Quick word..As we’re in UK and it hasn’t come out i’m afraid there is no Online. You CAN play US discs in UK if you don’t mind this.

Score: 8.2

Quick Facts: Third person fantasy RPG, think dragon ages except there is only one of you.

Challenging.. New Gamers should probably avoid this one.

Can be very frustrating at times.. If you are liable to flip out and break something steer clear.

Positive

Good graphics

Strong Challenging gameplay

Choice of fighting styles to suit most players (No machine guns i’m afraid)

If you get good at it then you will find you’ve been hooked.

Negative

Sometimes you will die through a tiny mistake..can cause your brain to explode.

There is NO PAUSE BUTTON

No chance for unskilled players

Storyline (Spoilers-Mild)

Powerful magician starts using Souls for power to the benefit of mankind..surprise surprise something goes wrong, big evil demon is awakened bringing a fog across the land and populating it with all kinds of demons that turn the place into a living hell. As often happens heroes go in the save the day and never come out..Now it’s your turn.

Gameplay

You play as one of a few classes (I’ll come to later). You go through a tutorial and once you are accustomed to the controls you get insta killed by a huge demon, sending you to the Nexus where you meet a nice albeit strange looking lady who helps you level up in the future. There are also shops and a nice chap to give all your stuff so it doesn’t overburden you. No matter which class you go for you will be sent into 5 different areas full of demons. They get harder from left to right so best start at the left.

You go through kicking ass or having it handed back to you, collecting souls which you lose if you die..Though if you survive in one go back to the point you died you can pick them up again..Then you fight mini bosses at the end of each level, and use souls to level yourself up, buy health items, repair your stuff etc. Throughout the game you also pick up new weapons and bits of rock to upgrade them with.

Lets get this straight..This game is pretty hard, but if you can get past the first boss then you are good enough to play it and you will probably love it like I did. However I have one huge problem with the game..Whichever slack jawed monkey brain decided to have NO PAUSE BUTTON should get a slap around the face. Yes this adds to immersion but if anything happens in the real world while you are fighting (phone call, someone talking to you, explosion nearby..) you will either die or face hostility from those around you for not paying attention. I mean come on seriously? Would a pause button have been so damaging to gameplay? I understand why you cant sell items otherwise you could just use your items as a second bank of souls. But a pause button is a necessity for those who do not live in a bubble.

Character Types

From what I have heard most people stick to Knight and tower knight-Good defence (Knights are stronger but tower knights can heal). Or Magician/ royalty- Good offense  (I prefer magician personally.) There are other types such as hunter, barbarian, thief etc but either my fighting style or general ineptitude caused them to be bad choices.

Tips

Make sure you know which areas to level up, it’s quite cheap to at the start but quickly becomes expensive as each level up point costs more than the one before..and is the same price no matter what you spend it on (So upgrading magic from 30-31 costs the same as upgrading vitality from 10-11)

Be careful about upgrading your weapons as you made find a better one just down the hall.

If you have a lot of souls and are not sure about the road ahead..go back to the Nexus and spend them before some demon bitchslaps you into dropping them all.

Have a ranged and Melee attack

If you are having trouble with a particular demon try a different approach.. For instance Mind flayers..They have a powerful long range attack and a stun attack that allows them to one hit kill you with a melee attack.. However the stun move is short range so if you are just outside of it you can let it fizzle out before giving some serious payback.

Thanks for reading.

Tom S