Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - Review @ 1UP

1Up joins the club with a harsh review of JoWood's Gothic 3:Forsaken Gods, giving it a score of D- with the caveat that "the only reason this didn't get an F is the original music..."  Here's the intro:

My friends, let me take you on a journey through a magical land where everything sucks. On our jaunt, the sights are ugly and outdated, the indigenous fauna's incredibly annoying, the locals have the communication skills of Chewbacca's illiterate, deaf-mute cousin, and the controls on our vehicle are archaic and unintuitive. Sounds great so far, right?

On the combat:

And in the process of keeping it real, I have to comment on Forsaken Gods' combat system, which is -- without a doubt -- the worst I've ever encountered in a game. It consists of little more than a hyperactive, sword-swingin' clickfest, and your opponents' A.I. is more easily exploitable than the governor of Illinois. But the most important of Forsaken Gods' major flaws: The whole system is built on an awful, awful design foible. Your character cannot counterattack (or do anything) if he's getting hit. As a result, if multiple enemies gang up and take turns hitting you, it's effectively impossible to do anything except a) run away or b) die. Even after leveling up many times, I still feared groups of weak enemies thanks to this fluke.

Conclusion:

So, do I have anything nice to say about Forsaken Gods? Well, apart from the decent score, it offers a ton of character customization and development options. They're put forward in a vague way that will confound folks unfamiliar with the series' mechanics, but they are there. But I'm really grasping at straws now.