Die by the Sword

Back in 1998 when this game came out it had some pretty innovative mechanics. For example the amount of sword swinging combinations are infinite, the use of mouse in the VSIM mode also added a different view on hack and slash games overall. Personally i played the game in arcade style, using both pre programmed moves and the numpad VSIM. Its also so far the only game with a somewhat realistic damage model on living characters, for example if you cut someone's arm off they will still live and use whatever they got in the other hand, unless you cut both arms off then they wont be able to do any damage at all. Since bleeding out isn't a feature you can get some funny situations where they try to run and hide or just hug you begging you to make them taste steel one last time. In the multi-player mode you can also cut both legs off (in single player only 1 leg works) making players or bots stand still in one spot not able to move, making them easy targets for a clean head chop.

The story is the good ol girl gets kidnapped and hero kills bad guy and rescues the girl, but back in the days of the golden age of gaming not many cared about the story, they just wanted to play a game with good game mechanics. And thats exactly what this game gives you.

Still today this game stands alone at the top of the blood and gore hill, only touched slightly by Blade of Darkness (2001), Blood (1997) and Aliens versus Predator (1999). And even though its a tad bit outdated in both graphics and sound i still think its a game would recommend to anyone who likes a good game.

I gave it 10/10 because thats what i gave it back in 1998 when it came out (damn i feel old).