Shauk

So...

I don't care what the haters say, comparing this game to another awesome game is hardly an insult if you ask me.

"it's like god of war but..."

"it's like god of war but..."


seems to plague every review ever, I don't feel comparing a game to another game is what "review" means so I often just have to roll my eyes.

It's like mario brothers but...
It's like zelda but...
It's like Grand Theft Auto but...

So yeah, Devil may cry, God of war, Bayonetta, Darksiders, Dante's inferno, the newer 3d based castlevania games, and probably plenty others I forget to mention aren't "like" one another insomuchas they are just the same genre of game. 3rd person action/platformer/adventure style games.


With that out of the way.

My Impressions:

Up front, I really enjoyed this game. The visuals are surprisingly diverse considering if left up to my imagination, Hell would just look like the inside of a volcano with like, mud, or something. (this is why I'm not paid for my imagination)

There is very much an RPG element to this game, They designed it with multiple playthroughs in mind, I played through it on normal, my roommate insists on some oneupsmanship and instead of using my profile for a 2nd playthrough (thus retaining the things i've collected and abilities I've trained) he opted to play fresh on the 3rd of 4 difficulty levels.

I wiped my ass with this game in 7 1/2 hours, he's been playing all day and he's at 11 hours played but still hasn't beat it. (he's probably another 2 hours off)

Also, some people who play for trophies and achievements may be aware that a lot of games include ridiculous achievements for people to try and strive for.

This game has maaaaybe 1 or 2 semi difficult achievements, the rest are simply done by getting 100% completion, find all the shades, coins, relics and grats, you can get all the achievements in a game for once.

Seems rare in a game these days for things to be attainable at that level, some just like to give you ridiculous challenges for mere bronze trophies and you just look at it and facepalm.

As far as the adaptation of The Divine Comedy, it's obviously all open to your interpretation. I'll leave it at that.

The difficulty level is all over the place. Some areas seem like a pushover, some will have you wanting to kick a puppy, but it's never punitive enough for me to care, if you die it basically just says "here' go back to your last checkpoint" and if you die in the same spot like 5 times it starts giving you more health (if you were missing some)


The music is pretty good too. Here's a quicky

While comparisons to God of War run abound, I've never found Kratos to be very customizable, My holy warrior playthrough was much much different than my roommates unholy warrior playthrough. Some monsters have a propensity to be weak against either holy or unholy. So spots that were easy for me, may be hard for him, and vice versa. Also I never really any of the blood/gore factor in this game to come across as gratuitous unlike that "other game" everyone wants to compare it to.

However, god, there are boobs everywhere, boobs on your plot wife, boobs on lust demons, boobs on the lust boss, boobs with tongues coming out of them, boobs that squirt demon babies that have blades for arms, boobs on the scenery, statues, etc..

If you love boobs, well, this game wont change that.

the best commentary I've seen on it so far comes from someone on Kotaku


/snort


Due to it's short playtime I can't recommend anyone to run out and buy it immediately, it's also just probably slightly too long for the working gamer to get all they can get out of it in a single rental, so if you're like me, I say it falls in that grey area of "gamefly the shit out of it"



I like God of War and all but I always thought religion was a way more popular and fleshed out subject to draw upon for creative liberties than greek mythos ever was.


P.S.

last boss fight?

I literally cheered when I finally beat him, hardest fight I've had in recent memory.

Pearl Trade

I played the demo for this yesterday on the PS3. It looked really good. Has a very creative feel to it and the demo definitely made me want to go out and see what else there is to do.

By the way, even the demo had boobs! Wowzah!

But seriously, thanks for the review Shauk. I'll be sure to go and rent the shit out of it

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Give me convenience or give me death!

Reese

Same thing I'm going through with Darksiders. People see me playing and just are like Meh, looks like God of War and dismiss it. Their loss.

If I'm not burnt out on the genre when I finish this game I'm going to pick up Dante's Inferno.

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“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry

Esoteric

Good game, but way too short like you said. I got it the day it came out from Gamefly and finished it completely on Saturday (1000/1000 GS.) Definitely a fun rental and fuck the haters that say it looks like God of War. Apparently they don't realize God of War borrowed from Devil May Cry and dumbed down the combat. It's still a great franchise though.

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From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

Baraka_Guru

Wait, people didn't like God of War? Yeah, I don't get it.

And I won't be getting this, unforch, because I don't have the right system. But it would be something I'd love to play. The Inferno (no matter how liberally they borrowed from and interpreted it) is one of my favourite long poems second only to Paradise Lost.

That said, tell me Virgil is in the game at least.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Shauk

Yes virgil is in the game a lot.
Baraka, you don't have either console? it's for both ps3/360 i believe.

Esoteric, damn, that's hardcore, I didn't get my platinum trophy until yesterday, it pretty much requires 2 playthroughs to max out light and dark for those trophies, the 2nd time I pulled up a guide to help me locate the relics/coins etc.. 1st playthrough on normal, 2nd playthrough on Infernal (whatever the hardest one is)

thing is, it was easier than my normal playthrough due to the regen mana relic + the fully upgraded magic pool/heal spell. I could still die in one hit from certain guys, sure, but I couldn't even imagine doing the last boss fight without it.

Baraka_Guru

Virgil, awesome. Although I don't expect them to keep to the source that much in an action video game, it pleases me that they kept Virgil. I approve.

I have neither the PS3, nor the 360. The only console I have is the Wii for casual games. My "serious" games are on the PC only.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Pogue Mahone

I just finished the game and thought it was really good. Makes me interested to see how they're going to do "Purgatory" and even "Paradise".

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And I still beat my head against the door
I still rage and wage my little war
I'm a shade and easy to ignore

Vaultboy

So the consensus on here is that it's better than the 6.5/10 critic ratings it got? Then I think I might get this when it gets its first price drop....

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"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

GrazoTheClown

Yeah, it's 1,000,000x better than people make it out to be. I loved it.

Shauk

Kind of a backburner project for me right now but if anyone is interested

Never Ending Diatribe

I tend to throw up my review in free thought up here, then edit/edit/edit and then put it on my site. Though I'm sure my posts here get a hell of a lot more reads as a site of that focus isn't something I can run on my own. I'm waaaay behind on reviewing games in their relevant stage for the most part.