When Koei promised us one heck of a hack n' slash party and the ablity to mow through hundreds (even thousands) of enemies in the form of Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War, we just know that we're in for a big surprise. Now that the Bladestorm demo is out on PlayStation Network, we're going to find out what it is we can expect from the game, compared to our own expectations.

The game starts off in the tavern where mercenaries get their contracts from. Surprisingly, the demo already lets players customize their characters... and it's not just merely choosing from an available stock of characters, but one can choose to play as a male or female character, and even their facial features. Of course, players can name their in-game avatar.

The tavern also offers other services and options, like accessing character inventory and the status menu, listening to gossip, and even buy equipment. There's only one piece of equipment available for purchase in the demo, however. It should be noted that in the demo, the System menu is blacked out, preventing players from using the save function in the demo.

Now, customizing characters in a demo and getting access to all of the game's features save the System menu is nothing short of awesome, but why is it that we keep on grinning and laughing amongst ourselves instead of dropping our jaws in awe? Simply put, it's the voice acting. The barkeeper's badly-mimicked accent just sounds too strange to be French, and is nothing short of chuckle-worthy. Even the voice of our custom female player has a cute accent as well. But its bearable, though a bit distracting.

In the game, players can choose to play either for the English or the French, then choose any of the available job contracts offered by either army. Contracts generally require taking over a certain stronghold, or base. Once fulfilled, you will be rewarded with equipment and a certain amount of Fame.