Dark Messiah: Hands-On @ GameSpot, GameDaily

GameSpot has a hands-on look at Dark Messiah's single-player campaign, apparently playing well past the level represented in the recent demo:

We're impressed by the sheer intelligence at work in the opponents of this game. The enemies we battled were smart and aware of everything around them, and they summoned help when needed, or barked instructions to one another when in a group. In a fight, enemies could skillfully dodge and parry our attacks, making each fight a challenge. We battled a variety of foes. By far the most numerous were the orcs, though we did encounter ghouls, goblins, and human opponents, as well. If you come across a necromancer, a good piece of advice is to kill him first, as necromancers may summon ghouls to battle. Or, even worse, the necromancer will reanimate the corpses of opponents that you've killed, which means that you have to deal with them all over again. The good news is that if you can take out the necromancer, then you effectively get rid of all the creatures that he controlled, because they will collapse without their master animating them.

...likewise GameDaily has their impressions:

What's a Power Strike? In addition to the Adrenalin Affect, melee combat is refreshingly satisfying in that you have several "real life" options at your disposal. Power Strikes are executed when you hold the left mouse button for a few seconds and attack. It unleashes a single, powerful blow capable of stunning your opponent. Moving around in different directions (side to side, backwards, etc.) changes the type of power strike. Flurry of Blows is your standard, fast strike attack that's limited only by how many times you can click the mouse button. When you manage to get an enemy to the ground, Impale the bastich to make sure he doesn't get back up! And what would hand-to-hand combat be without the ability to parry and block? It's included, and you will use it - a lot.