Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

"A shadow of what it could have been"

Black Isle, one of the most respected RPG companies, have in the past unquestionably altered the genre for the better, with revolutionary games like Fallout and Baldur's Gate providing a much need kick in the arse to a stale genre full of dungeon hacks and Japanese knockoffs.
Their latest release, Lionheart, combines the much lauded SPECIAL system (a classless, open ended skill based system for character development) with a deep and rich fantasy world based on an alternate history, where magic has indelibly altered the world. The fusion of Christian, Islamic and Persian mythology in this milieu is well written and researched. From the moment the player begins to halfway through the game, (s)he will be absorbed by the well written quests, the comparisons with real world history and the characters (Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Hernan Cortes and Torquemada to name a few, all affected by the changes wrought by the introduction of magic). Halfway through, however, is when the problems begin. What was a non linear RPG with an emphasis on character interaction suddenly becomes a tedious and linear hack and slash, with the rest of the game consisting of the player fighting his way through approximately 40 screens full of enemies and nothing else. This seems to be the result of Black Isle farming out production of the game to Reflexive, a studio with only 2 games to it's name, who appear to have rushed the completion of the project. Another example of the apparently rushed nature of the development lies in the game balance, with about half the magic branches being near worthless(and heavily *cough* influenced *cough* by Diablo 2), melee weapons doing half the damage of unarmed combat, thus rendering them worthless, and a ranged character's ability to defeat the final boss without taking any damage or raising a sweat.

Graphics-9/10
One of the nicest 2D games I've ever seen

Atmosphere-6/10
Excellent in the beginning, although the city seems fairly under populated and sterile.

Sound-9/10
Great medieval music, good voice acting, but the battle sounds get stale quickly

Gameplay-2/10
Starts off very well, but the unbelievably tedious nature of the 2nd half makes the beginning seem nothing more than a training area for the cheap Diablo rip off this game becomes

Interface and Controls-4/10
Poor. The character screen is split across 3 separate screens, spellcasting outside of the quick slots is overly difficult in a heated fight, and the quick slots are too limited. The lack of an ability to issue orders while paused is an incredibly bad design flaw.

Stability-5/10
I had few problems with crashes, but there are flaws that have led to savegame corruption and quests becoming incompletable.

Total(not an average)-4/10
All the worse because of the initial promise of the game

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/24/03