So you came here to find out if this game was worth your hard earned cash? Well I won’t try to convince you that you should run out and pick this up but I will offer a view of what to expect and you can make your own mind up.

Story
Let’s face it, hack and slash games are very rarely bought for their in depth, very well thought out stories and this one doesn’t stray too far from this rule. I won’t tell you what the story is about but I will tell you its almost nonexistent, the game has very few cut scene’s or story narration but it does have a diary, written as though the main character Ayumi was actually placed in this situation. It offers more insight into the story than just playing through the game and offers a little more detail as to exactly what is going on in the game but you must first finish the game up to certain points to expand upon the diary.

Whilst this does help, the fact still remains that there is little detail to this story but it offers enough for you to enjoy and have a purpose for existing in the given situation.

Graphics
The graphics are by no means ground breaking but are slightly unique considering cell shaded games are few and far between, and it does work as a pro rather than a con in this games case. Everything looks good, if you take the time to explore the areas a little you will notice that a lot of detail had been placed into them. The biggest down points in the graphics section are mostly due to the repetition of the same theme for each area although there are a few odd levels that look different and the FPS (Frames per second) drops you will (not may but will) experience.

These drops are not too annoying but can be slightly off putting when your running around and the screen jumps every now and then, I myself have only experienced 1 serious FPS drop so far and I have completed the game and that was due to a lot of enemies on screen surrounding me in a very confined space. Over all the game looks very nice and shouldn’t disappoint.

Sound
The sound is not too bad, not much I can say really except that every sound fits that which was meant to be creating it, I.E a sword hitting a vase will sound just like a sword hitting a vase and a vase smashing will sound like a vase smashing.

What really lets the sound down, slightly off topic but fits here much more than anywhere else is the bad voice acting, what little there is of course. The voice actor for the main character Ayumi did a very good job and only seems wrong once in a while but some of the enemies and extra characters voice over’s are horrendous. I won’t name characters or bosses and ruin it for you but it’s pretty much any other than the main character that destroys the game here.

It’s a hack-and-slash game though so it’s forgivable.

Game play/Controls
Controls – The controls are very well executed, you have your main sword attack button and a gun shooting button, then a lock on button so that whilst you are shooting you won’t lose sight of the target you mean to hit and believe me that is very important in this game. You then have bind buttons for the spells which you can buy/unlock along the way.

The spells once bound require a simple push of the button and you will execute them on the current target or will affect an area around you, some spells look so good when executed and others mediocre but for the most part they are fun to use and in some cases almost needed just to survive.

Game play – The game play is so much fun if you are into hack and slash games but just to let you know I delved into this game on the deep end and started on HARD mode, so there may be some differences between difficulties but as of yet I have not tried any others.

Firstly a slight problem with the game play is that Ayumi runs very fast, you get used to it quickly but when you jump she slows down a lot, this opens you up to attack when you land and in the air where really jumping should help you avoid being injured, A slight issue though.

The game works on a room by room clear out of enemies or avoiding traps, you progress to the next level once you have killed every enemy/boss or avoided every trap. You know how close to completing a wave of enemies you are by the red bar located in the bottom right corner, it slowly depletes as you kill off the enemies in that wave or hurt the boss.

It can be slightly confusing to kill enemies around you but the red bar not deplete but don’t panic, this is usually because there is a certain type of enemy you should be killing at that time and other enemies meant to distract and annoy you. Just attack each type of enemy until you notice it deplete slightly then keep targeting that enemy.

Another point on enemies is also that some enemies are weaker to certain magic spells and some are only weak to a magic spell opposing there own RPG style. You get a bestiary in the start menu that gives you information on any enemy you encounter though so if you don’t seem to be hurting a certain bad monster, check it out and read up on it.

All in all the game play is smooth and only sometimes frustrating, not overly annoying except for the random odd time you may run over something and Ayumi ends up 10ft in the air but it does not happen all that often to care.

Overall
Overall the game is very finely made and should be enjoyed by any hack and slash fan, it has its bugs and problems but so do many games and the game play is very fun so all I can say is I recommend this to any fan of the genre and the rest is up to you.

Score

C+