Starbreeze studios is mostly known now a days for the hit "Chronicles of Riddick" and a little lesser known "The Darkness". Yet way back in 2003, they created a very well put together hack'n'slash. Let's take a look shall we? Storyline (2/5): The wizard Zale split the world in two, splitting two factions off from each. You must chose to either fight for the light and push back the demon king Vatar or Kill Queen Celenhiem. Regardless which side you chose, the games over-arching story is pretty bare thin. It's really there to set you up for the reason you're on such a level. Gameplay (3/5): You chose light or darkness, based on which you chose you'll get a different set of characters, as well as levels. The game plays like a cross between Tomb Raider and Golden Axe. You'll swing/shoot/cast you're way through most levels, with very little in the way of puzzles, but they are there. The biggest fun for most will be the variety of different classes/characters you can switch between each level. In each level there is bags of gold you can find, at the end of the level you can then use that gold to purchase upgrade such as armor, weapons and customize you're character to you're liking. It's quite fun and really adds the nice rpg feel to a otherwise normal hack'n'slash. Graphics (3/5): The games graphics are blocky at times, but get the jobs done. Animations can be stiff, and overall it's a aging game. Yet, where the game shines is the atmosphere and variety in levels. You'll be go from cities, volcanic, snowy, and all around and each stage feels right at home within the games world. Overall: (3/5) The game isn't outstanding by any means, but it does put together a decent gem that hearkens back to the glory days of Fantasy Hack'n'Slash. The two different campaigns while not that different, still adds some extra time to the game, and the different charcters makes this one you'll have some re-playability with. Give it a shot.
