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Atari
Atari have once again licensed the lucrative Dungeons and Dragons franchise to release Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone. This button mashing Action RPG is set in the world of Faerûn. You play multiple characters, switching between the part of a fighter named Rannek, a sorcerer named Illius and a female half-dark elf rogue called Zhai.
These characters meet in the kingdom of Damara during a massive battle against evil orcs that invaded the peaceful land. Thrown together by fate, the three take shelter in a mine only to witness the rebirth of two demon rivals long since vanquished by a human wizard named Blackstaff. Now with dangerous foes reawakened and with both demons vowing to fight for who will enslave and rule the realm, the three become the chosen heroes to save the realm by fighting the demons and their hordes.
Sound familiar? If you have ever read a fantasy novel then no doubt you would have chanced upon one of my favourite Authors and creator of the games storyline, R. A. Salvatore. Hats off to Atari for realising that as games get more graphically impressive and complex that the story line has to carry as much weight as the rest of the game!
All three fighters have their own key abilities; Rannek a huge fighter has the ability to pull of powerful combos to destroy many enemies at close range. Illius, the weak but intelligent sorcerer can cast the standard fare of fantasy spells, such as fireballs and lightning bolts. Zhai the rogue (my favourite character) has the ability to sneak around in the dark (splinter cell style) to get behind enemies to take them out in a single killer blow to the neck. All three characters participate in the party during most of the game, and you have the ability to switch between them at will, resulting in some great strategic battles and massive fire fights between archers, wizard and orcs.
The first thing you will notice about this game is how reminiscent it is of EA’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The first level begins, “Helms Deep style”with all of the adventurers running though a large castle siege and a ginormous dragon flying around in the background.
It is here you see the true graphical quality of the game. There are hordes of enemies on screen at once to engage and the game engine does not slow down one bit. As you progress through the game, the enemies that you fight vary from Bugbears, Trolls, Mind Flayer, Slaadi and Yuan-Tis — all from D&D lore — as well as bosses like the “Balrogesque” Avatar of Merrshaulk.
At the completion of each level you get to upgrade each of the characters in turn buying surprisingly hobbit like skills and equipment for your party. This type of level advancement gives you some sense of satisfaction for completing the long and difficult levels.
The musical score is what you would expect from any large heroic fantasy game. The music at points is so inspirational that you will want to grab an Axe out of the garden shed and purge evil from the planet! (I wouldn’t recommend it however!)
The voice acting is also top notch, with big names like Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: Next Gen and X-Men movies) and Michael Clarke Duncan (of The Scorpion King and Daredevil fame) adding to the atmosphere, it really does create an excellent Aural experience.
As you can tell both Return of the King and Demon Stone are extremely familiar in many ways with one key exception. There was something fun about running around Middle Earth with one of your mates killing orcs, ogres and the like, but Demon Stone is one player only! What was Atari thinking? Surely it would not have been too much extra programming to allow another player to control one of the other characters? They are on screen anyway. It truly is a let down and is one of my only gripes with the game, reducing the replay value of this game considerably.
All up an excellent single player game, with an engrossing storyline, top-notch graphics and exceptional sound, sadly marred by the lack of a two player option.
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Longevity: 3/5
Replay: 2/5
Overall: 3.5/5
