his Might & Magic spinoff has received quite a few tweaks in the year and a half between its initial PC appearance and this Xbox 360 release. Its amusing core of brutal first-person melee action is intact and with one exception, the changes for this version enhance and expand the experience enough to make it worth your time.

Peripheral fluff like picking up collectibles aside, Dark Messiah’s gameplay revolves around finding creative ways to dispatch your enemies. Coming up with and executing a plan of attack tailored to your abilities and the situation stays fresh and entertaining throughout the game. For example, the archer might knock one guy into a fire with a flying barrel, bait a few more into an explosive trap, and finish off the rest with bow and dagger. An assassin could distract the sentries by throwing a pot into a dark corner, sneak up and stealth-kill a few baddies while the others are investigating the sound, and then take them out as they come back to check the inert corpses of their allies. The classes play very differently from each other, and exploiting their unique abilities is great fun.

Unfortunately, the free-form skill tree of the original game has been scrapped in favor of those classes. While all four classes are well-designed, the freedom to build up a hero however you wished is missed. The other minor changes from the PC version – collectible relics, improved inventory management, and a few new levels – are welcome, but not terribly impactful.

If you can put up with the game’s complete and total linearity and don’t mind a largely forgettable multiplayer offering, there is a ton of brutal amusement to be had with Dark Messiah’s excellent melee combat. The luster of physics-based gameplay may have worn off a bit over the last year and a half, but setting evildoers on fire is never boring.