demon stone |

Publisher: Atari SA

Developer: Stormfront Studios

Release Date: 09/14/2004

Available On

Around 2004/2005, towards the end of the sixth generation console cycle, games began to take a new turn. AAA titles were becoming something bigger. Blockbuster video games with cinematic gameplay were all the rage as consoles became more powerful. Stormfront Studios was all the rage with their smash-hit movie tie-ins to Peter Jackson’s last two The Lord of the Rings films. The linear gameplay, coupled with unique combat for each character and the ability to bring the world of the movies to life as a playable game, was fantastic and executed well. Here, there’s not much. Having the Dungeons & Dragons license at your fingertips and doing none of the D&D stuff with it is a crying shame. This game could have worked as a generic fantasy title if they just changed a few of the characters’s names.

The game features a captivating opening level. You start out right away in the heat of the action, similar to The Lord of the Rings games. The backgrounds are full of action, battles, flying dragons, and collapsing structures. It’s all here. Each of the three characters introduces you to their combat. The three characters are Rannek, a warrior, Illius, a sorcerer, and Zhai, a rogue. Each can perform the typical tasks associated with their respective classes. Rannek is a powerful fighter with a large sword and heavier armor. Zhai is able to turn invisible for a brief time and sneak attack foes. She is also the fastest with dual knives. Illius can attack with his staff, but he’s best at long-range magic shooting at enemies. This sounds great and all, but the combat quickly falls apart, and its problems show long before the first level ends.

You can switch between each character at any time. Each character’s health meter is located in the lower left corner, as well as a power meter. This meter fills up, and the characters can do a powerful AOE (area of effect) move to clear out enemies. If they all have their power moves ready, you can make an ultimate attack and have all three do theirs at the same time for maximum damage. The initial drawback is that receiving a hit causes your power meter to decrease. This makes no sense. The combat system’s configuration, where groups of enemies relentlessly assault you, lacks a method for evading or parrying. There are two and three hit combos, as well as a ground stab, which is completely useless because enemies don’t fall to the ground outside of a single stage.

This made combat feel like a mindless button masher. I didn’t bother with combos, as they held no significance. The areas are also so cramped that I couldn’t get Illius back far enough to use as a range support. Most of the time, Zhai felt completely useless. Enemies will drop health and power meter bottles, and occasionally you will find treasure chests with coins or maximum health upgrades, but most of the chests are empty. Again, another pointless gameplay addition. I had to exploit the health system, as AI-controlled partners will not die about 99% of the time. When I was down to my last hit, I would switch characters, as it would always seem that health potions would drop more for the AI characters than for myself. The boss fights feel epic in scale and are indeed cinematic, but they feel janky, and most can replenish their health for no apparent reason other than to prolong the battles.

The game is also full of unfair checkpoints. At times, you are forced to replay entire sections with dozens of hordes pursuing you, and you cannot skip cut scenes. This became increasingly challenging as the game progressed. Demon Stone steals the only RPG elements from the D&D setting, offering moves and attributes that you can purchase with either gold or experience. There is an auto-buy feature that I used because it didn’t matter what you bought; you always felt underpowered, or only a single character would feel more powerful. Everything is incredibly imbalanced. To make matters worse, the game only has 10 levels that can be completed in around 4 hours if you don’t die a lot during the last couple of levels. There are some extras to unlock, but they aren’t worth it.

With that said, the story is lame and pointless. We know we need to trap Ygorl, the main antagonist in the Demon Stone, but there’s no lore here. The characters have no backstory at all. There’s the occasional one-line quip about Zhai’s half-breed roots, but the length of the game doesn’t give you enough time to develop a deeper story. Despite the inclusion of well-known voice actors like Patrick Stewart, Michael Clark Duncan, and B.J. Ward, I found the game lacking in depth. They each have a couple dozen lines, as the cutscenes are incredibly short. Despite the obvious high production values, impressive visuals, and good sound design, the overall impression is one of shallowness and flatness. The game could have benefited from additional time to develop into a more expansive adventure, rather than a rushed and cramped corridor hack and slash.