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"There was
an instant when the blades flamed and licked, seeming to
barely touch each other and leap apart; then conan's
broadsword flashed past the saber and descended
terrifically on amurath's shoulder. the bar wench cried
out at the fury of the stroke. Above the crunch of the
rending mail, she distinctly heard the snap of the shoulder
bone. Conan's enemy reeled back, suddenly ashen, blood
spurting over the links of his hauberk, as his saber
slipped from his nerveless fingers."
From Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Usurper"
Do you love fantasy pc games? Does the thought of a (cyber)
sword in your hand and a wench at your feet get your gaming
pulse rising? Does wading into a roomful of angry orcs with
a two handed axe sound like your type
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of game? Ever get
sick of diablo-type sword and sorcery games with 10,000
midgets attacking with blow darts who die in a cute pool
of blood? Ever get sick of repairing your sword for the
100th time? Ever fear the commitment of a six-disk fantasy RPG?
If you have answered "yes" to any of the above questions,
then "Blade of Darkness" is the game for you. "Blade of Darkness"
is a near-perfect blend of sword and sorcery hack-n-slash
action enriched with outstanding graphics and sound.
Simply put, this game is amazing, and is the best game
I have played since the original "baldur's gate". Why it
was not more popular, or why the pc gaming press mostly
ignored it, i'll never know.
To start the game, you choose from one of four characters:
the barbarian, dwarf, amazon or knight. Each character class
has different weapon proficiencies. For example, the barbarian
is skilled at two handed swords, axes and scythes(!).
The dwarf excels at war hammers and maces; the amazon uses
spears and staffs; while the knight uses short swords and shields.
With each level of experience gained, you character earns special
attack moves with a weapon. Again, using the barbarian as an
example, he earns a "speed kill" move at level 4 of experience,
where the barbarian spins forward and lops off the head of an
attacker in one purely devastating move.
The game perspective is 3rd person, and the graphics and sound
are stunning. Water shimmers, torch light flickers, footsteps
sound different depending on which surface you are walking on.
I was playing as the barbarian and while in a cave the torch
light cast my shadow on the wall while holding a sword, and I
had to stop and just admire the graphics.
One note on the graphics: this game is very gory. If you hack
off the arm of an enemy, not only does the arm fall to the ground,
but blood also spurts out of the shoulder as the enemy staggers
around in the throes of death. While the enemy is staggering
around, you can practice your kill moves on the poor soul.
As the ultimate insult, you can pick up his severed limb
(with weapon still attached), and beat him with it.
The game locales range from a knight's castle, subterranean
caves/dungeon, a dwarven mine, and mountain foothills to name a few.
The game is loosely based on 4 different quests for each of
the characters, but the main objective is to kill and plunder.
The atmosphere is moody, dark and violent. In my 14+ years of
video game playing/searching, "Blade of Darkness" is the closest
I have come to 'playing' conan. I can think of no higher tribute.
Artificial Intelligence in the enemies is outstanding. When you
fight a creature, you can see if he is holding a health potion.
If you back up, the creature will drink the health potion to
restore his own health, then continue the fight.
Drawbacks on this game are very few and very minor. First the
game takes a long time to save and load. My solution to this
is to die less. The second minor flaw is that the default
controls are not that logical. My advice is to reconfigure the
controls when setting up the game and to go through the brief
(5 minute tutorial).
Kudos to the designers for their obvious homage to robert howard's
original "conan" books of the 1920's for inspiration. Any fan of
conan will recognize the parallels. I had to chuckle when I saw
the save screen for the barbarian character - just check out the
very end of the original "conan" movie to see what I'm talking about.
Bottom line: get this game now if you like fantasy games and thank me later.
It may not be in the "new release" section, but it is worth looking for.
Sliceboy Rating:
5 out of 5 Planets (my first 5 planet review ever!)
Talk about
Blade of Darkness>> |
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Buy It @
amazon.com |
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