NIGHTSTONE

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

First things first - I got this game for nothing. Being the sucker
I am if I get an offer "buy 2 and get a surprise game free" I
always fall for it. Needless to say the surprise game is never
anything best selling or any good but they'll continue to get me
this way.  Last time around it was an adventure game that refused
to load and about which I could find nothing on the web; this time
around it was "Nightstone". The fact that Virgin didn't bother to
release it in the USA should have warned me of what was to come
but let's look at it in more detail.

It's a semi Diablo clone but about ten times as difficult. You
have 3 heroes - fighter, amazon (read archer) and mage. The idea
is to solve the mystery of the Nightstone, which has brought
untold evil to your land with all forms of nasty monsters
appearing everywhere. Unusually you start at three corners of a
map making it necessary to use diverse skills so that your party
can meet in the middle. The inn in the middle is the only place
you can trade so for a long time you'll find yourself unable to
improve your equipment unless you pick up something. The heroes'
powers are very different and it does take some adjusting to get
used to the different styles. However you soon get the hang of it
- warrior cut and slash; amazon fire arrows - run away - fire
arrows at chasing targets - run away etc. The mage is the same
except read spells for arrows.  Nevertheless the combat is very
difficult and very intense and the game borrows a lovely point
from "Diablo 2" - you can only save at the end of a mission!
Whoever thought that up should be subjected to the Road films
ultimate torture - the Death of a Thousand Lashes.

It's actually quite enjoyable although totally unoriginal. There
is a plot although it of course takes second place in a game like
this and I suppose the extreme challenge will attract some people.
However the game marks a first for me in all my years of RPG - I
cheated in the final sequence. Trying to destroy a very powerful
artefact while being constantly clobbered by resurrecting armies
of undead and having powerful spells thrown at you by an
unslayable creature was beyond my modest ability. If I'd known
this from the start and saved every health and stamina potion for
the end I might have been able to do it but I wasn't clever enough
to foresee this and was certainly not going to start again.

We are threatened at the end with a sequel that I doubt will ever
materialise. If it's going to succeed a lot of thought is going to
have to go into it but I can't see myself tempted.











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