I've been seriously slacking in my Game Beard duties (heh heh..duties) so I'm going to start pumping out entries for awhile. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of multiple updates every week!
There are a lot of games I've played recently without talking about...here is a list.
Skyrim
Sonic: Generations
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Rayman: Origins
X-Men: Destiny
Modern Warfare 3
Battlefield 3
...probably some others
Anyway, I will spend some time on all of those games in due time. For now though, I want to talk about the last game I finished, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.
If the first thought that comes to your mind is "What?" don't feel too left out. It was a small release earlier in the year developed by a guy best known for Okami and Devil May Cry. I hadn't really read or heard much about it before Gamefly sent it my way, but I was pretty excited to play it.
My first thought upon playing it was "Holy crap, this game is HELLA Japanese!" Like everything from character design to style to gameplay just screams "JAPAN!" This isn't necessarily a bad thing as a lot of amazing games have been developed by very Japanese men and ladies. However, El Shaddai is definitely not one of them.
It's not a bad game at all. I would recommend anyone who is into the "Games as Art" movement to check it out post-haste. The design is simply beautiful, colors and shapes pop from the screen and every level is a completely different design from its predecessor. Navigating your character through this levels is where things get iffy. The basic fighting mechanic is developed around the concept of three different weapons. A bladed looking thing which is very offensive, a shield looking thing that is very defensive, and a ranged weapon. Enoch(the main character) can only hold one weapon at a time and must get them by stealing them from enemies. The problem this poses is pretty much every enemy fits into three categories based on the weapon they wield. Sure, they look different level to level, but they all fight the same. This isn't Devil May Cry either, there are no crazy combos and massive attacks. Enoch fights pretty boring and most of the combat comes down to button mashing. Sure, there are some guard breaks and such, but most of the time you don't need them. It's avoid attack, avoid attack, avoid attack over and over again.
The story...oh the story. It's interesting to say the least. The basic premise is that seven fallen angels have gone and made some tower and people are worshiping them and you need to bring them back to heaven or kill them or something, and there is a kid, and weird blob guys and darkness that can suck you in, and one of the fallen angels has dreads and dances and one of them is a chubby old lady and and and and I don't know. The story is just out there and convoluted and makes little sense. I basically gave up on it about halfway through because it was just not very interesting to follow. I'm not sure if it is because the story was poor or if it was just presented that way.
El Shaddai is a game of really interesting concepts that is presented in a very boring way. Somehow they manage to make a crazy futuristic motorcycle chase through a massive city boring and that takes effort. I have to commend the developer though for making a beautiful game. It really is a piece of art, and like most art, it is exciting to look at but it doesn't do much else for you. I can definitely recommend El Shaddai to anyone reading this that enjoys artistic games, but if you're looking for action then you need to look elsewhere.
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