El Shaddai Review
Developer: Ignition Tokyo
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360
Release Date: Out Now
When a game developer decides to go the route of the ‘artistic’ game, it is not a decision which should be taken lightly. For a great deal of modern games, the main questions on the developers mind are things like “Is this fun?” and “Are there enough explosions on that nuclear rocket headed for the sun?” Fun and action, that is the order of the day when you pick up a copy of “Generic Action Title 4: Return of the Probably Alien Antagonist.”
El Shaddai is much more than a stones throw away from this genre of video game. Ignition Tokyo have a few good games under their belt, including the Mercury Meltdown series and Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. These games generally received critical acclaim, hailed for their inspired design and art direction, but rarely making much of an impact on the market. El Shaddai looks like it will probably follow suit.
In many ways, El Shaddai is something of the antithesis of the Devil May Cry series (hardly surprising, considering the lead developer of El Shaddai, Takeyasu Sawaki, also worked on the DMC games). Those games focused on the exploits of a half man, half demon hybrid, tearing and screaming through the forces of darkness in a gritty, yet utterly stylish way. El Shaddai, however, focuses on the journey of Enoch, a heavenly scribe with divine abilities, who is on a noble, and often profound, quest to return the Fallen Angels to heaven in order to avert a second great flood.
If this sounds familiar at all, it is because El Shaddai is based on the book of Enoch, taken from the Bible, which depicts the fall of the Watchers, the Fallen Angels. If a game can be made out of Lord of the Rings, Dracula, or Dante’s Inferno, why not the Holy Scripture?
El Shaddai can be said to be a major success in some regards. In terms of visuals, it is achingly beautiful to look at, on par with the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, or Okami (another game Sawaki has done work with). This is a game that would truly merit the purchase of a HDTV. More than once, you may find yourself stopping in the middle of gameplay just to look at the surreal environment around you. Luckily, these environments are also constantly changing, and nearly always awe inspiring to look at.
Where the game falters, however, is in it’s gameplay. Not to an extent that it completely ruins the experience, but the depthless combat system does take its toll on the game as a whole.
As it is primarily a third person action title, a lot of focus really should be put on the combat of the game. And whereas the combat is refined, it is also, in a word, uninspiring. Enoch begins the game unarmed and has a few basic attacks to get him started. As he continues on his journey, he comes across some of, what are labelled as, God’s weapons. These weapons include the Arch (sword), the Gale (projectile) and the Veil (Shield). Each weapon gives Enoch a distinctive fighting style which you would expect from each, be it fast, ranged or defensive.
However, things never really progress from here, combat wise. There is no combo system to speak of, and you are restricted to a very sparse set of special moves. Things are livened up slightly when, about halfway through the game, you are given an Overboost option (Devil Mode a là Devil May Cry), but this is not enough to satisfy die hard gamers. You are even given the option to revive yourself when you die, by bashing on the face buttons. This gets harder the more times you do it, but it also takes away any real anxiety about seeing a game over screen. The combat is entertaining for a brief period, and the game isn’t so difficult that it will frustrate players, but this is still a major flaw in the overall package.
What also doesn’t do the game any favours is the fact that nearly all of the enemies are faceless and unimpressive. More often than not, you will find yourself fighting common blobs with limbs, or something even more generic than that again. Some of the boss battles are exciting enough, a boss called the Fire Nepherim stands out in particular, but by and large, your antagonists will be a second rate bunch in the creativity section.
On top of that, the characters themselves aren’t particularly engaging. Enoch, uttering a grand total of one sentence in the whole game, is an alienating character. Similarly, the behaviour of minor characters is so bizarre and abstract, it becomes difficult to relate to them in anyway. The Fallen Angels themselves would be interesting, but they aren’t given any real time to develop. This is a minor issue, but one which you may feel aware of when playing the game.
Where the game does succeed is in the platforming sections of the game, though it is such a pity that there are so few of these. When they are present, they are well placed, as they really give the player time to drink in the beauty of the world around them. The platforming is simple, but it is easy to get distracted by the animated and illustrious background and, thus, fall to your death. For this reason, dying never really feels unfair in these sections, as it always feels like your own mistake. There is also an incredible motorbike level which feels slightly out of place with the rest of the game, but is one of the few places where the lack lustre combat system isn’t really felt and so is a very welcome aspect of the game.
Throw all of this together and you have an experience that is somewhat difficult to sum up. El Shaddai is a different game from most you will ever play. It puts an enthralling world onscreen for you to experience and is easy to get absorbed in. This, clearly, is what the developers were focusing on when developing the game. More effort clearly could have been put in the combat sections, or better again, focused more on the platforming elements.
A visually stunning game, marred by a mediocre combat system. Less a failed effort and more of a missed opportunity, if you can disregard the shallow fighting system, El Shaddai is a rewarding experience.
Score: 7/10
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