Demon Stone was a great anticipation on my part. This is another game revolving around the Forgotten Realms world, where players will be settling their feet in Faerun. Deemed to be extremely cinematic and intense, this game has a fair share of its successes and downfalls, please read along to understand why I have made the statement. Story and background: 3 adventurers were brought together by fate. A warrior whose village was overrun by Trolls, a mixed Drow-Elf rogue who was an outcast of her own people and a sorcerer born in a family of knights who was discriminated due to his difference. 100 years ago the Githyanki General Sereka and Slaad Lord Ygorl were battling each other and have destroyed everything in their path. Khelben, the great wizard used a Demon Stone to trap the two enemies in eternal conflict in a dimension separate of his own. Peace was short-lived however, when Ygorl used his powers to draw the 3 adventurers to the place where he was entrapped and used them to help him break free from the stone. As a result of this, the 3 adventurers have to set aside their difference and work together to trap the two evil leaders in another Demon Stone. Graphics: Character design is top notch. In-game cut scenes were dramatic and it feels as if you were watching movies like "Lord of the Rings" or "Gladiator". Meticulous details have been given to the landscapes and monster design as well. Background music and Sound effects: I give background music a fair score as variations are not very prominent in the game and though the music is well adjusted to the mood and action, it could prove to be dull at times. This short-coming is however compensated by the superb sound effects. Amidst the hack and slash action, character taunts and monster grunts remain clear and well-audible. Voice acting is excellent in the game. Controls: Controls of the game are pretty simple; you press different buttons in sequence to execute combo moves or spells. Ranged attack control is sluggish and during intense battles this could be an irritating factor. To initiate ranged attack, one has to hold down the L1 button and use the left analogue stick to shift between targets. Most of the times, you will have to pray that your throw hits the right enemy you want, because changing targets is extremely slow. Your throw is useless if there is boulder obscuring your way because the ranged attack system is not designed to throw over the obstruction or obstacle. Amidst thick battle when you are outnumbered by archers and infantries, ranged attack will be extremely frustrating; because when you aim you will be open for attacks and added to the fact that in order to throw the weapon more forcefully you are supposed to hold down L1 for a longer period. Game play: A unique battle system where you can change to different characters on the fly is available. Switch from one character to another anytime you want using the directional buttons. This way you can maximize the potential for a particular character. For instance, to break through boulders blocking your way, the fighter could do the job. For stealth missions you can use the rogue and for ranged battles, the sorcerer can deliver the job with some good old missile spells. Throughout the game you basically hack and slash your way through, and for this part of the game I would say that it is heavily influenced by action RPGs in the market, akin to "Drakengard" or even "Samurai Warriors". Battles could prove to be repetitive and sometimes unnecessary, after a while you will feel as if you are killing senselessly just for the sake of getting on with the levels. There are a total of 10 chapters in the game; story narration is excellent, featuring some good voice actors. Those of you who are familiar with the "Forgotten Realms" will be delighted to find that you can play as "Drizzt" in a certain part of the game. Leveling up for your characters is over-simplified and confusing. You gain gold coins in the game and also experience points. Gold can be used to buy new items for your characters while the experience points can be used to learn new feats and skills. You can only level up at the end of each chapter. If you play the "easy" mode of the game, it will become ridiculously simple as the amount of gold you get basically buys every single item you can get in the game. There is no character generation option which proves to be a major disappointment for RPG fans. I was hoping to see some good character creation engines similar to that of "Baldur's Gate" series. The game is not very replay-able since there are not much of un-lockable features and hence value for money is negligible. In conclusion: Pros: Excellent graphics, good story-line, excellent voice acting, intense action gaming, beautiful landscapes, massive battles, unique system to switch between characters, clear and crisp sound effects, guest starring of familiar faces like "Drizzt" in the game. Forgotten Realms creatures brought to larger size in front of your screen. Cons: Over-simplified but confusing upgrading system, low replay-ability, no character generation, senseless violence at times, some bugs in AI where your companions stand and do nothing or use health potions when they don't need to, does not support multi-player, little un-lockable features, linear story-line. Final verdict: Rent and decide.
Other Helpful Reviews for Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
I was very impressed by the voice acting in this game, I mean, nothing's more suspenseful then good actors mixed with dramatic music. This game made me a little bit ticked at times however (*COUGH* dragon *COUGH*), but I... Read Full Review
This game is really very good, I think. It's got light humor, there's right enough action and the story is quite original. The learning curve is short and snappy, though there many facets to learn. Three characters to ch... Read Full Review
