Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

"Deja vu?"

Demon Stone… Another Atari attempt at delving into the Forgotten Realms. When I first bought this, I was stupid enough to not actually read any reviews, nor look on the back of the case for that matter. I installed it, expecting an RPG. Coming from Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, at first I was not impressed, but it DOES grow on you, albeit not a lot.

Story: 5/10
One day, film and game writers will get tired of this story, and stop using it. However, we're not quite there yet. It's the same old “A bunch (three) of characters are joined by fate, only to screw up, majorly. They then have to write there wrongs, and save the world.” Cliched? Yes. Some films and games can pull this off excellently, where, although you know the same old gist, you can't see stuff happening that does. However, some games do NOT execute this story well, leaving the script to be easily predicted by a six year old. I'm sorry to say, despite my love of the Forgotten Realms, this game is the latter.

Characters: 3/10
Possibly the third most important part of a game, the characters. To enjoy a game to it's full; you have to bond with the characters, and care what happens to them. You have to know their past, and feel what they feel from it. Good old Atari, living up to their name, does not do this. We have a fighter, who's on a revenge mission for something he could not prevent in his past. Without giving it away, every opportunity he gets, he brings it up. We have the rogue. As much as I love Drow, she didn't click with me. Then we have the good old wizard. Without spoiling the story, his past leaves much to be desired. Character development is minimal, apart from the occasional cut scene trying to pull at the player's emotions, explaining their tormented past. I smell another cliche. Also, there are a couple of cameos in here from R.A. Salvatore's books.

Gameplay: 4/10
Hmm… I seemed to get deja vu whilst playing this game. Have you ever played EA's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? Take that gameplay, change the names of the combos and spells, and you have this game. However, credit where credit's due, you CAN change characters on-the-fly just by pressing either F1, F2 or F3.

Graphics: 8/10
Ah, what everyone loves. The better the graphics, the better the game, or so Atari seem to think. I have to say, the graphics do look very good (although in one cut seen, you can easily tell it's layered 2D “cardboard cut-outs”). However, true to most 3D games, camera angles always a problem. Instead of trying to have a controllable camera, they decided to have fixed camera angles, to give it that “film” look. However, as lovely as some of the scenery is to look at (especially when you see a dragon flying past), they seem to be more bothered about showing off that the waves of monsters ripping your poor old mage apart. Although not on par with some of the newest games, I can't find many faults in the graphics aspect.

Sound: 7/10
Not bad. Voice acting's pretty good, and they got Patrick Stewart to feature in it as well.

Conclusion:
Overall, mediocre at best. The way that you HAVE to use different characters to get past parts of the game is what made me like it, showing that it's sticking slightly to the theme of “team work” featured in the Forgotten Realms world, showing not one person can do it alone. However, the game has ten chapters, and lasts about five hours for the average gamer, although I did it faster. Basically, if you haven't played any other hack n' slash games, you may like this, but DEFINITELY rent it, don't buy it or it will sit on your shelf forever more after you complete it once. If you like Lord of the Rings, get The Two Towers. If you're more of a fan of the Forgotten Realms, buy this. There are no unlockables, so I personally suggest you look elsewhere for a game that you want to play for a while.

Fin.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/25/05