Blade & Sword is another shameless Diablo clone that takes place in early China. An Emperor has been taken out and revenge is proclaimed from the villagers. You are sent to help re-organize the fallen faithful and group them into battle against the armies that burned their village to the ground. This task of course isn’t all that cut and dry. You must initially gather resources, which oddly enough you do alone. How one man can carry so much loot and booty is beyond me, but hey…this game wasn’t supposed to carry along an enthralling, realistic story line I guess. Story withdrawn, Blade & Sword does do very well what it was made to do, be a kick butt hack and slash title. If you were one of the two people who didn’t play the classic Diablo series, then a tutorial would be necessary, but I’ll leave that up to you. For the rest of the free world, this game is basically Diablo with a different skin. This, albeit an unoriginal concept, makes for some exciting game play if you miss the glory days of this genre.

Visuals are nothing to write home about, yet aren’t poor either. The landscapes and character models are detailed and diverse. The architecture is brilliantly laid out, from the ruins of your town, to the icy mountaintops, and lastly to the evil underworld. The textures are vivid and sharp, allowing for some decent eye candy while you scout the countryside. You choose from 3 different characters, each with different styles and likenesses. Your choices are a Genghis Kahn look-a-like with the massive blade, your typical samurai warrior, and a twin bladed heroine. You start off basically as naked as the day you were born, but as upgrades are acquired, you are outfitted properly for those cold winter nights. Each character model is detailed, and show off some great moves, but the framerate just isn’t very fluid and unfortunately brings us back to the days of Pentium 2’s, which happens to be the minimum requirement. There are plenty enemy characters to thwart, from dead rising ghouls, to half and half creatures, the assortment of your foes are great. In the end, no real advancements have been made to the genre here; so unless you’re looking for a flashback to the past, don’t expect a technological breakthrough here by any means.

Audio easily gets you in the mood for some ancient Chinese hack and slash. Complete with a soothing asian score, making peace with yourself, while making pieces of your foe will come easily. The lack of voice acting from your townspeople, cut scenes, etc., leaves a lot to be desired. The most you get are grunts and groans from your slain enemies. Even the combat sounds are stale. It’s these little omitted touches that keep the presentation plain.

Game play is as basic as click, click, click. That’s right Diablo fans, your carpel tunnel syndrome may wreak its ugly head once again. Need to move about, just click. Need to kill a foe, just click. Picking up an object, just click. How about talking to an ally? That’s right friends, just click. The action, while basic, does get heated when multiple characters are attacking at once, which can make for some interesting fight sequences. You also have a few specials attacks at your disposal. Depending on how much experience you have, you can acquire special moves that will whip those baddies back to the bowels of which they came. To use these specials will take some serious thought and technique, and I have the quick and easy solution to help you use these powerful chi attacks. If you have a pen handy here we go. Choose the chi you want to use by selecting F, R, or Q…then you…click! Whew, I hope you veterans at home can handle this. All is not bad as the A.I. can be rather smart, so planning your attack may be a key in victory. Overall, while simplistic, the game still generates a lot of fun, and a rekindling of days gone by. Gameplay definitely isn’t done like this anymore. Good or bad? You be the judge.

Blade & Sword offers up over 100 hours of hacking, slashing, and clicking. This is if you want to complete the game entirely. The terrain is huge, but that lack of random map generators leaves replay value hindered. What’s more, the exclusion of any multiplayer option is totally inexcusable. This really hurts the longevity of this title, as it would have been fun to join some other warriors online, but alas this feature wasn’t in the cards I guess.

In the end, Blade & Sword is a good romp for those looking for another Diablo-like title. If you haven’t had your fill, there is some great action and fun to be had through its lengthy story, but without multiplayer or random maps, this game is a one trick pony. Not bad for the 30-dollar price point, which is a little under 30 cents an hour! You can’t buy entertainment any cheaper than that and still have fun. Pick this up today if you dig Diablo, or the many clones that followed.