Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone Review

Platform: Playstation 2 Publisher: Atari Rating: Teen (T) Website: www.atari.com

About Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is an RPG/action-adventure game where you get to play a team of three players, a Warrior, a Sorcerer and a Rogue. Drawn together by a mysterious force, they go to Gemspark Mine, where they unwittingly release a couple of evil multi-dimensional spirits who were trapped inside a gemstone. Now they must find a way to stop them before their realm and all the other planes are destroyed.

Difficulty Level/Modes of Play

There are three levels of difficulty in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone: Easy, Normal and Hard. No special modes of play are available in this game. The three characters offer different special abilities. Rannek the Fighter is human and specializes in melee weapons, sword and hand to hand combat. Illius the Sorcerer is a descendant from an ancient line of knights. He is a fair fighter, but uses powerful magic to vanquish enemies. Zhai, the Rogue is a half drow, half elf who is best with stealth. She can avoid detection by hiding in the shadows.

Publisher: Atari

Rating: Teen (T)

Website: www.atari.com

About Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is an RPG/action-adventure game where you get to play a team of three players, a Warrior, a Sorcerer and a Rogue. Drawn together by a mysterious force, they go to Gemspark Mine, where they unwittingly release a couple of evil multi-dimensional spirits who were trapped inside a gemstone. Now they must find a way to stop them before their realm and all the other planes are destroyed.

Difficulty Level/Modes of Play

There are three levels of difficulty in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone: Easy, Normal and Hard. No special modes of play are available in this game.

The three characters offer different special abilities. Rannek the Fighter is human and specializes in melee weapons, sword and hand to hand combat. Illius the Sorcerer is a descendant from an ancient line of knights. He is a fair fighter, but uses powerful magic to vanquish enemies. Zhai, the Rogue is a half drow, half elf who is best with stealth. She can avoid detection by hiding in the shadows.

Fun Factor

This game is interesting because you get switch characters spontaneously during gameplay. The different abilities they have become useful in many situations, and it is good that you can have this kind of control. On some specific missions, you play an individual character.

During combat, every time enemies are defeated, your “Hero Meter” fills up. Once completely full, your team can launch a powerful “Team Attack” that can do a massive amount of damage.

Monsters. There are quite a few of them. You will battle Orcs, Trolls, Githyanki warriors, Slaadi, Bugbears, Yuan-ti, a Red Dragon, Shield Guardians and others.

Combat combos in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone range from one to three combinations of button pushes. You can learn new ones every time you gain a level. This also applies to the magic spells that Illius can cast. There is an option to “Auto-Buy” your skills and weapons, but I wouldn’t recommend it because everyone has a different strategy, and it is good to experiment.

Audio/Video

Patrick Stewart gives the audio dialog for the Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone story details. His dramatic voice fits the contents of the story and really adds to it. Background music is sometimes subtle, other times very dramatic during boss encounters.

The video segments are decent, but could be a bit more detailed. During gameplay action is pretty smooth, but your camera angles can sometimes be pretty bad since you can’t adjust them. Also, once you pass certain points in the game, there is no turning back. Some kind of barrier “magically” shows up to prevent you from leaving.

Summary

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is an RPG/action-adventure game where you play a team of characters that you can spontaneously switch between during combat. Play the game as the Rogue, the Sorcerer or the Warrior. Drawn by a mysterious force, they work together to stop a couple of multidimensional spirits that they accidentally released into their realm. Use magic and melee to battle your opponents. Upgrade your weapons, combat skills and magic spells. Try this game. It is a lot of fun.