an enjoyable hobby.