Darkstone

"A under-rated game that deserves more attention."

Let me start off by saying this-Darkstone is NOT a Diablo clone. I am not saying this because I one of those anti-Diablo guys, I myself have every game, from Diablo to LOD. Darkstone is a unique game and a whole lotta punch for the $9.99 price tag. Now on to my review...

Graphics-6.0
The graphics are similar to Spyro,or Medievil. There are a lot of polygons, and sometimes they look kind of clunky. On the flipside, the characters in the game are well drawn out. I especialy like the way the warrior looks. The NPC's are pretty good looking to. My favorite NPC is Audrey!;) The scenery is good also, like the trees, bushes, etc. All
in all though, they aren't bad, neither are they good. Oh, and the beginning FMV is a killer!(Who doesn't want to see a bunch of demonic monks being incinerated!?)

Story-4.0
I am giving the story a 4.0 because it is tooo typical. It pretty much is kill the evil dragon DRAAK. There aren't very many plot twists but I think the the story stands for itself.

Sound-8.5
The sound is Exellent. From the KACHINK-KACHOING of the swords to the BUUUUM,BUUUUM of the bows the sound is good for a medievel type game. The monsters don't make that much noise, but they do screech and grunt. One of the best parts of the game is in the town. Put in a coin in Audrey's knapsack and she'll sing a song for you with her guitar playing companion. I was suprised of the quality of the Mp3.
Heck, I was humming the song through the day!

Control-6.0
The control is kind of awkward. The times when I accidently press start when im supposed to press square are pretty much countless. The control isn't that bad and it does it's job nicely though so there's not much complaining from me.

Gameplay-9.0
Here's where the game shines. At first you pick one of eight classes: The Warrior, The Amazon, The Wizard, The Sorceress, The Assassin, The Thief, The Monk, and The Priest. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, too.
The game has quests similar to the Diablo series and Baldur's Gate series. When you get them, press START and click on messages. It should show you what every one in the game has said to you. The fighting takes place in real-time so that's for your hack-and-slash-and-cast-and-shoot-fun,you get the point! Your character has an exp. bar and every time you kill enough monsters and you fill the meter, you get a level up! Here go into the inventory screen and press L1 to choose your character upgrade-Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, and Magic. The inventory screen is much like the Diablo game, it shows pictures of items. If its a weapon, it show attack,(ex.1-5) Durability and required strength. From here on the game is played.

Presentation
The game's only drawback is that it takes six blocks of free memory available. This can be conceiving at first, but Diablo took up eight! I think you should buy it, considering renting a couple of times renting costs more than buying it. The game is long too, so you won't have any problems with that.

Overall-8.0
This is a great game, and I hope more people should not be stuck up and fooled by its $9.99 price. I know i'll have a good time playing it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/03/01, Updated 10/03/01