Gift of Parthax

Review

Gift of Parthax is a top-down action game where you take part in the grand arena of Atixa, built by the great wizard Renfry as a place to practise and demonstrate magic for an audience. However, that all changed when Parthax took control of the arena after defeating Renfry in a one-on-one. Now it’s a gladiatorial arena where mages fight for their lives against mythical and magical creatures.

You play as Arif, a mage from the lands of Duredyll and with your friend Veleus; you are trying to escape the civil war which has erupted between those who are magically gifted and the citizens of Duredyll, whom are not. Sadly, before you could make your escape, you were captured by agents, sent from the capital to round up all fleeing mages and have them thrown into the dungeons. Sometime later, Veleus is taken to the neighbouring kingdom of Atixa, where he’s to fight for his life in the grand arena. Despite putting up a brave fight, he’s hit with a powerful spell which has left him critically injured. News spreads back to the dungeon about Veleus’s condition; distraught and worried about his friend, Arif decides to breakout of the dungeon. He makes his way to Atixa with one thing on his mind, to enter the arena, defeat any and all opponents in his way, as he looks to claim the grand champion’s prize and save Veleus’s life.

You start in the Hall of Preparation; here there’s a library, shop and rest area and access to the arena when you’re ready to enter. In the library you’ll find a book where you’ll keep information on any spells, runes and archspells you may have collected or brought as you progress through the arena. Runes can be added to your spells to give them that extra oomph, like giving greater speed to a projectile spell or stunning the enemy. There are quite a few options for you to tinker with depending on which runes and spells you have, so mix n match to find what suits you best. Defeating monsters in the arena will drop gold which you can then spend in the shop. In the shop you can buy runes, health and mana potions to aid you in your quest. In the rest area you’ll find your friend, seriously injured in bed.

Talk to the guard when ready and he’ll give you an option of which challenge you want to take part in (only completed or next challenge are shown) and teleport you to the arena. Moving the cursor over the challenge you want to take, it will tell you what you’re about to face. To start with, you can only access the first arena, Spring 1 - this challenge consists of three waves. Defeating all opponents in these three waves will open the next challenge, Spring 2. There is a total of four challenges per season; once all four challenges are defeated, you’ll take on a master of the arena, and defeating them will allow you to move on to the next season, Summer, and so on. There is a total of twenty-five challenges over five seasons.

As you enter the arena a commentator announces you to the crowd, who are all around you in this hexagon-shaped arena. You start off in the middle of the arena and then all manner of creatures appear around you, and it’s time to fight. Some creatures move, others don’t; some fly while others may charge at you.  All have their own attacks and abilities as well as weaknesses. Exploiting these weaknesses will aid you through the challenges ahead of you. Using trap spells to slow down and kill the creatures while you use more offensive spells on others may just give you that extra edge in staying mobile.

You don’t want to get cornered or pinned down surrounded by these hideous creatures, otherwise it’s game over. I found that it’s best to attack certain creatures first (if possible), like the evil fireballs, who have an ability to stun within a certain area around them.  If there’s a few of them together, then they can cover a greater area in which they can stun you, which will then allow them and others to get some extra attacks in for a short while. Using a trap spell as soon as the round starts will also help you hold off being surrounded a short while as you try to defeat the creatures elsewhere.

Once you’ve beaten a wave, the next one will follow a few seconds later, and once all waves have been beaten a door will open at the top of the arena, letting you out. It will take you to a room where there’s a shopkeeper, who you can buy from if you have enough gold. Also, here is someone who will teleport you back to the hall of preparation.

Upon completing a challenge you’ll be rewarded knowledge points and spells, which can then be added to your arsenal. You’re able to equip four spells to take into battle and each spell can have four runes attached (can use multiple of the same rune on one spell). After beating a master you’ll gain an Archspell; these can be used once you’ve charged it up enough by killing creatures in the arena. Gaining knowledge will increase Arif’s mind; gather enough knowledge and the amount of health, mana and your magic damage will increase.

Moral choices you make while battling a master of the arena can lead to one of four different game endings, and will also determine whether you unlock ancient powerful Light or Blood magic (archspell). There are two game modes: Normal and Hardcore.  Choosing Normal mode - if you happen to die you’ll only lose some of your gold and knowledge earned from playing. Hardcore is for those who want much more of a challenge; if you die that’s it - your save will be reset, and you’ll have to start from the beginning again.

In the settings there’s Full Screen (On/Off), Camera Shake (On/Off), Language and Screen Resolution, there’s also Master, Background and Sound Effect volume controls. Under Control you’ll be able to check out the keys and buttons required to play using a keyboard/mouse and a game pad; sadly you can’t remap any of the controls. The game saves automatically for you but should you feel like starting another game, maybe to try hardcore or to try different runes with spells, then there are four save slots which you can use as you please.

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!