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Die by the Sword Interplay If you listen to Tantrum's press release, you might think that Die by the Sword is one of the greatest advances in video games, ever. Tantrum claims that the new VSIM they created (Virtual Simulation) allows for "greater control of your character." And, according to them, "you will never be able to go back to the old technology that limits your control" after playing Die by the Sword. Don't take my word on that, it's right there in black and white on the inside cover of the instruction manual. But if you want my two cents, I wouldn't bet any money on their claims. This is not to say Die by the Sword is a bad game, it's just not anywhere near its own hype. For starters, ignore the minimum requirements for a computer system listed on the box. Supposedly, you can run this game on a Pentium 100 with 16M of ram, but the game was nearly unplayable on my P133 with 64M of ram. I'd say if you don't have at least a 166mhz and a good 3D video card, don't bother. Also, get yourself a real nice joystick or you probably won't enjoy it much at all. Now, you're probably wondering about this VSIM thing. What it basically does is try to give you a more realistic control of the character so that your joystick or keyboard functions more like one of the character's own limbs, rather than just moving in one of eight directions. The idea is if you lightly move your joystick left to right, the sword or arm will follow your movements very slowly. If you whack the joystick as hard as you possibly can, the sword or arm should follow in a similar fashion. Frankly, I didn't notice where it really did anything all that special. If you moved the joystick left, the sword went left. It didn't go left any better than any other game I have seen. That particular let down would have been fine if not for one other thing. There really wasn't a lot of control. I found myself moving the joystick back and forth randomly because I knew if I just hit the monsters, I would do some damage. It didn't matter if it was slow or fast, light or heavy. As a matter of fact, it didn't seem to matter how I moved it, as long as I did. I got just as much power out of a hard swing as a light one. All the training I did in the game's training arena didn't help me one bit. I could try to use finesse in combat, but it worked better if I just swung wildly. And swinging wildly didn't allow for a whole lot of accuracy in my attacks but I did rack up the kills a little quicker. Despite VSIM, one thing in the game's favor is the ability to program attack shortcuts. If there is a certain move you like, you can program the game to make that move every time you hit a particular key. That definitely helps in situations where you don't have the time to waste on finesse or can't afford to miss in the "flailing blindly" method of attack. I know that I've pretty much slammed on the game thus far, but it must be said I did find a certain perverse pleasure in playing the game. Once I got beyond the control issues, it was actually pretty fun and one of the bloodiest games I've played. You can hack off opponents' limbs and then beat them with their own severed appendage. Maybe I'm just a little warped or something, but that is just plain cool. And there is plenty to kill. The fights are difficult, but not impossible, so it provided a good challenge in addition to being an excellent bloodbath. The graphics are excellent as well and look even better on a supported 3D card. But the best thing about Die by the Sword is the hero. Tantrum did one thing right with this game, and that is they made the hero entertaining. As you play through the game, the sound bites they have included for your character will definitely get you laughing. From obscenities yelled when surprised to taunting the kobolds as you hack them to bits, it's pure entertainment. I found myself waiting for the next thing to happen just so I could hear what was going to be said. In the end, if you don't have the money to spare on a lot of games and you're choosing carefully, I'd say keep looking. The control issues definitely involve a lot of patience and frustration before you get a handle on them. But if you can afford to blow the cash and you want a fun, humorous, bloody, 3D, chop-the-bad-guy-to-bits game that doesn't involve a whole lot of thought, than Die by the Sword is a good pick. -Chris M. |
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