The developers of Blade & Sword are big fans of Diablo II. In fact, they like
it so much that they’ve produced a game so like the source of their inspiration
that it could easily be mistaken for a mod rather than a standalone game.
However, like most clones Blade & Sword may look a lot like the original but it
lacks a soul. The game captures the interface, mechanics, and look of Diablo II,
but the exciting gameplay was lost in the translation.
Blade & Sword is set in Ancient China and draws heavily on Chinese legend for
its inspiration. In spite of this source of rich material the game manages only
a feeble storyline that produces more confusion or outright ambivalence than it
does inspiration for the player. Basically, China is under assault from legions
of the undead. As a Shaolin warrior it is up to you to stop them by
killing many creatures and retrieving magical odds and ends.
You’ll know that you are in trouble with Blade & Sword right from the start
while viewing the screen that establishes the game’s background story. Note the
use of the word screen. Not screens or cutscene, but screen. You are shown a
single screen with one static image, and the story is established by slowly
scrolling text on the bottom third of the screen. And when I say slowly, I mean
slowly. The words crawl by at a pace that would seem slow to a second grader and
there is no way to speed or scroll it. If you get passed the first paragraph
then you have a lot of patience or a penchant for masochism. Unfortunately this
is also a sign of things to come. Every single story element and character
conversation features text that scrolls by at the speed of a glacier. No wonder
there are no voiceovers in the entire game – they would sound like a tape of a
drugged insomniac played on a cassette player with weak batteries.
Once play begins you have your choice of one of three characters. These
characters fill the generic roles of strong but slow, fast but weak, and
balanced. However, you’ll need to consult the manual to figure out which is
which because all the game does is show you a picture of the three characters
and ask you to pick one. There are no names, classes, or background stories, and
there is no way to view the stats or vitals of the characters before selecting
one. Blade & Sword certainly makes it hard to get into the RPG side of the
Action-RPG equation when you have little idea who your character is or what is
motivating him or her to go out and create mass carnage.
Page 2 of 2 »
