Why does the setting in RPG games always have to be in a parallel world, and not in our own world? What would our world look like if magic was brought upon us? How would people react – especially in the pious Middle Ages, where people were proclaimed as heretics all the time? This is what Black Isle and Interplay have thought about in their new RPG game, Lionheart : Legacy of the Crusader.

As mentioned before, the game takes place in the Middle Ages, where a cataclysm, called "the Disjunction", has brought havoc upon the world of men. The human kind has been corrupted by demonic powers, and there are now four kinds of races:

Purebloods: Untainted by the Disjunction. Fear and hate the tainted races.
Demokin: Horned creatures tainted by a fiendish spirit.
Feralkin: Touched by a beast spirit, this race finds itself heavily persecuted all over the world.
Sylvant: Contains a elemental spirit. Physically weaker than the other races, the sylvants are skilled in the use of magic. Due to their racial heritages, it is almost impossible for them to walk amond purebloods.

The four races are - as you might see - as different from each other as dwarfs are from elves. In my book, a good choice, since this of course gives you an opportunity to explore the corrupted world with various abilities. After choosing which race to be, the game opens in a slave pit, where you are held captive. As an epiphany, a spirit appears before you, stating that YOU are the descendant of none other but Richard the Lionhearted. The spirit protected Richard from the demonic creatures of the world, and since his death it has lied dormant, waiting for a worthy new host of the Lionhearted kin. It appears that you are the chosen one, and thefore you are destinied to venture on a large adventure filled with beer, women, gold, honor and lots of monsters!

The game's first big area is Barcelona. That is in Spain in case you don't know :) Here you meet none other than Leonardo Da Vinci, the Italian painter/inventor/madman. But it is not only him you will meet! Actually, you meet a variety of historical figures as Galileo, Shakespeare, Hernan Cortes, Guy Fawkes, Machiavelli and Don Quixote! A fresh approach indeed. You will also stop by France and other European countries.

At first sight, I actually hated the graphics, since the graphics is very different from what you have seen from Black Isle prior to this game. However, when you venture further onto the game, you get used to it, and when you do that, it’s really not bad at all. The scenery has been quite well done, although the city of Barcelona is a little poorly done! The graphics are, all in all, okay, but nothing special.

It is quite monotonous if I have to be honest! Through most areas of the game, it is the same melody repeating perpetually, which makes it quite annoying in the long run. One could have wished, it being a medieval game, that Black Isle had focused more on bringing magical yet medieval music into the game. Instead they have got themselves a few, mediocre melodies, which will pass onto the future as nothing but dismal gaming music.

To say one thing, the game play looks remarkably similar to the one used in Diablo 1 & 2 – meaning that the basic principles are the same: You have a “jar” of health and a jar of “mana” (spirits in this game), you do not have “magical” abilities as such, but you obtain skills with magical powers. Lionheart is very much like a hack ‘n slash game as e.g. Diablo. The strategic features as one got used to in games like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale are not as dominant in Lionheart. Basically, all strategic thoughts are really based upon what you choose to say in the dialogues. When it comes to fighting – then fight! Hack and slash your opponents, if not, then you are doomed. When you are in need of health and spirits, you contain obtain this by getting the red and blue spirits that you can find by searching the areas or killing your enemies. What is a really bad thing about the game, is that you cannot rest to regain strength! Therefore, if there are no spirits around, and you do not have any health potions, you HAVE to wait for your health and spirit points to regenerate! Really, Black Isle, do you think that was clever?

A multiplayer feature is also available, but as I have not tested that yet, I have chosen not to give any grades in this category.

Lionheart is basically a mediocre game. As it is made by Black Isle, the company that - together with Bioware - brought us Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale as well as their sequels and expansion packs, one is entitled to expect Lionheart to be a new, quality game, but it is not as good as it’s predecessors! The same intense story is lacking, and the atmosphere is very different. That said, the game still offers plenty of exciting RPG features, and the game is not that easy to beat – and it is not too hard either. It is pretty easy to see that the game is heavily inspired by the D&D rules, but it's really not a problem, especially if you are used to them.

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