The First Templar Review

26 May 2011 at 13:00:00 by Peter Parrish
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

Getting hold of some review code for The First Templar proved to be a quest almost befitting of the infamous Catholic warrior order upon which the game is based. The first Steam code supplied to IncGamers was invalid and the second was a duplicate, already activated by someone else. Only on a third attempt was our persistent editor able to get hold of a working code. I was beginning to suspect publishers Kalypso of trying to hide something from us.

That cynical thought was unfounded, as The First Templar turns out to be a fairly enjoyable third-person action adventure romp. It's an uneven game though, and one which scrapes through as a moderate success almost in spite of itself.

Players control Celian d'Arestide and one of two travelling companions (sarcastic noblewoman Marie and surly Roland) as they hop their way across the world in search of the Holy Grail and find answers to some of the lingering mysteries surrounding the Templar order. There are always two characters on-screen at once and in single player it's possible to jump between control of either of them. The game also offers both online and offline co-op modes, the second player taking control of your companion.

It's clear that some budgetary shortcuts have had an impact on the game. Celian runs a bit like Shaggy from Scooby Doo if he were suffering from minor stomach cramps, characters over-emote in cut-scenes with the same mechanical movements, and several NPCs wear facial hair that looks like it has been fashioned from LEGO man's hairpiece. There's also an issue with the quantity and quality of character models, there are so few of more that various enemy leaders are clearly clones of one another and armour regularly clips through clothing. Don't expect a smooth visual ride here, there are a lot of rough edges.

The First Templar's plot is silly in that special way that videogame narratives tends to be, prancing around in tone on a whim. You'll get some serious attempts to condemn Inquisition torture one moment, followed by melodrama so dead-pan it comes across as funny - all the way to flat out Monty Python references and quips with inept allies who've got themselves trapped in damp caves.

The characters are either one-note or (in Marie's case) a bit bi-polar. She's supposed to be a confident, sassy aristocrat (who happens to be a part-time knife juggler) but devolves into lazy female stereotype territory at the drop of a hat. At least Roland sticks closely to his role as 'the grumpy one who wants to kill things.' The moment where he listens to yet another peasant's boring tale of woe, rolls his eyes and says "Well, whatever" is probably when he won my heart.
I've seen people asking whether this title is similar in style to Assassin's Creed (presumably due to the Templars,) but it's really nothing like that series at all. If anything, its levels are closer to something like Alpha Protocol or Dynasty Warriors; linear, but with the odd diverging path here and there with a bonus objective to complete. The game is also hell for completionists, as it dots semi-hidden chests and Templar history around the place, some of which need to be discovered in order to complete collectable outfits and weapon sets (or to just finish all bonus objectives on a level).

In fact, the game First Templar owes the greatest debt to is probably Batman: Arkham Asylum. Although the combat system here isn't as tight, it places the same emphasis on timing and removes (some of) the senseless button mashing of other hack and slash efforts. It also shamelessly pinches the 'warning sign over an enemy's head when he's about to smack you' system from Arkham. Still, why innovate when you can adapt a system that's already proven itself a success? Combat makes up the vast majority of the game, so the fact that this is smooth, flowing and largely satisfying is a huge boon.

The game does have some ideas of its own, too. When you face archers in battle, they stand slightly away from the action while pairs of crosshairs slowly narrow in on you. If you go up against an enemy with a shield, this must be broken with special moves that can only be performed when a character has enough 'zeal' (a kind of aggression meter that builds up when you lay into enemies). Naturally there's a long list of skills to purchase with experience points earned from defeating foes and finishing quests. These bestow you with new combos or apply passive bonuses like greater damage, additional health or regenerating zeal.
Developers Haemimont Games have peppered the more combat-heavy levels with some dungeon-based puzzle stages to offer a change of pace, but these are hampered by the game's own design choices. As there's no 'jump' function to speak of, pretty much all of these puzzles are based on standing (or not standing) on certain tiles and making use of both players to pull levers in specific sequences. It's about as thrilling as it sounds and makes these stages a touch tedious. Fortunately though, you're never more than twenty minutes or so from the next bout of fighting. The periodic inclusion of stealth in the game, during which you need to sneak behind opponents and perform quiet kills, is integrated more successfully.

Co-op play works ok, if quirkily. The matchmaking system seems to have a bad habit of showing games you can't actually join (due to all multiplayer slots being full) and if you join a game as the second player you're unable to assign experience points. The person hosting does all of this, which is a bit weird.

In the PC version you also have to sign up for an online account before diving into the co-op and, worse still, have to go through some god-awful 'Facebook integration' if you want to invite your friends directly. This is on top of Kalypso's own copy-protection system that forces you to sign up for an account with them in order to log-in and access any games they publish. When the game is on Steam in the first place, this adds far too many layers before you can just play a damn co-op game and is extremely unwelcome. The number of people playing online isn't exactly huge, so you may be forced to opt for local co-op or just rely on the unusually competent AI partner to see you through the game.
The First Templar is uneven, inconsistent in tone and, to be blunt, wonky in execution. But, it manages to rescue itself to a degree, preventing its 13-15 hour campaign becoming a laborious chore. The bulk of the game is about laying down some brutal Templar justice with a satisfying (albeit derivative) combat system. It's this, along with the rather convoluted roller-coaster of a plot and the constant allure of collectable secrets, that should keep you interested all the way through to its conclusion.

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