Hack. Slash. Stab. Fun!

Many games throughout history have followed the "hack and slash" formula of gameplay; mindless button-mashing for hours on end, with the end result being a lot of dead monsters and a really sore thumb. This method of gameplay has been highly criticized over the years, due to its simplistic nature and the general lack of replay value that "hack-and-slash" games tend to have. So what makes Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone so different? Is it the always-great voice work of Patrick Stewart? The Dungeons and Dragons theme? Perhaps it's the amazingly cinematic feel to the whole thing.

I'll be the first to admit: "Cinematic" has been the buzz word in gaming lately. Every game promises a "cinematic experience" these days, but there's something about Demon Stone which proves to make good on that promise. Maybe it is the familiar voice of Patrick Stewart – or the top-notch voice acting from all of the other participants – which helps add to the experience. Coupled with the gorgeous sound track and generally well-done sound effects, the game's audio quality is certainly on par with anything you would see on the big screen. When you throw in the stunning visuals – gorgeous cut scenes and in-game graphics – you get a really amazing visual and aural experience. This really helps to draw you in to the unique world of Faerun (the world of the Forgotten Realms setting), and helps you to feel like you're in the driver's seat as you take the game's three heroes, level by level, through the game.

So the game looks and sounds great, but ohw does it play? Well, to be honest, it's definitely a hack-and-slash at its core. You take control of three characters – Rannak the Fighter, Zhai the Rogue, and Illi\us the Sorcerer – one at a time, with the ability to swap between them on-the-fly, and fight your way through level after monster-infested level. The ability to switch between these characters on the fly is a nice touch, but the lack of multiplayer is extremely disappointing. Each character has his or her own unique abilities: the Fighter, for instance, can break down otherwise sturdy obstructions, the Rogue can jump to high places and sneak through the shadows, enabling her to deliver lethal sneak attacks, and the Sorcerer is capable of casting a variety of spells to aid the party. For the majority of the time though, you'll be able to use any character you choose to hack, stab, or blast your enemies with; the need to use one character in particular is always situational.

As you hack your way through each level you will also be able to fill up each character's super meter, which allows them to deliver powerful area-of-effect attacks, causing great damage to all nearby foes. If each of the three character's super meters are full, you can deliver and extra-powerful team super move, which can cause a devastating amount of damage. In general, you will only need to use this ability against bosses; a single super move from any given character is usually enough to clear away the surrounding enemy hordes. The team aspect of this game also comes in when making a regular "team attack", putting two teammates together to deliver an especially strong blow against an enemy but, again, this is seldom used against anything other than bosses.

Too add to the mix, your character will gain experience points and level up as they fight, and they can spend these experience points between levels. When spending your experience points, you can upgrade your existing attacks and purchase access to new multiple-hit combo attacks (none of which eer require more than three button presses to fully execute, so even a novice player can master the game's combo system). While many of your new abilities have different names, especially Illius' spells, they're almost always simple upgrades to the character's existing abilities; they cause more damage, last longer, give you still-more hit points, etc. It's a great idea, and definitely necessary to completing the game with any ease, though the overall implimentaiton is quite simplistic.

And, of course, it wouldn't be D&D without earning gold and buying treasure. Also between levels, you can spend your vast amounts of gold to buy new armour (decreasing the amount of damage you take in combat), better weapons (increasing the amount of damage you deal in combat, and also adding special "freezing", "shocking", or "weakening" effects), and other trinkets to increase health, spell power, stealth abilities, etc. For those of you familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, you will recognize the names of most of these items right away: Mithral Plate Mail +5, +5 Icy Burst Swords, Amulets of Health +4, etc. They do what you would generally expect them to, and the in-game descriptions of each item make it unnecessary to ever consult the manual (a good thing, in my personal opinion). The problem here is that the amount of gold you earn is insane, allowing you to purchase Mithral Full Plate as perhaps your first armour upgrade, completely ignoring the other two sets of armour between the default (banded mail) and your final set. If you earn all of the gold possible in a given level, you should have more than enough money ot buy the best of everything at least one level or two before the end of the game. On the bright side, Demon Stone handles a common problem that similar games have – the ability to buy endless supplies of health potions – by simply not having them in the game, making the overall experience a lot more challenging than similar games, such as Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance or D&D Heroes.

While Demon Stone's overall gameplay is fun and exciting, it certainly has its ups and downs. On the bright side, having access to three characters, each with his or her own unique abilities, is a nice change to the standard hack-and-slash formula, and Zhai's ability to hide in the shadows and deliver sneak attacks often adds a unique stealth experience to the game. On the other hand, the AI will rarely defend your controlled character when you need them to the most, making certain sequences in the game unbelievably difficult. In general, however, the AI is good and capable of defending themselves, so you rarely need to babysit your other characters, but the inability to issue commands makes it difficult to get them to do what you want them to some times.

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a well-made game with a nicely cinematic feel. Its minor quirks with AI are forgivable, especially when considering the great gameplay experience. However, a short (10 hours at best) campaign and lack of multiplayer make it a game that is hard to recommend for anything but a weekend rental. If you're a fan of action games and are looking for something to play during a lazy weekend, go to your favourite rental store and check out Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone.