- Developer: Vigil Games
- Publisher: THQ, Buka Entertainment
- Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mac
- Release Date: 5th January 2010
The Pitch.
As War you stand accused of aiding in starting the end of the world early. Stripped of your powers you must clear your name and go in search of the real culprit.
The Game.
Have you played God of War and thought it needed more puzzles or maybe you played Legend of Zelda and thought it needed more extreme violence. Well, rejoice as this is the game for you. You play as War, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and having been blamed for helping to start the end of the world early you’re stripped of your powers and sent back to earth to find the real culprit or die trying. This is done through chunky violent combat and dungeon based puzzling.
Combat is a pretty basic affair truth be told with one button for your main weapon (the Chaoseater sword) and one to use a secondary weapon (either Scythe or Gauntlet). New moves can be purchased from vendors to expand your combos but it never gets complex or particularly deep. Weapons level up through usage which is a nice change from buying upgrades for them as it means you are rewarded for sticking to what you like.
Dungeon exploring is very much influenced by Zelda to the point I imagine War is jealous he doesn’t get to wear a green tunic and rescue a princess. You enter a new dungeon, have a little explore to get a feel for it, discover a new piece of equipment and then that’s used to solve the puzzles and will be a key tool in the upcoming boss fight. Again, items are heavily influenced by Zelda with their own spin on the boomerang and hookshot. You do get a portal gun too which is cool. It would have been nice to see more originality to be honest but if you’re going to lift ideas then you may as well lift them from the best.
Now, if there’s one thing I love in these types of game it’s boss fights. Felling a creature many times bigger than you through timing, pattern recognition and clever use of items is always satisfying. Sadly the boss fights are a real mixed affair here. They range from good to boring to awful but knowing you’ll earn some new power or tool upon victory should carry you through.
Once enough powers are yours it’s also a good idea to go backtracking a little too as the gameworld has a light Metroidvania feel to it with chests hidden in areas inaccessible early on.
Score.
Lifts from classics but a lack of its own ideas and a real mixed bag of boss fights holds it back from being a classic itself.
7 / 10
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