Publisher
Atari

Developer
Stormfront Studios

Released: September 14, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

8
9
8
7
8.6

Supported Features:

Part of Demon Stone’s appeal lies in the presentation that uses the tried and true mismatched party of unlikely heroes thrust together to fight an ancient evil that has returned to lay claim to their world. This evil has been trapped for centuries inside the Demon Stone, but recently, and entirely by accident, you have released the evil back into the human realm and now you must set things right.

You play as one of three heroes, although you can switch around at your discretion depending on the situation or your play style. There are also several scenarios that require you to use the entire party to solve puzzles or engage in special combat combos in the larger battles.

Your party consists of Rannek, the Fighter, Illius, the Sorcerer, and my personal favorite, Zhai, the Half-Elf, Half-Drow Rogue. She’s the lively one of the bunch and keeps the game moving with her delightful banter even when there’s not much going on. We’re introduced to all three characters within minutes of picking up the controller and the rest is a fantastic whirlwind adventure just waiting to happen.

Gameplay is simply brilliant from a control aspect. The D-pad gives you one-touch access to anyone in your party. The remaining two characters are controlled with some generic, but functional AI. Rannek is the obvious beater of the bunch and therefore your primary character for combat situations. For situations where a ranged or magical attack is preferred, Illius is your man. Zhai is great for stealth attacks, becoming nearly invisible in certain conditions with some great stealth-kill animations. She is also the only character than can jump so you will need to use her to reach places the rest of the party cannot get to. She might not be the most powerful character of the trio but she is certainly the most interesting.

Demon Stone makes excellent use of your entire party and actually forces you to strategize. You might get through the first half of the game playing as one character but sooner or later you are going to have to start working the entire team in concert to achieve your goals and especially defeat the bosses in the final levels.

The game also has an unusually high difficulty level, not so much in control or gameplay but in the number and deadliness of the enemy. Even on the easiest difficulty setting you are in for a real challenge for the final third of the game. I actually appreciated the serious challenge, especially in light of the arguably short game length, but more casual action gamers might find the difficulty a bit overwhelming.

On the other hand, your party AI, the “intelligence” of the characters not under your direct control, is just good enough to keep your team together. The pathfinding is workable and the other two characters will fight and defend themselves in the most basic of fashion but they certainly don’t go above and beyond and you will be forced to micromanage them for any real success in the more difficult battles. It would have at least been nice for some rudimentary scripting like aggressive or defensive postures that you could assign to the computer controlled party members.

Actual combat often devolves into a button-masher where some simple triple-hit combos are often more than enough to get through any enemy in the game. Sure, you might need some advanced cooperative tactics near the end of the game, especially in the boss battles where you need spell support and ranged attacks, but it’s a shame that with all of the wonderful weapons and various combos that none are really required. Sure, you can mix it up and try those other combos and attacks just to see what they look like, but they seldom do as much damage as the good old-fashioned triple-strike, so why risk it.

There is a very subtle RPG flavor to this title, but it’s so minor you can hardly call the game an RPG. You get to upgrade your characters and weapons between chapters, thus making them more powerful, but this is merely a natural progression of the game. You really don’t have the flexibility of a true RPG, but what is here is nice for a game that clearly falls into the action genre.

While I’ve only read a few of the Forgotten Realms books, I have some ingrained images of what I believe those fantasy worlds to look like and this game did an amazing job of “reading my mind” and putting those images on the screen. The sinister interior levels and the mystical forests and open terrain levels are fantastic.

Character animation is phenomenal, especially some of Zhai’s stealth moves and fatalities. The enemies all have unique animations that fit perfectly with their style of combat, and even in large groups, their animations are offset enough that it doesn’t look like they are all choreographed.

There are some excellent special effects at work here ranging from blazing spell effects to the more subtle glistening pools of stealth areas to smoke, fire, and particle effects. Lighting and shadows flesh out what is one of the best visual experiences for a fantasy action title this year.

The only negative I can possibly come up with are a few instances of lag, mainly in overcrowded areas with a lot of action going on, and the lack of camera control. I’m a big fan of being able to pan and zoom my camera in 3D games, but thankfully this game never caused me to curse the lack of that option.

Sound effects are all in place and include the sounds of combat, weapon strikes, mystical spell effects, grunts, groans, and plenty of environmental sound effects to bring the world to life. The Dolby Pro Logic II mix enhances the experience and envelopes you in sound, but the mix seemed to be slightly off so the more subtle effects were often drowned out by speech or music.

The epic soundtrack is as magical as the game. Performed by the Northwest Sinfonia, the music ranges from upbeat battle marches to mystical melodies that are haunting and charming. No matter what type of environment you are exploring or what enemy you are fighting, you will always be accompanied by the perfect music.

Even as a solo adventure, Demon Stone is relatively short and linear. Its ten chapters can be finished in just as many hours, although you can stretch the experience by upping the difficulty level. There are also a few secrets scattered about the game that are worth closer inspection.

The gameplay is highly addicting, which means you will play it longer and finish it faster. Hopefully, any forthcoming sequels will keep this style of gameplay and add support for a second or even third player.

Demon Stone is still the best videogame translation of the Forgotten Realms universe, and if you are a fan of the novels or just Dungeons & Dragons in general this is one game that you really should be playing. It’s beautiful, it’s challenging, and most of all it’s fun.