Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
- September 10, 2004 00:00 AM PST
Demon Stone is the latest adventure to take place in the Forgotten Realms, and just to prove it, Drizzt the Drow makes a brief but playable appearance.
Although Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is Stormfront Studios� first crack at producing a third-person action D&D title, the developer has more than enough talent on hand to do justice to the license. In the four-chapter preview, the graphics already looked incredibly polished and the soundtrack was sweepingly cinematic. Tremendous attention has gone into using creative virtual cinematography and adding immersive background details. If anything, the preview proves that Demon Stone has stellar production values.Demon Stone�s game engine traces its lineage back to The Legend of Alon Dar, via The Two Towers. Several new features have been introduced to take advantage of the D&D tie-in. For example, weapons, armor, and items are upgradeable in a manner similar to the attack combo upgrades from The Two Towers. The improved engine also lets you switch quickly among the Fighter, Rouge, and Mage that make up your party, though at times you�re forced to use only one character (usually for stealthy endeavors involving the Rogue). Gameplay has been polished as well with many situations requiring that you do more than merely hack a path to the boss.
The one area that feels lacking is the inventory system. Though the game�s designers indicate that they were trying to get away from a confusing inventory management system, what they put in its place is significantly more complicated than a paper doll. When choosing armor, do you take �Great Protection,� �Fantastic Protection,� or �Ultimate Protection?� Is �Fantastic� 20,000 gold pieces better than �Great?�
Most of the technical D&D stuff is hidden from the player, but it�s unclear yet whether this will make the game more accessible to noobs or merely piss off the core audience. Regardless, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will be worth looking at, if only for the gorgeous audio/visual presentation.
