Review: Darkstone.

When I picked up a copy of Diablo those couple years back, I was hoping for a roleplaying game to set the standard for future PC RPG’s. What I found instead was a hack’n slash environment like the legendary Gauntlet, fueled by a sweet graphics engine and repetitive, not-quite-boring gameplay. The quest for levels and items was often much more fun and goal-setting than was the completion of the game itself, considering Diablo’s unoriginal backstory. Despite the game’s flaws, however, Diablo was a damn blast, hindered only by the multiplayer cheating and inevitable closure, when one had killed Diablo numerous times, on each difficulty setting. Since that time, attempts at reviving Diablo have failed (Hellfire was cool, but it didn’t bring Diablo back from the dead). Other companies have tempted Blizzard with Diablo look-alikes, but none have come close to capturing the feel of the original game.

Enter Darkstone, a game sporting 3D graphics, claiming to be the game Diablo was meant to be. Come again? Diablo was the best game in its genre, and whether or not it could have been better, it WAS the best. An uninteresting box, besides, and screenshots that really could have been quite better, kept me from really looking into Darkstone for at least a month. Finally, however, I gave in, and once I loaded Darkstone, I was blown away by great gameplay, and the realization that Darkstone, at least in part, was Diablo revived.

Take Diablo, add 3D graphics, put in place extra quests, extra maps, and a kickass generation system for quests, and remove the ueber-dark feeling of the Diablo world, and you’ve got Darkstone. I still can’t believe that DSI, part of the Gathering of Developers, managed to get away with refitting Diablo for the modern era. I’m certainly not complaining, however, as Darkstone is the most fun I’ve had in non-FPS multiplayer since… well, since Diablo.

Darkstone sports four character classes, made up of the three original Diablo classes (fighter, mage, and rogue), and adds Hellfire’s monk to the list. With some renaming here and there, and allowing players to choose a gender among the classes, you’ve got eight avatars to choose from, with enough differences for any player to choose what best suits their playing style and tastes.

As soon as you enter the game, you’ve got no choice but to remark on the kickass 3D engine. You can rotate the camera and zoom in and out, all without obstructing your view of the battlefield, as buildings, trees, and walls all become transparent when in the way. The controls are exactly the same as in Diablo, and the only gripe I had with them was after some serious playtime, when I wished that the controls could be customized.

Though it’s what made Diablo’s atmosphere so unique, the feel of Darkstone is without the dark, post-apocalyptic feeling. Instead, Darkstone makes use of a more typical fantasy feel, and without the townsfolk’s reminder that the land is being destroyed/conquered by Drak, the supra-bad-guy, you might just think you’re one of many adventurers here to earn some cash, not save the world. The lack of Diablo’s gothic atmosphere, however, makes the game much more playable, allowing the level designers to make efficient use of the 3D graphics, without needing to throw in too many unnecessary graphics. Of course, the halls are still adorned with dim torches, hanging skeletons, etc, and when darkness is necessary (like the scene with dark-priests sacrificing an infant), DSI comes about in a splendid fashion.

The crowning achievement of Darkstone, however, isn’t the single-player game alone. Instead, it’s the ability to start a game with three of your friends, going through the game in a co-op fashion, or, if you choose, duking it out in the dungeons. While I don’t consider the four-player limit to lend itself very well to Darkstone Deathmatches, I do recall it being at least temporarily amusing in Diablo. Co-op is great fun, however, as you can back yer pals up, trade items, and complete quests in record time. Often have I found myself turn the game off after only five minutes, because I yearned for multiplayer action, refusing to play the game alone. That’s the kind of addiction Darkstone creates.

Perhaps to put one up on Diablo, or perhaps to attempt a truly unique innovation, DSI brought about the two-character single-player experience. That’s right, in a single player game, you can control two characters, at least in part. Both characters are yours, but the computer controls one of them. This comes in handy when you’re jumping into super-tough dungeons at low skill levels, since if one character dies, you can resurrect him with the second character. Though you can control only one character in multiplayer, the fact that you can use single-player characters in multiplayer games is a welcome addition compared to what Diablo allowed. Though you can always start a multiplayer-game with no one else inside it, you can use a character to complete the game (in which you can save, periodically), and still use that character to earn experience beside you clan-mates in a multiplayer game. And, when in single-player, you can keep two characters at similar experience levels, so you’ve got two to choose from when playing multiplayer, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of your multiplayer troupe. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Darkstone, despite being a great, addictive game, has its problems as well. On some computers, having to play around with the gamma settings of your 3D card outside of the game is annoying, since there’s no in-game gamma correction to play around with. Also, the game sometimes freezes up on some systems in multiplayer games with no one but the host in them. Though this can be rare, it’s really annoying, but fortunately, your character is auto-saved whenever you go through a portal, or head to a new land or dungeon. Also somewhat annoying is the fact that you cannot change your computer name or workgroup in Window’s Network settings after creating a character. Considered a “feature” by DSI to circumvent cheating and character-duplication, this can be annoying when one needs to change network settings. Heck, sometimes it has to be done.

Part of what destroyed Diablo’s fun was the huge amounts of cheating, either through certain bugs, or external trainers to fudge one’s stats, levels, and items. I’ve not yet seen any of the latter, though if Darkstone begins to form a large following, such programs may pop up, unless DSI has found a super-spiffy way to get around the problems Diablo faced. Item duplication, though, is a snap, since you can save your character’s state in a single-player game, give items away in a multiplayer game, then restore your character’s state. Likewise, disconnecting from multiplayer games after throwing an item on the ground allows two people to get the item. Minor cheat-bait, but nothing too serious.

As far as I can tell, Darkstone is the undisputed heavyweight champion of hack’n slash fantasy games, blowing Diablo right out of the water, even considering the similarities. Sure, Darkstone may not be 100% original, but it takes a great game, and makes it much, much better. All I have to say is “Watch out, Blizzard,” ‘cause now they’ve got a whole new level of gaming to surpass in Diablo 2. In conclusion, if you liked Diablo, you’ll love Darkstone, but not necessarily the other way around. Props to the innovators at DSI for a job well done.

Wild, Wild Rumpus Rating: 8.3 outta 10.

Review: Darkstone.

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