Throne of Darkness

"An awesome new twist in the history of the samurai!"

Minions of the Dark Warlord ransack and decimate your homelands, ravaging your stronghold and destroying everything. Now the only things you have are your wits and your sword...and a taste for revenge...

Sierra and Click Entertainment created a very good game of ancient Japan and the race for the next Shogun, Throne of Darkness.

Sound: 7/10
The sounds of the game can be a bit overwhelming, especially during massive battles with multiple enemies. Your samurai party has its own warcries and your enemies all have theirs.

However, the environmental and background music make up for this liability. While in one of the castles or citadels, you hear the old tones of lyres and other oriental instruments. When in the wilderness you can even pick up the sounds of crickets and birds.

Graphics: 9/10
You really couldn't ask for better graphics in a game such as this. The opening scenes are similar to anime and the characters themselves in the game have a very good movement transition.

With each new class of armor your samurai upgrades to, his appearances changes from common swordsman to elite, highly decorated samurai. Each samurai has a set of weapons he is adept in and can only equip weapons of that type.

Spell graphics are absolutely superb. You really can't find any better at the time of game release. These would even rival the graphics for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.

Storyline: 7.5/10
The storyline is a bit cliche but nevertheless still popular. The bad guys come in and destroy everything and the good guys have one last chance to beat them.

The best saving part of the storyline is that you have four different clans, therefore four different perspectives of the battlefield. Also each clan has three individual quests for different samurai.

Throughout the game you have countless areas in which you can explore and liberate whether you're supposed to be there or not. Sometimes wandering off the beaten path adds a bit of spice to things.

Gameplay: 8/10
The gaming value of Throne of Darkness is high but has some drawbacks that limit the full flavor of the game.

For instance the mapping system isn't all that great and somewhat annoyingly located in the hotkeys. In essence the map is a miniature three dimensional picture of where you're at.

The tactics editor/system is the most unique and best feature I've seen in any game. This allows you to set your samurai to specific points with different roles and weapons/spells for each tactic. This keeps your formations strong and keeps everybody alive longer. The names for the tactics are based off the traditional kung-fu fighting styles

Also, having the option of sacrificing magical items to your four Gods makes this game even better since it gets rid of all the unused/unwanted items and gives skill points in return. The same goes for the blacksmith, as giving him resources allows you more options to obtain high damaging weapons or high defensive armors faster.

Unlike most games you can't revive your fallen comrades through spells or potions, but instead they are teleported back to his respective Daimyo and revived there.

Overall: 8/10
Throne of Darkness is most definitely one of the most rivaling games in the hack and slash genres. If there were perhaps a few small changes and patches it could be a top rate rival for Diabo II: Lord of Destruction or even World of Warcraft.

Although it has some small limitations, this game is definitely worth buying and shouldn't cost all that much by now.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05