Blade of Darkness Preview

By Giancarlo Varanini, GameSpotPosted Dec 1, 2000 6:03 pm PT

We take a detailed look at Codemasters' and Rebel Act Studios' upcoming project that blends action and role-playing gameplay.

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Fully 3D action games with role-playing elements are relatively commonplace these days. These games feature colorful single-player scenarios that involve plenty of hand-to-hand combat and exploration. The recent action-adventure, Rune, is a perfect example of this phenomenon, as it blends platform-style jumping puzzles and melee combat - but some felt that Rune didn't quite measure up to its fullest potential. Codemasters' Blade of Darkness is an attempt to capitalize on the success of this type of game. While it does borrow elements from other games in the genre, Blade of Darkness isn't just a clone, asit fixes problems other games in the genre have had. For instance, the combat system in Blade of Darkness is deeper and more dynamic than just repeated clicking of a mouse.

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While Blade of Darkness does have unique features, its story may not be one of them. It involves a pantheon of gods: Long ago, the Lord created the world of Blade of Darkness with both light and dark in the form of two offspring known as the Spirit of Light and the Prince of Darkness. The Prince of Darkness wanted to overthrow his father, so he learned the magic of creation. But the Prince of Darkness couldn't control his creation, so the Lord and the Spirit of Light were forced to fight this new danger together. The two gods eventually succeeded, but weary from battle, the Lord retired to another region of the universe. The younger god decided to finish his father's work while he was gone, and at the same time, the Prince of Darkness began to corrupt humans, which resulted in another conflict between light and dark. In order to put an end to this, Ianna, one of the younger daughters of the Lord, cast a powerful spell that banished all of the gods from their dwellings, leaving the humans to fight for themselves and the two gods to govern night and day. One warrior stood up to fight and push the evil back, but he died and was buried in the temple of Ianna with his sword. So once again, the evil has begun to encroach, but four warriors - a knight, a dwarf, an amazon, and a barbarian - are ready to take up their weapons and fight off the evil to protect the earth.

Choosing which warrior to play as requires consideration. Not only does each character in Blade of Darkness have different abilities, but each has a different story that unfolds as the game progresses, which extends the game's replay value.

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