You are a member of the elite Dragon's Shade, the protectors of the kingdom of Dureth. After a long battle with barbarians, the group of three come home to find that something is amiss and that their beloved Dureth has taken on an evil veneer. As the story unfolds, you'll soon find out that it is your once noble king and leader who has turned evil.
You can opt to take on the persona of a warrior, mage or a scout, but they all seem to play relatively the same. Of course, the warrior is a bit stronger, the mage has better magic spells and the scout is somewhat quicker, but its not so big of a difference, really. For example, I began the game as the warrior and StarScream jumped in as a scout for a little co-op play. We played for a good while and eventually grew tired of the game. I died, he was still alive and we saved and quit the game. When I came back to play alone, much to my chagrin, I realized that I was now playing as the scout (which he kindly named Trixie - thanks a lot!) since my character had died last time we played. This really pissed me off, since I didn't have another person to join in to get my warrior back and I was stuck with the scout. Of course, I could have backed it up to an earlier level, but I certainly didn't want to have to redo any part of the game, which I already wasn't particularly enjoying. But here's the kicker - all the cut scenes show my damn warrior! Then the scene immediately cuts back to the scout. How lame is that? There is also online play available, but you can't take your built-up character in and must start fresh online. Where's the fun in that?
So the basic premise is you hack, slash and cast spells all the way through the game, gaining experience to up your character's stats. At the end of a level, you can spend your experience points (2 of them per level) and your stars (1 of them) on upgrading your spells. Along the way, you also collect essence in the form of blue orbs and health in the form of red orbs. You can spend your essence to buy additional armor and such, but it seems rather plentiful so you are better off just picking up what the enemies drop.
Essentially, the game grows tiresome quickly as all you are doing is hacking your way across the countryside. The occasional puzzle is thrown in here and there to mix it up a bit, but it's not enough to keep you riveted to the screen.
