Review: Blade v2.0
Reviewed by Steve Freitas

Type: Action/Arcade
Publisher: Leviathan Corp. (313) 254-5570
Retail Price: $99.95
Mail Order: $69.95
Requires: Mac with 68020 or better, 2.5 MB RAM (2 without sound), 11 MB disk space, FDHD, 13” monitor or larger, System 6.07 or later, 32-bit QuickDraw.
Protection: None

What Is This Anyway? Blade spins through the Martian air, his Micron Blades efficiently slicing a DragonVine once, twice, then a third time as the beaten creature sinks into the ground. Facing another, our hero jabs once and is bashed by the creature, sparks flying from his armor as he’s propelled backward. Thrusting decisively, the foe is dispatched. He twirls up onto a platform and stabs a Gyroller, then jumps through a NeoSquid and, slipping on the treacherous footing, falls and is resolutely and resoundingly impaled on a rising cutter.

You’ve marvelled at the breathtaking scenery, viewed the wistful mountains and lakes with rushing envy, admired the beautiful flora and run from the fauna, all without breaking a sweat. No sweat, you say? Don’t worry, you’ll make it to the next level . . . someday.

Where Do I Start? Although released for over a year now, the recently released version 2.0 fixes a few bugs and the game has been made a little easier. This in response from people who purchased version 1.0 and complained about it being too hard.

Upon receiving Blade, the box cover will give a (stylized) hint of what’s in store for you. Illustrations of game levels on the back will whet your appetite. Four high-density disks are found in a license-agreement envelope. Installed easily from self-extracting compressed archives, Blade occupies a significant 11 MB of hard drive real estate. If you don’t have the space — make it. It’s worth it.

The manual, the “Legionnaire’s Handbook,” is a masterpiece. It’s stylishly designed and concisely offers a wealth of helpful information. Competitors would do well to sit up and take notice of this one.

What’s My Motivation? Blade mixes spectacular background and impressive foreground graphics with a wide variety of fiendish beasties and challenging puzzles of player movement to create a game of refreshing allure. Its unique draw is its inconceivable graphic quality.

In Blade, you control the game’s humanoid namesake through a variety of screens (15 in all), moving from one level to the next. Each level is three screens. You move from one screen to the next by teleporting. To activate the Teleporter on each screen, you must retrieve Teleporter Pods. The Pods will appear one at a time at various places within each screen. After retrieving one, the next will appear. After retrieving them all for the screen, you may move to the next screen. To move through the Gateways after each level to fight the Guardian of the level, you’ll need keys you collect from monsters by defeating them.

The trick here is that you must act like a champion sword fighter, gymnast, acrobat, and tightrope walker to achieve these goals. A wide assortment of creatures will provide stiff resistance to your movements on each level, and overcoming each will require good control proficiency and creativity. As I’ve always said, there’s more than one way to skin a HyperTroll.

Makin’ Blade Move. Blade will move left, right, up, down. He will flip and commit all sorts of non-pacifistic deeds. Your ability to control these movements is at the heart of the game’s playability. The word here is “variety.” A Gravis MouseStick setting file has been included with the game, and a finely conceived Preferences dialog provides a way to flexibly assign different keys to particular movements. This well-designed dialog also allows you to change the difficulty of the game, the speed, etc. The game may be paused mid-stride and these settings may be changed. Sound can also be toggled from here; a nice touch in a world where game designers rely excessively on Apple-brand control panels.

Keyboard control is a bit lacking, and those who adapt well to a MouseStick would do well to use it instead. The heart of the problem is Apple’s hardware design, however. The Apple keyboards do not handle key sequencing extremely well, and this can impinge upon desired control inputs. This causes control to lack fluidity, an important element of success in this game.

The heart of Blade’s long-lasting appeal is its requirement of careful control under fire. Controlling Blade effectively through the screens will come with much practice. This is what keeps Blade fresh and rewarding, and prevents it from falling into the “more-of-the-same” arcade game category.

Where’s My Action? As you’re inevitably beaten up by monsters and mechanisms, you will benefit by being able to move faster and be healed, and you needn’t follow this quest without help. Stasis Pods, obtainable by striking them, will appear at different points on each level, offering speed enhancement, life force, or other useful properties left unsaid. Acquire these as often as possible, as your attacks become weaker when your life force drops beneath 3/4. The Guardians are diabolical and will give you a good wallop if you’re not careful!

The Bottom Line? Blade is a ragingly good game. The graphics are exquisite and glorious, the sound is good and it really impresses upon us just how good the Mac can be as a game machine. Blade beckons to the great arcade games and supports one’s expectations. If you like arcade action and are up to a heavy challenge, this is for you!

Pros:
• Gorgeous graphics
• Appropriate difficulty
• Smart preference handling
• Good control flexibility
• No copy protection

Cons:
• Requires substantial hard disk space
• Control fluidity sometimes lacking
• Expensive