Black Stone: Magic & Steel

"Yet another empty hack'em slash'em"

Many a time we have seen a these action/adventure hack’em slash’ems. But few times are these attempts to create worthwhile games ever successful. Such is the case in Black Stone: Magic and Steel. Xicat’s gauntlet legends attempt is definitely not successful, in any way.

Graphics;
The graphics in Black Stone: Magic and steel are not too shabby. It seems that this is the only thing Xicat interactive actually spent time on during production. The character detail is smooth, and the movement isn’t that bad. The environments are a little sparse but well animated and look good. All in all the graphics are pretty nice if you don’t mind your characters feet sliding along the ground as they run (very slowly I might add). For this the graphics gets an 8/10.

Audio;
The game starts to go down hill from here. The music in this game is poor, at best. The music sounds quite similar to Forever Kingdom for the PlayStation 2. With what seems like ye olde south eastern or western Asian music, one can only stand it for small doses (I recommend 5-10 min at maximum). Moving on to character sounds, there is almost no variety in the sounds and things (if they even talk) they say. Quite often you hear the same sound repeatedly. It’s like hearing a person get hit with a stick and them saying “Ack!” every time they are hit thereafter. For the lacking character audio and music, this game gets a generous 2/10.

Story;
The story in this game is unnecessarily detailed to the type of game black stone really is. Many a time I became bored listening to that annoying, god-like voice. Always telling me to find the little black stones in a different and more elaborate way each time. Another annoying thing about the story is that it doesn’t even involve your characters. They are kind of just along for the ride as you hack your way through the endless mounds of goblins. Your characters don’t even interact with anyone, save maybe the floating item selling guy. This game earns itself a big, generous 1/10 for the story, mostly for the extremely low interaction level.

Gameplay;
Gameplay in this game earns itself a mighty boo earns. Constantly slashing your way through hundreds of “baddies” can take its toll. With the added bonus of EXTREEMLY slow movement, you should have fun with button tapping fest’ that ensues. Personally I couldn’t stand the game for more than about an hour or two, at which point I put it back in its’ case, and moved on, back to the games of yesteryear. Another hook in Black Stone: magic and steel, is the constant whacking. all you must do to defeat an enemy, is stand beside them, and repeatedly tap the A button. Please note your enemy can do the same, which makes for an extremely annoying game, that makes you want to destroy your Xbox, and take a bath in turpentine. The gameplay was not as lacking as say, the audio, or story, so it receives a generous 3/10.

The Final Score...
A massive, 3.5/10.

This game is not even worth the rent, unless you are very desperate for a multiplayer game for you and your best pals to play while during a fast (note the lack of concentration needed to effectively play the game). I can only hope the little children don’t get caught off guard with the flashy picture on the cover, which has nothing to do with the game, what so ever.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/03, Updated 04/14/03