Darkstone

We don�t have a new idea, so lets rehash an old one

There is absolutely no doubt that Darkstone is a Diablo clone, and unfortunately not a very good one. Gameplay mimics Diablo almost perfectly: your left mouse button moves and swings, your right mouse button casts spells, you have a utility belt to put potions and scrolls on, your weapons break down over time, the dungeons are created randomly. I could go on and on but you get the picture, there just isn�t much new content in Darkstone to make it stand out in any way. Sure the 3D graphics make the game look different, but this isn�t necessarily a good thing as the 3D monsters you will encounter are less than frightening and the eerie feeling that made Diablo�s atmosphere creepy to play is completely missing.

I am dealing with troll #1 right now, will all other trolls please take a number

One of the reasons that Diablo was so intense was the constant flow of creatures attacking you from all directions. Even when you managed to back your way up to a door the monsters would continue to rush you in an unending wave, your health globe rapidly dropping. Darkstone is completely missing this intense combat feel as the monsters seem to line up one after the other and wait for you to dispose of their comrade before walking over and attacking you. This pause in monster attacks gives you ample time to heal yourself, and in the end you begin to feel more like a Safeway cashier dealing with a line of customers than a brave adventurer fighting for your life. Things get a bit tougher if you try to fight your opponents in an open room, but honestly, what intelligent gamer ever lets this happen. The monsters just aren�t threatening enough in Darkstone to ever make you panic, and this is a definite problem.

Adventuring tip #1: Lower dungeon levels are always harder, the smart warrior starts at the top and goes down.

This lack of panic in Darkstone is mostly due to a problem in game balance. For a dungeon crawl type game to be successful each level of the dungeon should become progressively more difficult and provide greater challenges. Now this concept may seem obvious to most but somehow it evaded the developers of Darkstone. While exploring one of the lands in Darkstone I came upon an entrance to level 13 of the dungeon. I remember thinking to myself: �that�s odd I don�t remember completing levels 9 through 12�, and then just assuming I had forgotten and headed down into the dungeon. A short time later I successfully made my way up from level 15 of the dungeon, turned around a corner and ran into the entrance to levels 9 through 12. If I can successfully complete lower levels of a dungeon while lacking all of the experience I would have gained from easier levels there is a definite problem. The levels in Darkstone aren�t balanced and result in a lack of intimidation in the game.

If this is the best my god can do for me, I would like to start accepting resumes for a new deity

The absolutely most annoying aspect of Darkstone however arises when you try to heal your companion. For some reason to heal your comrade you must activate your medicine skill. The medicine skill allows you to heal other people. The really strange part is that the only other person in the game to heal is your partner, yet the medicine skill causes an icon to appear that you must then hold over your friend before they are healed. After you heal them once you must wait 30 seconds before you can heal them again. If this paragraph sounds awkward and hard to follow then I have succeeded in conveying to you how poor this healing interface is.

All of the experience is mine! Mine you hear me!

One of Darkstone�s more interesting features is the fact that you can take on all of the bad guys with an AI companion at your side. This sidekick idea was a good one and does succeed in giving Darkstone some unique character of its own. For the most part this team work idea does work, and having your companion along for the ride can be helpful in many situations. Unfortunately there are two big problems that mar even this feature.

The first is that your sidekick is always positioned behind you. In order to get them to join in the attack you have to run back from your opponents until your friend notices them and begins attacking. This isn�t a big problem unless you are trying to contain your enemies within a narrow door. At this point to get help from your friend you have to back up from the door, let the bad guys through and fight at a disadvantage.

This first problem is excusable and for the most part if you do some fancy maneuvering you will eventually figure out ways of getting your companion to join in fights quickly and efficiently. The second problem however is unforgivable and almost makes partying with a companion completely useless. You and your companion don�t share experience. You get experience for whatever you kill and the sidekick gets experience for whatever they kill. I played Darkstone with a monk as my main character and an amazon as my companion. The amazon dealt out damage so quickly and hogged so much experience that I would have to leave her behind at times and fight alone just so I could catch up to her in levels. Not making experience shared was a big mistake and should be looked at.

Having troubles sleeping? Darkstone may be the answer

When all is said and done Darkstone isn�t a bad game, it just isn�t a very good one. It stuck to closely to the Diablo formula, didn�t try to make any major leaps forward in game design and in the end just becomes boring to play. You can only click on so many monsters and travel through so many random dungeon levels before life gets dull, and to be honest that is what Darkstone quickly becomes: dull.

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