This little-known game was
released in 1998, and was then the first true
third person action game. However, it is not
only an action game, it is also a fighting game,
and it has some roleplaying elements.
The basic premis is this: You
are Enric the adventurer, a strong, well characterized
fighter who's girlfriend has been kidnapped
by an evil Wizard for reasons unknown. Of course
it is your chivalrous duty, as well as your
excuse to go on a swashbuckling adventure, to
go and rescue her. You wield but one weapon
(well, unless you count severed body parts as
weapons) throughout the entire game: The Sword.
The game can be played in three
ways: Quest Mode, in which you progress in single-player
fashion through the game's eight single player
maps, each of which has a movie before and cut-scenes
within, and unravel the story of what's going
on (sort of), and fight your way through your
foes. Arena Mode lets you select some of the
game's monsters to fight in an arena, with a
time limit or kill limit - kind of like a 'botmatch'
in other games, though in fact these are not
bots, they are normal monsters - DBTS' AI is
awesome and every monster provides a challenge.
The third is Tournament Mode, in which you progress
up a ladder ie fighting game style - fighting
different enemies and / or combinations of enemies
in different arenas and gaining rank.
I will first explain the faults
of this game, and then I will explain why they
do not matter. The first fault can't be helped
and is that I'm reviewing the game by today's
standards, and it is nearly four years old.
The second fault is that there are some very
frustrating moments in the single player game
- the fifth level has almost no health, two
spots in that level had me wanting to find out
the level designer's home address and go there
and cause him to Die by the Sword - an instant
death series of spin traps (health doesn't matter
there), and 'Magmar the Elemental,' who is very
hard indeed to fight when you have no god damn
health. The last and most frustrating let-down
of the single player game is the end level.
I need a new paragraph to dissect
the exact circumstances which cause me to lose
part of my mind over this particular level.
The area is massive, and barely any of it is
used - it is just a huge (and I mean huge) area
with lava at the bottom and dark walls and ceilings.
This causes lag. Another lag-causing factor
is when you load your game continually. The
combination of the end boss firing projectiles
at you (keep in mind the player has no projectile
or ranged attack), as well as five rocks (one
of which you are standing on) moving up, moving
down, moving up, and then falling directly into
the lava at the bottom, makes things quite difficult,
to say nothing of lag. You must deal with lag,
dodge the boss's projectiles without fighting
back, jump nimbly from rock to rock without
missing or staying on any rock for any more
than approximately 7 seconds, and manage to
make it to the fourth rock where your camera
shifts into 'duel mode' (unless your sword is
sheathed), making it that much harder to jump.
Say you do make it there, which is not nearly
as hard as it sounds, after sufficient *practice*.
When you make it there, you have the hardest
trial in the entire game, yes, harder than killing
the endboss wizard or his massive, metal-clawed
pet 'Changa', harder than fighting Magmar the
Elemental with 'severe injuries,' harder than
those instant-gib spin traps which killed me
so many times: You must jump onto the fifth
platform, which is too high for your character
to jump onto. To give an example of how difficult
this is, I attempted it for two hours *straight*
and I only made it 3 times, all of which were
complete flukes which I had no idea how I brought
about. Not only that but on my first try I defeated
the end boss - only to fall off the platform
and into the lava, for the hundredth time, afterwards.
Imagine my frustration.
Back to the other faults. The
third fault is that mappage is somewhat limited;
there are 8 single player levels and 4 multiplayer
arenas, a tutorial level, and that's all. That
seems like very little compared to other games,
but they go a surprisingly long way due to the
game's unique gameplay (which I'll later discuss).
There are a few little bugs which only occur
on some systems; a few tiny video glitches and
sound problems. Nothing major, though. The last
fault and probably what nailed this game's sales
badly is the learning curve: you cannot casually
play this game.
Die By The Sword places all
the emphasis on combat. There is no weapon or
item choosing, each character gets one weapon
and that's it. There is no health restoration
in multiplayer. You're swordfighting and that's
that. And the *way* you swordfight is one of
the things that makes this game - sure, there
is arcade mode, which resembles most 3rd person
games' attempt at melee combat - but there is
also VSIM mode, based on the VSIM technology
developed for this game. Using the keyboard,
joystick or mouse (I use the mouse), you swing
your weapon around whichever way you please.
Mouse goes up; in-game character's arm goes
up. Mouse goes down, then left, then right,
then backwards, up, sideways, to the right again
- and so likewise will your character's arm
and weapon go in the game. It's incredible.
Turning, jumping, spinning, crouching, lunging,
strafing, and other types of movement will contribute
to how effective your swing is. No other game
in history has ever handled swordfighting combat
this well.
That said, it is impossible
to just jump into this game the way you jump
into another action game and starting kicking
ass. You'll need to go through a tutorial (which
is quite well done, your tutor's voice being
particularly amusing), and spend time practicing
your skills in arena mode. Once you have proven
yourself to be more than 'an unproven, unshapen
piece of goat dung with a sword' (and that's
what it says in the manual), you can give Quest
mode a try.
Your quest is introduced with
a suitable cut-scene, and right off the bat
you're faced with Kobolds (small canine fellows)
to square off with. These guys are probably
the easiest of DBTS' foes, but they are not
pushovers. Think of the easiest foe in another
action game - you can just shoot or hack them
once and go right through them like they weren't
there. In DBTS, however, there are no cannon
fodder foes. You have to hit the right spots,
avoid their attacks, and manuever around their
shields. A fight with one Kobold can last a
long time - there are only 10-20 monsters in
any given level - compare that to the hundreds
seen in other games. Quest mode deserves recognition
for being more than just 'kill anything that
moves' - there are clever ways of doing things
as well as charge-right-in ways. At the end
of each level, your score is tallied up - how
many enemies you killed, how many clever methods
you used, and how many secrets you found. All
of the levels take some time to get through
due to finding out when to do what and go where,
as well as the lengthy and intense duels which
take place in them. Environments are all indoors,
including Caves of various sorts, underground
rivers, mines, and finally the wizard's castle.
The Castle reminded me strongly of Heretic II's
Cloud Fortress, as well as the end sequence
within it (though this game came before that).
The boss as I've said is quite a challenge.
I'm sure the second time through Quest mode
could be done much quicker with the puzzles'
solutions already known to the player.
Tournament is interesting,
but Arena is the mode I've played most - good
for a quick game or a multiplayer battle. Multiplay
in this game is awesome, even better than the
single player. You can play as one of the game's
many characters, as well as put in AI players
if you want. Only 4 players are supported for
multiplay, but that's fine with me - any more
wouldn't work very well. Each multiplayer level
except one has some sort of hazard in it (Lava,
pendulums, ect), which, if someone dies by the
said hazards, and you attacked them last, you
get the kill for it. This is cool because you
can nail guys into the lava and watch them burn,
gaining while you do so, and it also keeps people
from getting negative scores in a game where
getting a kill is a major accomplishment.
I've gone on about the gameplay
for some time, so I should quickly mention the
graphics before wrapping up. They are very crisp,
clear, and suitable for the game. There is no
magical eye candy or anything like that, but
the seeing your sword knock off a foe's head
is well represented indeed. The models' skins
turn red when hit in an area - supposed to be
bloody, I suppose - and while this looks a bit
cheesy, it works well for the gameplay, and
you can really tell when someone's beat up.
All the characters look cool and the levels
are well made.
Die By The Sword is certainly
not for everyone, and sales reflect that. However,
despite its faults, it is definately one of
my favourite games of all time.
