I love RPGs, and while I enjoy harder ones like Baldur’s Gate, Diablo II proves to be very fun too, and I’m sure many of you love that game, so it is no surprise that other developers are trying to make some bucks by cloning it.
This is essentially what Blade And Sword does: a watered-down version of Diablo II. Diablo is a genuine classic among all fans of hack-and-slash games, but will Blade And Sword be as successful? will it even come close?
Graphics
Ah… how I remember the first time I played Diablo II… The graphics were a huge leap compared to the first Diablo. Unfortunately, even so, I have to say I was slightly disappointed because it was still not as good looking as most other games out at the time, although I suppose if the graphics were any better I would never have been able to play it on my 16mb video card. Now, about 6 years later, it is really surprising to me that another game could create the same look and feel as Diablo II, considering how almost all new games now have moved onto 3D graphics, instead of going back in time to 1998 or 1997. Most of the characters and scenery look no better than in D2, and the resolution can also go no further than 800×600 (which is, by today’s standard, the minimum resolution). Some of the items are just tiny, so to pick them up you will have to do some pixel-hunting. Enemy characters sometimes lie down if they feel safe, but as you attack it, it instantly leaps up and you see no transition animation from lying down to standing up. The only thing good about the graphics is that some of the scenery look slightly nice… and that’s about it really.
Sound
This game contains some nice music that suits the game’s theme well, but the sound effects are just barely average and quite disappointing. These effects mostly include some slashing and screams from being injured. There are no voice-overs in this game either, so unless you like reading plenty of badly-translated texts with lots of spelling and grammatical errors–you probably won’t want to focus on the story too much.
Gameplay
This game is basically a Diablo clone, but not as fun. You have three types of characters to control, each one of them have the sword as their main weapon. Each of them also have martial arts skills that you may upgrade as you level up. Once you gain some of the more amazing moves, you’ll be able to use them to attack more than one target at a time, giving you some nice attack combos. Unfortunately, there are not really any real spells that you may cast, nor are there any real weapons you can pick up and use. The only weapons you can find are throwable missiles like rocks or daggers. So basically you will be using the same equipment throughout the entire game, although you can upgrade them using special jewels, but that’s still not as fun as going on treasure hunts like in good’ol D2.
The monsters are all very unoriginal and uncreative, just take a look at some of their names: Corpse, Evil Wolf Guard, Pikeman Evil Wolf. They are dumb too, and most of them didn’t even attack me until I ran right up to their noses. Even then, I’d hit them with my combos before they knew what was happening.
Value
The game itself is not really worth replaying in my opinion, since there would be nothing new to do except to kill more monsters. There are no cool weapons or armours to be found, and the clicking becomes repetitive after a while. However if you really wish to play again, there is an online mode too that you may play in, although I suspect that it won’t offer you much either.
Conclusion
This game tries to be a fun slasher like Diablo, but fails to make the game original and creative, so playing this just feels like playing any other hack-and-slash RPGs. The only thing different about this game is its setting and kung-fu moves, both of which get old after a while. Without much replay value, this game is not worth buying if you are a serious fan of Diablo II or similar games. D2 offers much more depth and is also executed better than Blade And Sword. So unless you must, try to stay away from this game.
