The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III

I realise that many people who’ll be sitting down to play this game will have been big fans of the first two instalments in the Van Helsing series, so I’ll just give you a little warning – I have yet to play either of the first two games and from what I’ve read online, its seems that that might have been a very good decision.

Having not played any of the earlier games, I thought I would turn to my friend to get his opinion on the matter. He had many hours logged into both of the Van Helsing games, and had just started the third instalment.  His response was very negative. He told me in the previous game, players had are able import their character to the second in the saga. However, in Van Helsing III the player isn’t given this option, and so he felt that all his effort and work in the previous Van Helsing games became meaningless.

He also mentioned that the game felt very short in comparison to the older ones. The previous level cap had been 60, but in this game it had been cut down significantly to just 30. Some fun and memorable skills had been removed, such as some of the weapon enchants which gave stats all across the board. Overall he felt let down by the game in general, and the only things he could seem to praise about the game were it’s graphics and dialogue. After hearing all this I wasn’t exactly excited to start playing the game, but when I got into it, I was taken aback.

If you’ve played any sort of action RPG, you’re probably familiar with an abundance of shiny loot and massive hordes of enemies to kill. Well, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III definitely delivers in that aspect. I was amazed at the variety of different enemy character models and attention to detail in their movements and attacks. Although fighting didn’t really feel that impressive, it still gave each attack enough force and power, allowing players to more easily gauge the severity of each move.

You can go back and forth into different areas, slaying and looting as you please. Once you’ve filled up your inventory you can head back and sell it, or you can give it over to Katrina, your ghost companion who will sell it for you. This is a neat little mechanic and means you don’t have to spend loads of time running between zones to unload that loot laden inventory.

At the start of the game you get to choose from one of six classes – Protector, Bounty Hunter, Elementalist, Umbralist, Phlogistoneer or Contstructor. Each one is very different in terms of performance, with a whole range of unique skills, from close combat melee to ranged magic. There are around eight skills to could choose from in each class which really seems a bit slim, and I found myself only using around two skills throughout the entire game. After finding out that the previous title had 20 skills, I was rather dumbstruck as to why the developers would cut out that many and leave so little customisation available for the player.

There’s nothing too special that stands out about the story. It had everything it needed and apparently connected well with the last game. Even though I hadn’t played any of the previous games in the  series I still found myself being intrigued by the characters and drawn in slightly by the story. The voice acting is where the game shines, and has provided me with a unique slice of comedic genius that I’ve not seen within a game in quite some time. The back and forth witty banter between Lady Katrina and your character is hilarious at times, providing the odd chuckle.

I had read about a mode called “Never Ending Story” which was in the last two games and provided the player with a chance to keep their character while starting the game over again on a much harder difficulty. After playing through the game I was really looking forward as to experiencing this mode turned, but when I reached the end I was surprised that Nerocore Games had removed it from the game entirely and left players with just Scenario Mode. This mode involves randomly created adventures inside the various game maps, which have different victory conditions each time.

Overall it doesn’t seem like The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is that bad of a game, and provides any kinds of gamers with at least some form of enjoyable entertainment; whether it’s the games witty comedy or colourful combat. It definitely did provide me with some hilarious and fun moments going through it. For hardcore fans, however, it may be one to skip - as a lot of the key elements of the previous Van Helsing games have been removed and may just leave you hungry enough to skip number three, returning to the previous two games.