Blackthorne (1994)

 

Blackthorne isn't a sword-and-sorcery game so much as it's shotgun-and-sorcery. The introduction explains that on the world of Tuul, a faction of orcs (or at least creatures close enough to the traditional image of orcs) lead by Lord Sarlac are completing their conquest of the planet. The human king Vlaros, making his last doomed stand at "Stonefist, South of the Borderlands," has his wizard transport his son, Kyle, to Earth to grow up in relative peace and safety. Twenty years later, Kyle, aka Blackthorne, has grown up to be a decorated soldier turned drifting mercenary before he's unexpectedly whisked back to Tuul to have his vengeance on Sarlac and liberate the men of his kingdom through the use of his trusty pump-action shotgun. There's also some gobbledygook involving a Light Stone and a Dark Stone both sides are fighting over that isn't very important. The setting is a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, mostly blended according to Rule of Cool and hearkening back to days when storytellers were daring enough to mix peanut butter with their chocolate.

Blackthorne was created by Blizzard back when they were a scrappy independent studio and in many ways it's a classic Blizzard creation in that there's virtually nothing original about it, but what it does have is a lot of coolness and sheer playability. It's a cinematic platforming game in the mold of Prince of Persia or Flashback, but classics as those are most people would likely reckon that Blackthorne is just cooler than those games. Blackthorne himself is a gritty, Snake Pliskin-like figure with his long black hair; white tank top, jeans, and boots; and a pair of sunglasses that he never, ever removes. The heroes of Prince of Persia and Flashback are relatively humble in appearance - the prince having to traverse dungeons in what appear to be baggy white pajamas, and Flashback's Conrad Hart running around in his sneakers - while Blackthorne is jacked up like an 80s action hero. Everyone who's played Blackthorne remembers that the coolest move in the game is having Blackthorne extend his gun backwards to do a no-look blast. It's a move that has almost no practical use, but the fact that you can do it and it looks totally badass is enough. Blackthorne is also the only original game that features cover art by comics artist Jim Lee, back during his mid-90s commercial peak no less. Say what you will about how Lee stacks up to great cover artists, his red-hued image of Blackthorne against a black background really leapt off store shelves at the time and probably earned Blizzard a number of extra sales. The soundtrack alternates between moody horror and propulsive action to great effect.

Otherwise, Blackthorne plays like a typical example of its genre, albeit a well-polished one. Blackthorne himself is smoothly rotoscoped and must climb ledges and carefully make leaps across broad chasms. He can talk to imprisoned slaves to get hints and items. Special items such as keys, bombs, and portable elevators must be used to overcome obstacles. The gunplay centers around the characters leaning into the background and then popping out of cover to nail a shot before the opponent can duck back again. The enemies get increasingly smart about how they fight as the game progresses and mastering the timing needed to bring them down can get tricky and unfortunately somewhat tedious. There's a bit of tension between the game's hard rockin' imagery and the genre's insistence on patience and careful, measured play. One has to wonder, had Blizzard waited just a bit longer to develop it, if the game would have been more fast-paced to compete with the mid-90s explosion of the first person shooter.