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One excellent detail I noticed is that armor-piercing weapons actually breaks the opponents armor. I was fighting an orc, holding a shield, and as I finished him off, I noticed his shield lay cleaved on the floor. A really nice detail!

As you look around, small text-boxes appear over the objects that can be picked up. To pick up an object you use the 'Use' key. If it's food, your character will automatically eat it, objects like keys are stored in your inventory and the others - like furniture, weapons and torches etc. - remains in the character's hand. Whatever you are holding, you can drop, throw or exchange it with another item in your inventory.

The traps and puzzles in Blade will be ranging from classic and simple to tougher and original ones. While walking down a hallway and hearing a little "click" sound, followed by a roaring sound from a giant fireball, attached to the roof with a chain, swinging towards me looked so amazing that I forget to move away. You can probably imagine the result. I do not want to give away any more on this subject, but both traps and puzzles will be well designed and varied.

The levels are beautiful and very well designed; they fit the genre and gameplay perfectly. Loads of varied and exciting locations, and all with a unique touch and detail. Some of the architecture was simply breathtaking. The furniture, lighting - all in real-time by small candle lights, torches on the walls and huge lamps hanging from the roof - and objects melts together to some of the most realistic looking and impressive level-designs I've ever put my eyes on. Not once did I see any sloppy work done just to fill up some space. The textures that fills the levels fit the various places, both inside and outside, extremely well. You can almost feel the cold and strength of the mighty stone walls and the thin air, from the deep, creepy dungeons. Giant halls, with splendid decorations will take your breath away and make you look tiny compared. All the levels I saw was fantastic, and the ones I didn't see, are promised to be of the same high quality - both in look and gameplay.

Sound
The sounds are one of the few things that are not done in-house by Rebel Act Studios. Of course, they have to make the engine use them and make sure that the sounds trigger at the correct time etc. And from what I could hear, they've already done a nice job with it. Still, a lot of the sounds were not present at the time I was there, so I can't comment too much about it. All I can say is that the sounds already in there were well done and fitted the action nicely.

They had a CD with some samples of the music, but unfortunately I did not get the time to check it out. The music is also done outside of Rebel Act, but according to Xavier and Juan, it will be very epic and moody. Let's hope they're right!

The ambient sounds were nice and gave a good sense of that there is life beyond the visuals of the levels. It was actually quite nice to come out from dark and narrow corridors - stained of death and blood - and feel the great open space, and hear the chirping of birds, mixed with whistling insects and the sound of a light breeze. They fitted well in with the surrounding landscapes.

Blade supports 3d sound (d3d sound and A3D) and environmental audio extensions (EAX), but the EAX was not yet implemented. I still got the chance to hear it though, but with echo all over the place. It did sound sweet though, and as long they tag the levels right, Blade will also sound amazing.

Conclusion
Blade was definitely all I had hoped it would be - and more. Blade's graphics is, without any doubt, the best ever seen in a computer game, and with a decent and extremely fun gameplay it has all the ingredients to become a true classic - and a smashing hit! Even in the state it was at the time I was there, Blade was solid to the bone. Of course, some bugs were present, but they were surprisingly few and will be taken care of during the beta-stage. The only noticeable problem was some small pauses now and then. A lot of calculations and other stuff were going on in the background causing this, which will not be needed once the game is completed and the optimizing can start. If the multiplayer part will turn out as good as the rest of the game, Blade will give the word joy a new meaning!

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"The Moon shall be tinged with blood; the Sun will be obscured; the Earth shall be covered by waters and the brilliant stars shall fall from their sanctuaries in the heavens; fire and smoke shall rise up until they reach the very skies" -Oracle

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