Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was a star last week when Ubisoft allowed gaming publications to talk about the game. So after a few days, countless previews of the game were published on the Net, with most of the authors having very positive first impressions. Here is a quick and dirty summary:

GameSpot has a written and a video interview. We learn that the "crusade multiplayer mode is intended to be a prequel to Heroes V, a game in which the lands of the humans were invaded by undead marauders." GameSpy describes it as a promising but currently unbalanced game. They say that "the priestess' forgiving play mechanics were designed to appeal to the not-so-hardcore." Jolt praises the fairly involved combat system, but notices many similarities to games such as Battlefield. PALGN is very enthusiastic: "Words can’t describe how enjoyable this game is, and just how good it looks in the flesh."

Last but not least, there's a very detailed description of the multiplayer classes at HEXUS, as well as two cool maps of Stonehelm and Broder Keep. If you can find your way around that site, there's the layout of a strategy guide over there. Highly recommended.