Darkstone

"D2 wannabe? Naaah"

Well, I am a Diablo II fan, I've massacred the game pretty much. I saw this game in a Staples, contemplated buying it but decided to try the demo. Yeah, I got hooked and bought the game for 11 bucks.
The game starts off with something about crystals that become a time orb....blah.....necromancer dragon thingy named Draak.....blah....land overrun, you must kill him...blah. Just get with the killing!
You start off by making your character. There are eight choices revolving around four classes, and the choice for male or female. They classes revolve around the traditional fighter, priest, thief and mage, and each have 4 stats, dexterity, you chance to hit and dodge; vitality, your HP; magic, your MP and magic damage; and strength damage you can do. There are also skills you can buy...
The fighters specialize in melee attacking and their vit, dex and str make them ready from the word go. Their skills revolving around boosting damage and ac.
The mages specialize in spells and have low vit and high magic. They will eventually be death on wheels, but at the beginning they will be a lil weak. The sorceress, the female mage, has a special skill called lycanthropy which takes all her mana and turns her into a butt kicking werewolf. Mages also have identify which can be a big help money wise.
Preists specialize in melee combat with clubs and hammers. Their main stat is vit, and from what I've seen, they are like weak fighters with better magic. They are not bad at the beginning but could use a dex boost.
Thiefs are long range weapons experts, and their main stat is dex. Give them a bow and they'll be happy. Their skills revolve around their stealth.
I prefer a warrior with any of the other three as support.
Now you get into the game. The graphics are pretty good for it's time. Not gorgeous but they are pretty good. There is a little in town tutorial which will help if your new, veterans can skip it though.
In dungeons, combat is a little awkward, some enemies are small and it's hard to click on them. Also, some things you find, like food, are small and hard to spot. The camera, while slightly awkward at first, fixes this somewhat. I have to say that I love the camera because you can rotate it around and zoom in and out. While I was fighting a few ratmen I had it spinning around and there was no slowdown.
The game is fairly hard. Some fairly tough monsters will group up and waste you if your not careful and use choke points. Sometimes it is unavoidable, I was ambushed by a group of six orcs when entering a new level. Before I could think my mage was dead. Ah well, we all need a little difficulty.
The replay value is pretty good. You can try different class combos, the game randomizes it's quests and you can download a quest creator. Very nice.
This is a game I could go on and on about, even though I already have. The graphics are good, the gameplay is great, the story is typical and overall, it's something I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't care that much for story and just wants to waste stuff.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/03, Updated 03/11/03