There is an odd feeling when suiting up in full plate mail to go out and war in God's name. There was a period in history when this was commonplace, even expected of all young and able men. The Crusades were a dark period in history, no matter what religion or faith you ask. Playlogic has decided that a historical fantasy action game is the best way to harness this dark time in our past. Knights of the Temple never made it to US shores, but had fair results in Europe. Its sequel Knights of the Temple 2 is headed this direction soon, and I recently laid hands on its current build.

The story is one we've all heard before. There is evil afoot, and one man knows of a weapon to stop it. He must gather the pieces while fighting back hell spawn, and finally send the demons back down "for good". It's never really for good, but it's nice to think so sometimes. With this generic of a plot, one could hope that the gameplay and graphics make the game worth playing. Well, from what I've seen so far that's not likely.

Visually, the game isn't bad. It has some merit in its flashy effects. Things like a giant flaming sword and diving explosions of holy bolt-like attacks come off very nicely. The environments I saw also worked well. Sure there wasn't much variety in the little I played, but it wasn't much of the game and for what there was a good amount of detail was shown. The sound is also adequate, though a bit more generic in taste. The music has a feel of "I know I've heard this before" most of the time. Animations of characters work very well, bringing a nice touch to Paul's (the hero) attacks and movements.

While his movements look good, they are quite difficult to control. The default controls are made for a USB controller or a console, not a keyboard. After fiddling around with these a while, the basics aren't too hard, but the camera and a few weird quirks make sure controlling the hero never becomes an automatic reflex. Things like jumping are strange, as Paul can only jump vertically. If running and told to jump, Paul will stop and jump upwards in place. In current state the camera can make the game nearly unplayable at times. In a single level I stared at walls and crates more often than anything else in the world.

The RPG elements being worked in seem to work, but they seem somewhat forced. Almost like after making the game the developers went back and threw in the skills and combos that you can buy with experience. A few of these are very strange to me, as they seem to contradict everything the Crusades and this knight were fighting for. At various times Paul gains access to magical powers, something the Catholic Church has always treated like the plague. While these divine magical powers work fairly well within the action aspects of the game, they feel so far out of context that they're almost ridiculous.

So what is there to say about Knights of the Temple 2? It feels far too much like a port, primarily. Dated sound and graphics, shabby AI, and some poor controls make for a mediocre presentation at the current stage. I genuinely hope that Playlogic can pull things together and fix at least a few of the larger issues, because somewhere down in there is a fun and interesting take on one of the most interesting periods in human history. With some polish and a good bit of tweaking this could easily become a medieval history fan's new favorite action game.