Blade of Darkness

"Anyone wanna decapitate some monsters?"

GAMEPLAY:(10/10)
Ok I dont usually play games of this genre because i find them repetetive (games like tomb raider and other 3rd person adventure) but when i played this i was instantly hooked, the game play is amazing, killing monsters has never been so much fun, the fights require you to use combo's and skill more than the usuall ''Run at the enemy and shoot/slash untill they drop dead'' using these tactics will just get you killed. instead, as you level up (giving an RPG element to the game) you can use bigger weapons like huge swords and axe's and you can also use bigger conbo's as when you level up you become more healthy and can put mroe effort into moves.

GRAPHICS:(10/10)
WOW! the graphics in this game are amazing,when you attack an enemy is it blocks then sparks come flying off the shield when the sword grinds against it, the lighting is also very goog, the real time shadows mean that when you walk past a light your shadow is cast against the wall in the size it would be in real life, this adds a great amount to atmosphere in the game, especially when your fighting an enemy and your shadows are on the wall behind you.
These graphics come at a price,a huge price, the minimum system that will run this game is a PII 400MHZ CPU and 64MB RAM and a 3D card, although if you want to get the full enjoyment off this game I would try to stay with the reccomended requirments (PIII 500MHZ, 128MB RAM and a 32MB video card)I have a K6-2 500MHZ CPU with 64 MB of ram and a voodoo3, although the game runs it still skips at times.

SOUND:8/10
ALthough the sound in this game is great it does have one bug, I have a SOUNDBLASTER LIVE! PLATINUM which give 3D sound but I have to run it in 2D positional sound as 3D sound slows the game alot. the screams of pan in this game are realistic though and the sound of swords clashing is a treat to the ears so once again, if you have the hardware to run it, use 3D sound as it vastly improves the game.

WHY NOT 10/10?:
The reason i did not give this game a 10/10 is because I think that the system requirments are to high,althogh the graphics are great and teh engine is a lovely thing to use, the game designers should have thought of the people with slower computers that dont have the money to upgrade to a PIII. With that said, Thank you Codemasters for a great game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/01, Updated 04/15/01