In a vision I saw a blade, broad, and reeking of power. Between the handle and the cutting edge, there was a face, carved in silver. And from that face, from the closed eyes, blood was running.

For centuries the Sword of Ianna has remained hidden, the keys to its discovery scattered throughout the world. In a time of chaos, a champion is needed; one who will conquer the evil hordes that overrun the lands; one who can win the sword and defeat the darkness.

Blade of Darkness, from Rebel Act Studios and Codemasters, doesn’t have the most original storyline in the world. The plot is wrapped in tales of evil overwhelming the world, thrust back into the void, only to re-emerge and threaten once again. This is a role-playing hack ‘n slash-fest, with a steady onslaught of targets, and minor puzzles that you need to work through.

The game is viewed from the third-person perspective – but what a view! While there are some similarities to Gathering of Developers’ Rune, those similarities end with the spectacular lighting effects. From the flicker of firelight dancing upon a cave wall, casting giant shadows of an enemy waiting to the shadow of your warrior as he, or she, walks away from the sun, this game is visually stunning.

There are some drawbacks to the graphical elements that should be mentioned. For example, there is a clipping problem in some places. Your sword may find half of its length gliding through a wall of solid rock as you try to sneak down a corridor. Or you may, as in the case of Tukaram traversing the rocky paths of his tribe’s sacred lands, find yourself wading through rock to suddenly pop up and stand on it, rather than in it.

While the water does an excellent job of reflecting that which is about it, it really only has a soft undulating pulse that doesn’t seem to change, even if one of your heroes is wading through it.

However, these are merely minor flaws in an otherwise awesome visual treat.

Of course, the game can be a little bloody. There is a warning on the cover stating that: “This game features explicit blood, gore and violence. Some players may find this disturbing.” Of course the game is rated for Mature players. And you can turn the blood and mutilations off in the options menu.

This is a game, not only of melee combat, but also of exploration. There are four heroes: the Amazon, Zoe, who possesses speed and is excellent with range weapons; Sargon, a knight, who can use a wide variety of weapons and who possesses good offensive and defensive skills; a dwarven messenger named Naglfar who makes quick work of the opposition with his axe; and Tukaram, a tattooed barbarian of the Irkanois tribe who seems to care little about defense, but certainly packs an offensive punch.

Each character begins the game in a different setting. Zoe is in search of treasure; Tukaram has returned to his befouled homeland; Sargon was overwhelmed and imprisoned by a traitor in his kingdom; and Naglfar seeks answers to the chaos in the deep recesses of his homeland.

Each explores, fights and levels up, gaining predetermined hit point increases. Each champion’s power and defensive skills depend largely on what weapon arrangement he or she has. As champions level up, they can gain new skills or abilities, which can be handy as the monsters get harder to kill.

The game controls are a combination of keyboard and mouse controls. One of the nice features is the ability to lock on an enemy, or group of enemies, and move to fight them without having to do fancy maneuvers of physical gyrations to move your selected character about. The configuration of other control elements, such as cycling through nearby objects, picking up objects or throwing them (yes, you can actually throw something you pick up), take some getting used to, but the in-game curve is short-lived, and you can work out most of those kinks in the tutorial that is simple and direct.

The audio elements of this program are fairly typical for this fantasy slash and slay product.

But that brings us full circle back to the graphical quality. It is amazing. Even throwing a lit torch and watching the passage of the flame’s illumination down a hall is absolutely wonderful.

Blade of Darkness calls itself an action-adventure game, and it surely is that. It is also a game that will appeal to those that like carving the enemy up like a human vega-matic. Yet, there is something amazing about a game that is so delightful in the realm of eye candy, that even the excessive gore can be overlooked. And yes, this is a blast to play.

Install: Medium.
The game will chew up 750 megs of hard-drive space, but provide great replayability.

Gameplay: 8
Each character has their own starting point in this program and those game boards are huge. However, there does seem to be a set way to go, with very little options along the way – especially in the early levels for each character. It is hard to get lost.

Graphics: 9
The lighting effects warrant a 10, but the clipping problems and the lack of development of the polygonal side characters (such as those in the dungeon in level one with Sargon) knock a point or two off the score.

Sound: 7
The music is pulse-pounding, the combat sound effects solid, but why does sneaking bear an audio resemblance to walking, only slower.

Difficulty: 7.5
This is a mixed bag. In the early levels, the game caters to the inexperienced and allows them to begin to build their champion and learn the controls. That ‘take it easy on them’ element begins to fade as you advance. The hit points for the champions go up, for a reason.

Concept: 6
The storyline has been replayed in many other games. But the nice element here is that each character starts in a different part of the world, and each has a different mission as the game begins.

Multiplayer: 7
The game sports a multiplayer mode which is a hack-fest called Arena. This is similar to other pure combat games. It may allow for taking characters into a multiplayer format, but it is a poor substitute for working through a quest.

Overall: 8.5
Blade of Darkness is, at its core, a melee game that is soft on storyline, and has defined paths through the worlds for each character. But I could not help but enjoy this program, even with the blood and mutilation modes turned on, because of the ‘feel’ of the game (the nice sense that the world was one where common elements, like light and even gravity – throwing objects is very cool – have meaning). This is a bloody game, but it will be well received by those who have enjoyed similar games, or who don’t mind a little gore if the game keeps them coming back to play again and again.