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Gorgeous graphics, storyline could have been better

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: March 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

OK, to say it in a few words.. this is the BEST GAME I have ever played. I really like 1st person games.. and have had a lot of fun with Quake Unreal and the like.. but I was looking for a game with a different environment as I like fantasy better than science fiction so I got this game on an inpulse buy since this game has not gotten half the marketing and advertising of say Diablo. It was a great buy! The graphics and game engine are really impressive... every detail is taken care of.. even the music and sounds are awesome, and the enemies are varied smart and challenging..! If you like 3d action games you should definitely get this game... I really don't understand how a game like Diablo that is a total joke compared to Blade got so much more successful... or better.. I know .. it is just about the marketing.. But don't let that fool you.. this is a great exciting inspiring game and the only problem it will give you is after you are done with it you will be struggling to find something that compares.. The only defect I can think of is that the storyline could have been better. I mean, the game does keep you hooked even if you will find yourself hacking and slashing enemies most of the time.. but I think quite a bit of the ledge jumping could have bene sacrificed to give space to say some interaction with non-players characters or to more investigation... ( a la Baldur's Gate...).
Overall though this is a minor defect... this game is a little masterpiece guys...

Simply Astounding!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game without much review. I thought it may have been a mistake while trying to install it, but once I found the right resolution and began playing, Blade really started to shine! The game takes full advantage of current graphics card technology and processor speed. This does not mean a less-than-up-to-date system user will not enjoy the game's beautiful mapping and texture, though it would be wise to quit all running programs before playing (this should open up more RAM). Either on low or high detail, Blade is still stunning. Total immersion is inevitable when combining the expertly composed music with chilling sound effects that make your spine tingle. How wonderful to hear the footsteps and gunts of an ogre as he walks up and down the corridor. Try throwing a head or arm (from a shredded enemy, of course), and as he comes to investigate it, suprise him with a deadly and artful melee attack! As I speak of this scenario, one must quickly learn to finesse the controls. I do not find the character difficult to control at all. All the enemies fight different, so tactics used on a slow, lumbering stone golem will most definitely get you killed by a skeleton warrior. Gosh, they move fast! Character movement and control are MADE difficult if want to just run through every level trying to slash everything to pieces. It is not designed to play in this manner. The gameplay is designed for the player to be cautious and wary. Stop running, look all around, and listen to the surroundings (while enjoying the scenery). Listen to enemies lurking in the distance, wind blowing (which, by the way, does carry sounds further), and birds chirping. This may become time consuming, but the save feature can nullify some frustration (if you use it), and the player will appreciate the game much more (along with the fact that it took more than four years to make). One must develop a plan of attack before striking. As we in the military say, "know your enemy better than you know yourself". This strategy will help the player survive much longer. The fighting engine, besides the graphics, is the very essence of the game. Plus it is much more fun this way. Forget the cheats, too. Who would want to cheat on a game so easy to play anyway? Precision movement and attacks are paramount, but are they not in real life, also? I am talking about fighting a lot, but this is what the game is about. If you are willing to study your enemies' and master the art of one-on-one melee combat, this game is perfect for you. Blade is quite straightfoward, so it is difficult to get lost.There are not many secrets and traps, and even those are easily recognized if you pay attention to your surroundings. All things considered, this game is truly an awesome experience to behold.

Beautiful...and uncontrollable!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: April 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

With four characters to choose from, and many levels to explore, Blade of Darkness is graphically one of the best games out right now, with lighting effect (the torch shadows are AMAZING), interactive environments, and water reflections. Also, it's got good sound, and everything sounds like "real life." BUT...it falls flat on its face when it comes to controlling your character. In some levels, there is a lot of catwalks and/or platforms to jump onto, and having an extremely tight control makes it so the character changes direction with the slightest touch of the mouse or keyboard, which makes precise movements all but impossible. Plus, if your foot misses a ledge by 0.2 pixels, you will slip and fall to your death.

In Blade of Darkness, you melee opponents with swords, axes, etc. This is the heart of the game, and the idea is great and the attacks look great, but it WILL frustrate you at some point in the game. Here are some of the biggest annoyances: If you push the attack button too many times, you'll just stand there swinging at air while the opponent steps to the side and slashes your back. If you move your mouse too fast, your character will NOT TURN (with an Intellimouse Explorer, at least). If you dodge too many times, you'll actually go back in FRONT of your opponent. There are combo swings and attacks, but those are not worth the aggravation because of the precise timing required to pull them off, and even if you can, the opponents block the attacks anyway. If you swing when you're next to or even near a wall, you will hit the wall and the rest of the swing does no damage, which can be especially annoying in narrow corridors! AND, sometimes, even when you are out of the opponent's range or swing, it will STILL HIT YOU. Must be a shockwave or something! Another thing is that at later levels, the opponents will have rediculously high amounts of hit points, and it takes a VERY LONG TIME to wear them down. Of course, when they do 400 damage to you with each swing, and you have only around 2,300 hit points, it can get especially frustrating. I very nearly uninstalled the game when I kept getting killed because this ONE opponent I was fighting apparently had an extendable sword, because no matter how much I dodge or blocked, it always hit me.

For graphics and sound, I give this game five stars, but the extremely frustrating controls earn it a one star for that part of the game, so overall, I give Blade of Darkness three stars.

Best Game In Many Many Years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing computer games since the dawn of the Commodore 64; and I can safely say this is a special product. In fact, it has been years since I have seen anything this clever and unique in a computer game. If you are a fan of Robert E. Howard and his Conan the Barbarian saga, find a copy of this game. It is already getting difficult to find due to the realistic graphic violence depicted during the gameplay. But I was blown away!

Gorgeous graphics, suspect gameplay

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Played on 1Gig P3 with Rage ATI 128 graphics. Windows 2000 Pro.

Someone spent a lot of time working on the architectural details because this game is simply gorgeous. The only other game that comes close is Half-life with Blue-shift graphic upgrades. If I was grading on graphics and sound effects alone I'd give this five stars.

But you have to play it too and there is a long list of problems here. Firstly, this game suffers from the same problem that all 3rd person hack'n'slay games do -- the camera ends up in the wrong place so you can't see guys that are whacking you. Give me 1st person views any day.

There's also the 'unique' physics which are cool at first but soon it gets very frustrating having your opponent walk right through you and your character ends up staring at the wall ignoring your commands to turn around (rather like my dog, really). Meanwhile, you're getting whacked again.

The difficulty level varies wildly too, and some areas are hip deep in potions when you're topped up while other areas clearly have too many heavies without a chance to recover. I don't understand why there's such strict limitations on what you can carry (1 power potion, 2 life, 2 1000hp, etc) Why not just allow you to carry, say, 8 potions of any kind? I also had problems dropping stuff which is very frustrating when it stops you picking something up. At one point I had to drink a potion before I could pick up a gem.

There are cheats available, but they are very flakey. For example, they only work when you start a new level, and once you load a saved game, they don't work any more. I guess whines about cheats aren't really valid, but you cannot finish the game without them.

All the monsters are bipedal. I wish there had been a dragon, or slime monster or something a little more interesting. Actually, the monsters were the weakest graphically too. Some weapons with range would have been nice, the bow was pretty boring compared to some of the weapons in Quake II or Half-Life. How about a Holy Handgrenade? (The number of thy counting shall be...)

I think four stars may be a little generous, but the graphics, especially water and fire, were outstanding.

Lacking the final polish

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game has great potential and lives up to it in many areas. The atmosphere, the graphics, the lighting and the shadows, and the sounds are simply gorgeous most of the time. The enemy damage model is also impressive, gotta love hacking and slashing your enemies to bits and pieces (some kind of a stabbing attack might have been nice maybe).

However, the game lacks in areas of playability. For starters, the main menu is one of the most awkward ones I have ever seen, with only the arrow keys working, and a lengthy delay (with a tiring "KA-CHUNK!" sound) between each option you can cycle through - if you have 20 options to cycle through you need patience. Even when you start the game for the first time and load a saved game it asks, "Are you sure?". Had the developers had time to polish their product, these problems would be gone.

And then there are the controls. While I don't mind a few extra control keys, the problem lies in the character's controllability. The character must finish every animation before allowed to continue (including all moves, not just the fighting ones), which means there are constant small delays with the controls. While this is realistic in a way, players want instant feedback or they get frustrated. This gets especially problematic with the tight jump puzzles. The few instant deaths scattered around, and the slowness (and awkwardness) of the game saves and loads reduce the fun factor.

The game is very difficult. I probably shouldn't have started playing with Naglfar the Dwarf, but even after becoming comfortable with the controls, the enemies got the better of me most of the time. You are occasionally faced with insanely difficult battles that you must attempt several times before you succeed (which is not very fun with the slow game loading), and even then you'll end up almost killed and may not be given a chance to recover. Another balance factor thing that could have been fixed in the final stage of development. I admit I ended up cheating a little and giving my character a couple extra levels of experience to get comfortably challenged.

But so far I've had great fun regardless. There aren't many games of this kind around. It's kind of like an interactive Conan movie. In its own genre, this game excels.

Beautiful graphics, great gameplay value

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game, followed by "Die by the Sword" is a unique, Hack-N-Slash 3rd person game. You start the game by choosing from 4 characters, a barbarian, knight, dwarf, or an amazon. Each character has specific qualities, such as defense, attack, and weapon abilities. Each character has a different starting level, but after that, all the levels are the same (that's not necessarily bad). The only problem I have with the game is of the storyline. It is somewhat confusing, and the narrator constantly uses words that throw you off the game. This is covered up by the gameplay, however.

The controls, as many people would complain about, aren't that difficult to master. Everyone considers it difficult, because its a new interface.

Throughout the game, you kill various monsters, and from them you get experience points. With these points you eventually level up, giving you more health, higher stamina, and the abilities to new combination moves for your weapons.

Overall, this game is a MUST for players you like Hack-N-Slash gaming, and anyone who enjoys gore. Even though the storyline is a bit... out there, and the controls are considered hard, the game is worth it.

A fantasy warrior's dream

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Just bought this game. What a steal!!
The lighting and shadow effects are truly ground breaking but you need a hefty PC to run it (no less than 800 mhz amd or pentium).
The story is forgetable but the gameplay is classic!
Basically, you choose a character (choice of 4) each has its own strengths and weaknesses and then you begin an arduous journey through beautifully rendered landscapes. Your enemies are many and varied with excellent movement characteristics. As you progress you learn more fighting moves with various weapons. this is the main challenge of the game. Memorising the different key combinations for the various attacks. The reward comes when you pull off a combo and behead your foe with crimson blood spurting out of their neck!! Sorry, did I not mention the extreme blood and gore that permeates the gameplay?
Well it's grisley and very exciting!!!
All in all this game is atmospheric and challenging. A real 'hands on affair' that gets your blood pulsing and, at times, flowing!!!

A CLASSIC!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game a year after it's release. It is now 2005, and it still retains an honorable spot in my collection. Taking into consideration all the breakthroughs in video gaming since it's 1999 release, this game still holds its own. The graphics, animation, gameplay are simply top notch. I even bought another copy when it resurfaced in the reprise bins at my local mall a couple of years ago. Yes, it is that good!

Best game so far this year

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I can't think of a better feature in a combat game than to be able to ... up your .. while it's lying on the ground. Limbs, blood, and heads fly in every direction. Fantastic. In contrast to the previous reviewer, however, I was going to suggest that the game be a little more difficult.

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