Dhruin
SasqWatch
This is the second review of The First Templar we've seen from a major site and IGN has hammered the game, with a 4/10 score. "Not good", would probably summarise their view:
More information.Looks aside, the major appeal of The First Templar is its story and combat. Unfortunately the story is weak and clichéd, with all the predictable twists and turns I'd expect out of a cheesy action film. The characters aren't particularly interesting, and there isn't enough dialogue between them or background given to the world to make it more than an excuse to put you in a bunch of different environments.
No matter how varied the environments are, though, the levels boil down to the same thing. Your character is funneled down one long path, forced to fight waves of imbecilic enemies and be beaten over the head with the solutions to any puzzles before them. Combat is basically a button mashing affair, where you can generally beat everyone around you just by swinging away like a mad man. Some later fights do force you to block and dodge, but this is mostly because they throw a ton of really dumb enemies at you, rather than presenting enemies that are genuinely challenging and fun to fight.