How the mighty have fallen. It was almost ten years ago when Delphine Software busted out of the mold with their spectacular looking adventure Flashback, and even recently the developer struck a chord in the area of arcade racing with the Moto Racer series. Since then, however, Delphine Software has drifted from the mainstream, and instead of the innovative software creators we once knew, the company has been reduced to working on a $10 PlayStation port of their two year old already-average hack 'n slash title, DarkStone.

Take-Two Interactive has slapped DarkStone into its line up of budget PlayStation titles that have garnered them oodles of cash (which begs the question: who keeps buying Spec Ops, anyway?). When a company targets a game for that price point, it more or less means that there's a small budget on what can be done to develop the game, and as it would seem, Delphine has had to cut some corners in order to bring DarkStone to the aging Sony hardware with their story of 7 crystals which hold the key to saving the Land of UMA and release it from the grid of DRAAK.

What has taken the biggest hit are the graphics, and this is where the lack of a budget could be attributed to; the first time that I booted up DarkStone, I almost wanted to hurl. There is an absolute overdose of pixelation all over the screen, the frame rate is barely passable even when in the most enclosed environments, character models are extremely simple with little detail and lacking a good set of animation and the camera is placed in such an odd position that it becomes impossible to determine where your character is heading. Once I started getting into the swing of the gameplay the graphics didn't really matter as much anymore since I was having fun just playing, but all in all, DarkStone is the kind of game that makes your eyes bleed when turning it on for the first time at 3 in the morning.

If you've played Diablo or any of its variants, you have a basic idea of what to expect from DarkStone. Essentially, it is Diablo - but not. You run around an overworld, wandering from town to town and purchasing new equipment and items while chopping away at enemies and eventually stumbling upon someone who will point you in the direction of your next quest. That quest will likely lead you to a dungeon that is made up of several floors, with the object that needs to be taken or creature that must be defeated at the bottom, usually near the center of the room. Generic explanation? Prehaps, but that's what makes up the bulk of the DarkStone's tried-and-true gameplay style.

One of the problems that I initially had with DarkStone that the entire interface seemed entirely overwhelming at first, but as I started out on my own, it all starts to make sense; it really only looks complicated on the surface. I understand the reasoning for Delphine to streamline the interface so that it became entirely button driven, but in some cases, I think it would have made more sense for there to be a cursor option; equipping a spell or dropping an item takes three more button presses than it really should for the action to occur.

Delphine made the time between moving from one experience level to another very short, and that's awesome; it continually feeds the player the feeling that they have accomplished something for all the mindless thwacking they've done to the legions of creatures in the game's dungeons. The amount of points that you can distribute to strength, dexterity, magic and the like are in small amounts, but since you'll advance several levels in the span of half an hour, the points start to add up quickly.

DarkStone was an average action RPG when it was released on the PC two years ago, and the transition from the PC to the PlayStation certainly has not been the easiest for the game. Nonetheless, considering that DarkStone runs for no more than $10, Diablo fans who are on the look out for something similar on the PlayStation might find enjoyment in mindless hitting of the X button for hours on end. Oh, and what's with the singing lady in the town you start in? You talk to her and then it bursts out into a cut from a dull pop song. I'm still confused.