Another poor result for Mage Knight: Apocalypse in Fragland's review, which scores Namco's game at 49%:

That your comrades have hardly any AI and therefore die pretty quickly can in the beginning be seen as irritating maybe, until you realise that dying doesn't mean anything. All units respawn at the last checkpoint while the defeated monsters are still rotting away. Getting through a level is nothing more than rushing to the other side until you die. And again, and again... The only thing you really lose are active spells on your avatar.

GamerDad has posted their critical review of Mage Knight Apocalypse , awarding it 3 out of 5 stars based largely on the innovative skill and level system, saying:

This is one of those divisive games that some will love and others will hate—both sides with justification. Once you hit your stride there are long stretches of nice battles and interesting areas, but nothing stands out compared to other games in the genre. Take any fantasy themed game and add some high-tech weapons to the dwarf's arsenal, and there's Mage Knight: Apocalypse. Because it is loosely linked to the Mage Knight universe, there is a special appeal to fans of those games. But the look, feel and gameplay suggest more of a budget release from a fledgling developer than a major release from a big-name publisher.

GamerDad also has a review for the 'other' recently released Mage Knight title, the strategy game 'Destiny's Soldier' for the Nintedo DS here

A mediocre 'C-' is the score for Mage Knight: Apocalypse in Gameplay Monthly's review:

With all the complaints, Mage Knight Apocalypse is actually not a bad game. The game runs smoothly on most computers given that you may need to scale down the graphics and effects if you have older video cards. Gaining new skills and levels by repeatedly using the same skill over and over again makes this already 3D ARPG even more similar to Dungeon Siege. Unfortunately though, MKA wasn't able to surpass other ARPG titles with things that could have easily been fixed.

...Meanwhile, GameShark scored 'B-' and is more forgiving:

I really don’t want to rag on MK: Apocalypse completely however, because the length is quite satisfactory, the inclusion of co-op play is a very good bonus, and I just found this to be a really fun RPG romp all around – which, ultimately, is the most important thing. Graphically the game also puts forth a very aesthetically-pleasing presentation (this also ties into the cutscenes), and if it wasn’t for the stability problems (as well as sometimes very-inconsistent framerates) I’d be all the more happy with it. I’ll heartily recommend Mage Knight: Apocalypse to any RPG fan who wants something just a little different out of their hack-n-slash experience – or just wants to play a bad-ass Dwarf who sweeps the landscape clean with miniguns and incendiary grenades – but before picking it up, make sure you have a fairly beefy system, and also check to see if any new patches have been released to curtail some of the major design flaws - this should then ensure you can extract maximum enjoyment.

On the official forums the v1.02 retail patch for Mage Knight Apocalypse has been released now. This one is not for the D2D version (Which you cat get via this link).

Gamespy has posted an abysmal review of Mage Knight: Apocalypse. Scoring it 1.5/5.00 stars, the reviewer had this to say in summation:

The final nail in Mage Knight's coffin is the camera system. It's the most bizarre use of a third-person camera of any game in recent memory. The problem is that it doesn't automatically stay behind you. In order to spin the camera on its axis, you need to hold down the space bar while moving the mouse, which doesn't make a lick of sense. Why not just slap the camera behind the character and allow it to auto pan and follow you? It's good that you can use the WASD keys to move -- it's very comfortable to move this way -- but the whole spacebar thing is just downright bizarre and totally unnecessary. 

Namco really wanted to make a big splash in the PC gaming market after acquiring the licenses for both Mage Knight and Warhammer. Now that Mage Knight: Apocalypse has arrived, and seeing how it turned out, it's clear that this couldn't have been the kind of splash Namco had in mind.

Worthplaying let us know they have a v1.02 patch for the D2D version of Mage Knight: Apocalypse.  They write "The v1.02 patch, currently only for the downloadable edition, adds camera chase mode, hotkeys for camera control, but most tweaks and balances units and skills."

Mage Knight: Apocalypse has been reviewed at Pro-G, resulting in a score of 5/10:

The biggest fault, however, is the risk-and-reward system in place - in that there isn't one. The premise is - for whatever reason - that there should be no punishment for player or NPC death; no lowering of skills, no loot lost, nothing. This is exacerbated by the fact that respawn points are rarely far from the action, meaning you can quickly get back into the fray. Whilst this may be viewed as a good thing, it totally destroys any need for self-preservation. Perhaps to counter this, and add to the relative ease of the game, later levels throw insane numbers of enemies at you, but it does little to help.

RPGFan has posted a review of Mage Knight: Apocalypse, with a score of 66%:

Mage Knight: Apocalypse had the potential to be the casual gamers' Diablo II. With a popular pre-existing franchise and a basis of making a game anyone could pick up and play, Namco Bandai Games and IS Games could've had a juggernaut on their hands. What they ended up with was not another Divine Divinity, but a resource-hogging 3D hack-and-slash that isn't quite good enough for a casual gamers' money and isn't quite complex or interesting enough for the hardcore RPG Fan's time.

RPG Vault has the wrap report for Mage Knight: Apocalypse. In this extensive report, Namco Bandai's Dave Georgeson discusses the team's feelings about the game now that it has finally been released. The report weighs in at five pages and contains eight new screenshots.

There was never an intention on our part to make a triple-A summer blockbuster sort of game here. Mage Knight: Apocalypse is fun, simple, challenging if you want it to be, and the amount of single player gameplay is 25 hours or more for a single run through the story. The game is also designed for much more play beyond once through; we have five unique characters to choose from, and they all play very differently.

 IGN has posted a walk through for Mage Knight Apocalypse, the recently released RPG. You can grab it at the link above.

Worthplaying joins the growing number of sites with a harsh review of Mage Knight: Apocalypse, handing down a score of 4/10:

After you get past the graphics, you then get to contend with the control scheme. MageKnight Apocalypse feels very much like it was designed for an analogue control setup, leading me to wonder if perhaps the original plan wasn’t to have this game released on console platforms as well as PC. Use of W-A-S-D does an adequate job of covering movement; however the constant battle with the camera point of view adds further frustration to an already colicky title. I suppose it might sound bitter of me to mention that the excessively linear levels half-negate the need to adjust your camera anyways. I cannot remember a time I’ve ever seen such train-track restrictions on exploration. Even Fable gave you more room to bail around in

DarkZero also clocks in at 4/10.  Here's a sample:

So, what sort of game do we have? Instead of creating a digital version of the tabletop game, which could have proved to be interesting, Namco-Bandai again kick dust in the face of originality and have made MKA a by numbers Diablo-style dungeon crawler of the most generic kind. All the hallmarks of the genre are here, and this sort of game tends to end up in one of two categories. If done well, these games can almost be a hypnotic experience, levelling up your character from a pool of multiple classes, gaining new skills and battling bigger and badder monsters to find those elusive rare items. Done badly, however, and this sort of game can become a tiresome click fest. MKA actually does something original here and falls into a whole new category – the ‘utterly, utterly dismal’.

RPG Vault has a Minute View of Mage Knight - a short overview based on eight hours play:

Based on less than eight hours in the single-player campaign and none in multiplayer, which may not accurately represent the game as a whole, Mage Knight: Apocalypse has some interesting features and elements. However, these are counter-balanced by others that make it feel uneven. It's fine for simply bashing or blasting monsters, but beyond that, doesn't seem special so far.

Shack News linked another review of Mage Knight: Apocalypse at Gamespot . Scoring the game with a "poor" rating and a 4.4/10.00, the reviewers said:

Mage Knight Apocalypse is a poorly executed take on a tried-and-true formula. The game has everything you'd expect from an action RPG, but none of it is handled well. The multiplayer is a hassle, the single-player is riddled with bugs and frustrating design flaws, and the presentation is sloppy. If you can somehow overlook all of these flaws, you could spend a lot of time going through all six chapters of the game with each of the five characters. But when you consider how many similar games of better quality are already available, you're left with very little reason to play this one.

A disappointing result for Mage Knight: Apocalypse in GameZone's review, with a score of 5.8/10:

OK, overall the game handles well … but it is what it is … a Diablo-style hack-and-slash dungeon runner. Each part of the game is divided up into “enter area A, kill all bad guys, do some side quests, make some stuff, get to point B, load next area and start all over again.” Not that this is a bad formula mind you, considering the success many other titles using the same formula have had, the problem is that this one tries to do more than that. Basically, adding in all of the extra features of creating, recruiting, issuing commands, etc. seems better suited to a more open title, and it just seems out of character for what the game is in the end.

Jonric: What are some of your favorite enemies in Mage Knight: Apocalypse, and what do you find particularly interesting appealing about each of them?

Chris Wren
Senior Producer, Namco Bandai
Co-creative lead, Mage Knight: Apocalypse
Orc Cyclops hands down. We liked this guy so much we designed a level around him, and then we decided to start putting him in other regions to get more fighting time with him. He can punch the ground, causing boulders to drop on you from the sky, or he can do his battle cry, which immobilizes you while he calmly walks up and pummels you. The best part about him is his size; he is easily 25 feet tall, and shakes the ground when he walks... truly nerve-shattering when he is charging at you and you have nowhere to run.

Dave Georgeson
Senior Producer, Namco Bandai
Co-creative lead, Mage Knight: Apocalypse
Oh, I'd have to say the story is something I really dug into. God knows it went through enough revisions! Chris and I spent a lot of time working the story points to make sure it all fit together and made sense. One of my first tasks on the story was to write an interesting background that gave them a purpose in this struggle. We made it so that you get to learn about each of these characters more and more as you make your way through the game. Each is from one of the six regions, so you will get to meet their families and friends as you go from place to place, as well as the struggle of their people.

We had the idea early on to tie in the five aspects of the apocalypse to each of the five main regions of the game; there would be a Pestilence region, a War region, a Famine region, etc. So, each of the heroes is not only tied to a region, but also to one of the aspects of the apocalypse. The overarching themes were easy to absorb, but it really came down to the nitty-gritty of getting the elements to all flow together in a way easily understandable by anyone playing through the game. The Interserv team did a fantastic job making the cutscenes and dialogues for this game to support the story, and the fact that your customized hero is the star of all these movies makes it that much more personal and enjoyable.

The multiplayer facet also allows for some deeper customization, and allows hosts to set up their servers in a surprising number of ways. As we learned in our single player preview, the game is divided into six chapters, each with various adventures or boss battles. A host can choose to restrict their server to only allow certain quests, or one chapter. Or, they can configure it to loop particular sections of the game. If the host decides that Chapter 2 and 3 are the best parts of the game, he or she can modify the server so that anyone joining will loop through those chapters - once Chapter 3 is complete, the game will start over with the Chapter 2 content. Otherwise, on a restriction-less server, players can jump around to any quest they like. Additionally, the server can be configured so that players can go through the game from beginning to end in a full co-operative mode.

The magnitude of information given to us the first time around did not leave much room for further revelations. Fortunately we were able to unearth a few final details about the multiplayer content for Mage Knight Apocalypse, which will be released this week.

The Mage Knight property provides a rich setting for the title, allowing it to draw upon extensive lore including the interactions and conflicts among a range of races and interest groups. The Draconum Mage, Vampire Nightblade, Amazon Huntress, Dwarf Gunner and Elven Guardian comprise a diverse selection of playable characters, and each has its own three unique skill trees. Advancement is usage-based, depending upon the skills you employ. The item customization system is very flexible, using mage stones that can be combined in many ways, and that can also be removed and reused. Single-player characters may be used in the cooperative multiplayer mode to build them up and to acquire better equipment. The art direction appears to capture the look and feel of the franchise.

Based on the best-selling collectible miniature game from WizKids Games, Mage Knight: Apocalypse allows players to assume the role of one of five warriors sworn by oath to seek out the heart of evil plaguing the land and destroy it no matter the cost. Aided by the Solonavi, a mysterious and magical race, the guardians commence a quest to rescue their world from the clutches of an evil army determined to bring about the Apocalypse. As the forces of chaos rise, a creature of unimaginable destructive power is unleashed to lead the enemy: the Apocalypse Dragon, a seemingly unstoppable five-headed horror. In order to combat this monstrosity, players must rally support from all of the land's factions and recruit brave heroes to battle for their cause. The future rests on the shoulders of these noble adventurers, and the ultimate clash for battlefield supremacy is about to begin.

The gameplay of the preview build is entirely reminiscent of that great classic title, with a strong focus on dungeon crawling and item collection. Indeed, in this early version, so much outstanding gear drops that much of my time was spent juggling it in and out of my extremely limited backpack slots. Also like Diablo,Mage Knight features an item improvement scheme in the vein of the item gems. Each item found in MK has three sockets, in which certain stones can be placed to increase that weapon's stats. These stones interact with each other in peculiar ways; for instance, a Death stone and a Fire stone will not only add Death and Fire damage to a weapon, but they may add a small percentage of a chance to cause fear as well. The best thing about the system is that, at least in the preview version, the stones can be removed from the item should you find a better one later, so that stones can be reused indefinitely.

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 close 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.

We battled through the game's opening levels, encountering dozens of orcs, mechanical golems, and even stranger fantasy creatures, such as humanoid boars. Combat is as simple as repeatedly clicking on a target to strike. You can map both mouse buttons to different types of attacks, so the left one might be a melee attack, while the right one is a magical attack or a special ability. For instance, playing as the vampire, we used the left mouse button to attack with her sword and the right mouse button to use her blood-drain abilities, which sap the life out of an opponent and restore some of the vampire's health bar.

When we were designing Mage Knight: Apocalypse, we wanted to spend a lot of time crafting the individual missions and tailoring them to the characters involved, wrapping a rich story around them, filled with thousands of combat opportunities as they adventured. That required us to really customize the ambushes and cut scenes, and to bring the game up slowly from humble beginnings (when the player's character is only a neophyte) to frenzied mass combats (when the character is more experienced).

What impressed me the most as Dave was talking was how he kept repeating that the focus of the game is on the rich storyline, with lots of dialogue, lots of drama in the game, not just a kill as many monsters as you can to get more loot. The developers have built in ambushes and surprises to the game to keep the players involved in the world of Mage Knights. It really sounds as though with this game it truly is the journey, not the destination, which is the focus. The game has been in development for close to 2 years now, with much of that time being spent build base of pyramid well. Dave likened this beta period that they are in now to being near the top of the pyramid. Personally I can't wait to see them reach the pinnacle of said pyramid so that the game is released and we can all play it.

GS: By now you've had a chance to play with a nearly complete version of the game. Has anything surprised you thus far? For example, do you find yourself experiencing cool moments that you didn't originally envision? If so, can you give an example?

DG: Surprises happen all the time. Part of that has to do with the large number of patrol paths that we use in Mage Knight Apocalypse to keep it much more active than other games of this type. Our enemies don't just stand around and wait for you to show up. Many of them wander through the area on guard for intruders or just go about their own business. This often creates situations that aren't entirely predictable. Players sometimes choose to rest where monsters will wander, and that catches you off guard. Or encounters may suddenly become larger because a patrol stumbles upon you from behind while you're busy with other things.

Most surprising moment: I'm personally pretty intimately familiar with the storyline and the way the missions flow. However, I still get a huge kick out of watching the sidekicks fight in combat. There's something very natural about moving through the world with friends at your side. It's kind of like a little pocket massively multiplayer shard on my desk running through a really cool, unusual fantasy world. I like it. (And there's no monthly fee!) GS: How long does it take to get through Mage Knight's single-player game? How much replay value is there? And can you describe some of the different ways you can play through the game?

Good? Bad? I guess we'll see in September when the game ships. And honestly, that same thinking pertains to the whole of the game as well. I love the action RPG genre, but right now I'm looking for something to turn it on its ear. To do something really wild, different, and most of all fun with the tools at hand. Will Mage Knight be that game? At this point I think the jury is still out. We'll soon be meeting with the team again to talk up the multiplayer aspects of the upcoming PC release, which could certainly tip the scales one way or the other. Look for more coverage of Mage Knight:Apocalypse leading up to the game's release next month.

I've been asked on a number of occasions what differentiates Mage Knight: Apocalypse from other action RPGs that have been created in the past. There are a lot of simple answers, like our free-camera system that keeps you from being locked into a view that is top-down only, the cooperative multiplayer mode that lets you play the storyline with your friends, the crafting methods of forging and alchemy, and the massive scale of some of the monsters we bring to the game. But one of my favorite differentiating factors is... personality.

The quickest path to explaining the base gameplay mechanics of Mage Knight: Apocalypse is to liken it to a similar game - namely Dungeon Siege. Like Dungeon Siege, the player's character has skill areas that acquire experience through use, which unlocks new abilities and/or spells. On the other hand, character selection more closely resembles Diablo - the five characters each have three different skills, for a total of 15 different skill sets vs. Dungeon Siege's four.

GameSpot: We understand that the game will offer an extensive cooperative multiplayer mode that will let players play through the whole campaign or through single missions. It has been hinted that there might be one or two other modes in the game. Are they still going to make it, or is the team focusing on co-op for now?

Dave Georgeson: The multiplayer system is client-server based, so players can set up their own dedicated servers, if desired. Because the servers can run independently on a 24/7 basis, we've allowed hosts a number of options on how they want the server to run.

You can play the game from start to finish, cooperatively, with up to five players. This is what we call saga mode. Or you can set your server to play a single chapter over and over again, in what we call chapter mode. A chapter is a collection of adventures that comprises about one-sixth of the game (each of the five chapters roughly centers around one of the main characters' backgrounds and the last chapter is the climactic ending of the saga). And lastly, you can also play a single adventure over and over again, if desired. This is adventure mode.

Additionally, hosts can set a hostile flag on/off on their server. The game defaults to "off," which means that players can't hurt other players. This makes using area effect attacks a lot friendlier for players and increases the pace of the action. Changing the setting to "on" means that players will hurt other players. This really ratchets up the difficulty of the game as players have to avoid killing one another during battle. Hosts can also password their servers, limit the number of players, and even limit the power rating of characters allowed on that server.

Wednesday 28 June 2006, Basingstoke/... Leading games publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. and DEEP SILVER today announced an agreement to allow Koch Media to co-publish both revolutionary real-time strategy game Warhammer®: Mark of Chaos™ and the fantasy role-playing game Mage Knight™: Apocalypse under its premium games label DEEP SILVER in all European territories. Both titles are scheduled for release in late 2006 for the PC.

GS: We understand that no matter which character you choose to play as, the other four characters will be available to join you in the game as party members. How different will the play experience be if players select different characters--will the story play out differently? Will players visit only certain areas and not others?

DS: Our story brings five diverse characters together into a fairly complex overall epic, taking them all over the land, accomplishing seemingly unrelated adventures before finally seeing it all resolve into the climax of the game where they act to save the entire land in a unique fashion.