Demon Stone : Games : Web Wombat

Let me start by saying Demon stone is both a great and a not-so-great game. It's intriguing like Van Gough. Beautiful one minute and self destructive the next. Bitter sweet.

To give you an idea of what sort of game this is, I can say that it is a dungeons and dragons-inspired button bashing, slice and dice, single player role-playing game, bursting with cool characters and sensational scenery.

All this is strung together in a storyline that has no shortage of imagination, with Forgotten Realms author (from the original novels) R.A. Salvatore providing the crust. It's a damn good script.

That's who I'd get too, if I were to make a Dungeons and Dragons game. Either him or The Fonz. Aaaaaay!

Anyway, it all takes place in the beautifully crafted world of Faerun, were an ancient war of evil between two deadly enemies has been resurrected and whoever wins will get the right to wear the crown of diabolic domination of the human world.

As is always the case, where there is evil there is also the righteous. The heroes, the freedom fighters, the Ghostbusters. And as we all know the Ghostbusters were a team of three hardcore outcasts of society, the mad scientist, the rascally funny guy, and the bull-headed nervous guy all teamed together to fight a common foe.

Demon Stone is not that different to Ghostbusters, it's just set a couple of million years before, and is set in an alternate medieval universe. But there are three main characters and all are outcasts. Instead of a mad scientist we have a wizard. Instead of a funny guy, we have a sarcastic, sexy ass, curvaceous, wise cracking rogue. And instead of a nervous guy, we have a kick-ass barbarian, built like a tank and armed with a sword the length of a motorbike.

Together they are on an adventurous quest for the Demon Stone, which is a magical crystal-like entrapment device used for containing evil. However, there is no shortage of evil forces standing in your way, and the evil comes in many forms, like these large beastly creatures armed with big hammers, ice trolls, skilled sword fighters, giant spiders, sword-wielding, venom-spitting cobras and one big-a$$ed fire breathing dragon that stalks you through the first nine chapters.

What really incites me to play this game is the imaginative yet simple objectives, the straight-laced concepts that are made into complex action sequences that are difficult to complete, yet rewarding once beaten.

Allow me to explain. A goal as simple as destroying a wall is made difficult and interesting by the wall having magical wall guardians that protect the wall by generating a force field, plus there is 10 to 15 other foot soldiers who protect the wall guards.

Though the warrior is surrounded by enemies,
his classy dance moves stun & befuddle them,
allowing him to strike them down with impunity

You can kill the guardians quite easily, and the wall will be exposed for you to crash and bash your way through, but the guardians and foot soldiers will regenerate soon enough and the force field will be back in place.

The whole game is like this. It's one massive action sequence on top of another, which equals many hours of red, weary-eyed gaming, as the difficult tasks and full-scale battles take some time to complete and usually take a few attempts.

Eventually you learn the formula of characters that need to be used to complete each task. Switching from characters throughout each sequence in the midst of all the action is essentially what needs to happen if you want to progress.

Rannek (warrior) and Illius (wizard) are the game's most used characters. Illius has a projectile attack while Rannek can take out several villains at once, even when totally surrounded.

The third and final character you have control of is a rogue named Zhai, half Elf, half Drow. She's funny, sexy, stealthy, and is the only character with the ability to jump. Often jumping on the shoulders of enemies and jamming her two daggers into both sides of the neck. Although Zhai is rather interesting on paper, she lets the game down a bit as she not needed much throughout the game. Her role is more forced than chosen.

Instead of the sexy rogue, maybe a Ghostbuster-type character with a fully charged proton pack laser array would be better suited, just to mix things up a bit. Or better yet, a gorilla with a chainsaw! Yeah! That's the ticket. Stormfront! Out with the rogue in with the gorilla.

Now Demon Stone is an RPG, and one that plays well to boot, but the character development is poor. Weapon upgrades at the end of every chapter are barely worth a mention, as there really aren't any major differences. Armour upgrades only slightly effect the visual appearance of the characters, new moves don't count for much either. It's a let down as I do enjoy strong RPG's where the character(s) constantly transform and evolve.

I noticed the other two characters when not under your control tend to slack off big time in when there's a melee brewing. While you're frantically kicking as much a$$ as possible, the other two characters are totally getting worked. Especially the rogue. Numerous times I've come to her rescue. Numerous times I've found her getting bludgeoned by six or seven hammer-wielding giants. I've said it before and I'll say it again - out with the rogue in with the chainsaw gorilla!

Due to the slackness of a couple of key characters, I don't wont to name names (the rogue, R-O-G-U-E), it takes a few attempts to complete most of the levels. This can be a good thing, yes it can, but when you die in Demon Stone you go back to a certain part of the level, one which is sometimes quite far back and it always has a lengthy cut sequence before you can start playing again.

Illius the wizard strides into the midst of battle

These sequences get very annoying after watching 20 times, and they can't be skipped. That's not nice.

There is also no saving of the game at a specific point. Which is problematic considering some chapters can take hours to complete, so if you've had a hard night on the Demon Stone, knocking about in chapter 8, bashing the buttons 'til you can bash no more, and would rather bash again tomorrow with a fresh head, you can't, lest you lose all your progress.

You're best off leaving the game paused and that PS2 engine burning away overnight, because if you turn the f**ker off you will have to be bashing away from the start of chapter 8 again... Which isn't that enticing.

So it's a bit of a love-hate relationship I have with Demon Stone.

I enjoy playing it, I enjoy the full on massive royal rumble style brawls between hordes of reptilian fanatics, I have fun knocking a pair of nine foot tall ice trolls off a bridge with one swing of a sword, I enjoy blasting people with the wizards spells, I love carving up people with my chainsaw-wielding gor...Ah.. Sorry that last part doesn't happen.

A game as rich in detail and swathed in action would normally be riddled with slowdown and jumpiness, but no. It's quite smooth, and the graphics are great. Stormfront has seized control of the camera, which also helps keep things smooth, so rather than giving the user 360° director privileges, the cameras have been strategically located throughout the levels. It's not a bad balance either, but in a perfect world I would prefer to control the camera.

I damn well enjoy the craftsmanship that's gone into the modelling of all the castles, bridges and temples - Demon Stone has a lot going for it, but waiting for it to load and replaying sections I've already played several times reminds me of how impatient and stubborn I am at times.

Maybe all those stubborn and impatient types should all work on developing Zen-like states of patience, which would allow them to enjoy these sort of games which are really good but suffer from a few bad structural issues.

So, to summarise please read all the previous paragraphs, as I have no idea of how to wrap this bad boy up. All I got is bad jokes. But I am looking forward to the next Forgotten Realms release that uses the Demon Stone game engine, as it's solid as a brick, and with all the little imperfections fixed up, and with maybe a little multiplayer or online play, it would be almost perfect. And do not forget the chainsaw-waving gorilla.

Game: Demon Stone
System: PS2
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Stormfront Studios
Distributor: Atari

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Demon Stone is on the shelves now.

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