Blade & Sword review

Role-playing games were around before Diablo. Of course they were, from Nethack to Dungeon Master to the epic Ultima series. However, Diablo acted as something of a catalyst for the action RPG genre, making the swords, spells and stats much more accessible and all the more gratifying. Frantic mouse-clicking mirrored the intensity of battle as players fought back the Gauntlet-like hordes of ever strengthening opponents, plumbing deeper depths and...

But you probably know all this already, and I'm quite sure the last thing you want to read is a retrospective analysis of a game from the last century. The trouble is Blade & Sword is so derivative that it's almost impossible to find anything within it that we haven't seen somewhere before, often executed with greater skill. In fact, this game is so similar to Diablo it's almost disturbing - why on Earth would someone want to copy a game that that, even in sequel form, is long since past its prime?

El Diablo is in the details

If Diablo is a silent, black monolith, its blank surface like some inscrutable visage from behind which immense influence is exerted, then Blade & Sword is a clumsy ape smashing away at a pile of bones. Sure, it can put on a monkey-sized monolith outfit taken from some fancy dress store, but it'll never boast as much sheen, as much refinement as that which it wants to impersonate. And remember - we're still talking about a game that came out in the mid-nineties here.

The mimicry is most obvious in a graphical style which has made virtually no advances since then. Sure, the resolution might have scaled up a little, but this is very much The Game Engine That Time Forgot. The fixed isometric viewpoint, the complete lack of 3D graphics, the relatively limited animation and the flat backgrounds are all part of a visual experience that is lacklustre at best, evoking nostalgia more than excitement. A row of inventory quick-slots is spread across the bottom of the screen, giving you one-button, no fuss access to potions or key items when you need them and a couple of toolbar buttons pop up your character's stats or special abilities.

Suffering builds character

All this means that, even if you're an RPG newbie, it doesn't take long to find your way about the interface and get to grips with your character, whichever one that may be. Again, your choices are rather too similar to those in Diablo - a trio to choose from, two chaps and one lady, comprising the wimpy-but-fast, the tough-but-slow and the middleman. It's hardly inspired and, rather frustratingly, you have less control over your character's development than you might like. Each level advancement gifts you points which can only be spent on special attacks, the rest of your attributes being increased automatically, totally independent of your control.

These special attacks are a core combat component, however, allowing to you execute particularly powerful moves, boost your defensive abilities or find new and interesting ways to dismember your many foes. When combat first crosses your path it's something of a surprise to find your opponents are quite persistent and quite a challenge for a low-level adventurer. Once experience has bolstered your character somewhat, you can afford to be a little more relaxed, but early fights will have you making judicious use of the block command, as well as attempting to outmanoeuvre your enemies.

Movers and shakers

Ultimately, adding these few extra moves makes little real difference to the game. As you leap, slash, block and thrust your way about the map you soon fall into all the familiar RPG behaviours. Your special attacks are certainly a diversion from the grind and being able to send half a dozen opponents flying backwards with a single blow certainly appeals, but you'll inevitably settle on one or two moves that you particularly enjoy and just carry on clicking away, one wary eye making sure that your health and power indicators haven't dropped too low. New or particularly tough opponents require a little time to evaluate, but everyone falls before you sooner or later, the toughest cases simply requiring you stock up on healing potions and prepare for plenty of attrition.

Many of the extras are also worryingly familiar. Gems can be embedded into your weapon to further increase your abilities, scrolls can be used to muster powerful magic and, inevitably, there are plenty of helpless people who need a brave hero to offer them a helping hand. One particularly odd side quest sees you jumping on rats to clear a cellar of infestation. The most disappointing of these aspects is that you can't shop for weapons as you would in Diablo or, indeed, just about any other RPG. Your inventory will rarely extend beyond scrolls and potions. No magic armour, boots of speed or Sword of the Badger for you (Sword of the Badger? Those Diablo programmers must've been on something). What's more, cut scenes are rarely anything more than a scrolling body of text and a picture. Things soon start to feel, well, rather limp, frankly.

The cut & thrust of it

Still, I killed quite a lot of time playing this game. There was something almost hypnotic about the repetitive combat, the endless hordes of increasingly bizarre opponents and the endearing way NPCs would spring up new and interesting typos just when I didn't expect it. I was able to ignore the rather irritating way that, when I reloaded a saved game, I was back at square one and had to use a teleport pad to relocate myself, likewise how the status bars for 'hidden' opponents would always be present on the screen, alerting me to an imminent ambush. I even feigned surprise as said ambush was yet another corpse bursting out of the ground to flail at me and, rather irritatingly, becoming temporarily immune to my blows whenever I knocked it prone.

Blade & Sword is full of such minor niggles, imperfections that would make a great game good or a good game average. In this particular case they are merely a few more dents in an already pock-marked facade and make far less of an impact on the player than the terribly dated visuals, the criminal lack of originality or the unforgivable sin of making the first hour of the game almost identical to everything that follows. Seven years ago this would've been quite good, but not good enough. Now, it's barely pushing mediocrity.

Phew, I've managed to get through the entire review without mentioning the silly, silly name that I'm sure a dozen games journalists have immediately leapt upon. 'Blade & Sword'? What's going on there, then? Tsk.