Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

I had heard little to nothing about The First Templar when I went to my Kalypso appointment for the title, and was not sure what to expect.  Was it a hack and slash title (sort of), or some deep RPG experience (again, sort of)?  What I found was what could be a surprising little gem of a title, mixing in solid combat with a detailed skill tree for those that want their hack and slash and RPG at the same time.

The story of The First Templar focuses on the Middle Ages, dealing with the royalty and conspiracy that surrounds the Knights Templar.  You will toggle between two different characters, a mentor and a ward as they try to sort out a mystery that has erupted in the Knights Templar organization.

Our demo started with us walking through a forest area with some dialog between our two characters.  As we worked our way through the forest, we can across a female heretic that was sentenced to death.  Our characters, being the noble folk that they are, decided to save the girl, feeling that killing a woman for something that had not yet been proven, was a bit harsh.  The combat for our characters was up close and very visceral.    The controls seemed very responsive, and showing the ease of use, the PC version was being played with a gamepad.

The First Templar also looks to focus it’s battles on reality.  Gone are the thoughts of Orcs, Dwarves, Elves and other mythological characters that you would normally find in a game like this, instead focusing more on the reality of the time period.  This came into play in a big battle that we had near the end of a level.  People had mentioned a large beast that was terroizing the land.  When we found the beast, he was a character of large size and looked ot be a monster.  Our two characters battled the giant, and after slaying the beast, we removed the mask, only to see that it was not a monster, but a large man that had wrapped himself in animal skins and skulls.

The level that we saw in The First Templar, was very large, with a huge forest landscape to walk and explore.  Exploration seems to be rewarded, with lots of secret areas and extra bonuses for those that will take the time to search out these items.  Most will be better weapons, spells and other upgrades that will futher the development of your character.

One of the nice things in The First Templar is the idea of attacking a battle in several different ways.  You can go head in and hack your enemy to pieces, but we also had a chance to sneak up on a couple of unsuspecting guards and quietly break their necks, eliminating a bigger battle due to no reinforcements showing up. 

Some of the other items of note included boss battles for each area that you explore, 20 different locations, each huge in size and weather effects that will affect your gear and battle conditions.  The First Templar was currently in alpha status, so the graphics were a bit rough, but there is plenty of time to clean it up, as the game is not set to ship until some time in Q1 2011.

After my presentation, I have to admit that I was enjoying the title, but it does have a very European feel to it, and I wonder if it will gather a strong following in the US.  Kalypso is really making a big push to expand their audience in the US on the consoles, and The First Templar is set to ship on both PC and the Xbox 360, similar to the way another Kalypso title did it, Tropico 3.  But so far, The First Templar looks like it could be a great hit for those that want a little more realism in their Middle Age fantasy games.