A hack and slash adventure with retro gameplay and an oriental setting makes its way with a clean sword.
Traditional 2D gameplay titles are gaining more and more ground. And it is that not only are the most expert and veteran players who show interest in this type of proposal, but little by little more users of all ages and preferences are entering these games. For this reason and, also, for everything related to the issue of development costs (it is usually much cheaper to develop this type of work for obvious reasons), studios and companies are gradually encouraged to edit titles in a rather traditional style , being Bladed Furyone of the most recent to land in all current formats. A game that, as we are going to see from now on, has a more than interesting quality but that, from our point of view, has been far from squeezing the great potential that it originally possessed.
And what is this production about? Well, in this case it puts us in a relatively interesting story (within an order) that transports us to the Chinese historical period called The Warring States (Warring States), a time that, as its name suggests, was marked by instability. and wars. Of course, despite this historical orientation, the title takes numerous licenses and plays with Chinese mythology and with everything that has to do with the supernatural. And in the middle of all this is Ji Jiang, the protagonist, who must avenge the death of her father at the hands of the Tians clan and, incidentally, rescue her sister Shu. A narrative that takes place during static scenes and dialogues that are seen (too) frequently throughout the game, breaking the rhythm somewhat. And the worst is thatThese conversations take place in Chinese with texts in English .
Hack’n slash fights and 2D gameplay is the basic approach of this new production that is available for all current systems.
Battles that go from more to less
Leaving already parked the narrative background and focusing purely already playable, this is a game that focuses on own mechanics of hack’n slash, although certain touches of platforming and very soft brushstrokes of role are added to that. A game formula that on paper is quite convincing, something that is reflected during the first bars of the adventure. The protagonist must advance through linear scenarios that are divided into several interconnected areas, being necessary to go from one place to another … and, of course, destroying and annihilating all the adversaries that come our way. To end all of them we can make use of the impressive skills for combat of the protagonist, which is capable of using two main weapons … plus the odd trick that we explain right now.
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The protagonist has a fairly extensive range of movements, and the best thing is that it increases as she progresses.
On the one hand, and to deliver fast blows, Jin can use his Fiendbane Blade to carry out combos at the speed of light, either on the ground or in the air. And when the going gets tough, you can also put the Crimson Mass greatsword to good use which is capable of crushing anyone and even deflecting projectiles. Combining one and the other it is possible to make devastating combinations , a deployment that is also joined by the possibility of dashes to evade rival attacks, as well as using a shield to parrear or stop said blows. And as if that were not enough, as we move forward it is also possible to use the souls that we collect by defeating rivals to acquire new movements and blows, further expanding the range of movements of the protagonist.
The fights are quite spectacular and striking, but only at the beginning, since as we progress they lose freshness.
But the most interesting of all is called Soul Sliver. And what is that? Well, some special techniques that it is possible to assimilate as we advance and that have different effects, from slowing down the movement of rivals to creating a lethal shower of arrows. So far everything perfect and, we suppose, more than one will be making your mouth water when reading all this. The problem is that such battles end up being too redundant for various reasons. The first is that the variety of opponents is not very wide, rather the opposite, and after one hour of play, you will most likely have seen the vast majority of opponents except the bosses. But the worst thing is that, in practice, the truth is that it is only enough to use certain combos and attacks (like the two variants of aerial lunges, for example) to inflict casualties at ultrasonic speeds between rivals.
As is common practice in this type of game, the final bosses show up from time to time and give us the best moments of the entire adventure.
In addition to this, it is also quite easy to chain combos of ten hits, which at first can be an advantage but, in the end, it makes clear the shallow depth reflected in the combat system. But there is more. As we mentioned at the beginning, the title also includes pieces of platforms and, also, soft role-playing touches. Some notes that although they contribute diversity to the global, the truth is that they hardly have any relevance because they are too basic. For all this, the title is one of those clear cases in which the initial good feelings fade as the adventure goes on, which lasts about five hours, being generous. And although the final result still seems remarkable to us, let this be clear, we think it could have reached a much higher quality if its playful side had been polished more, especially everything that has to do with its balance and battle system in general.
It is possible to carry out combos of dozens of hits quite easily, even too much.
However, where this work by NEXT Games is almost irreproachable is what is linked to its audiovisual section. The aesthetic line seems to us a true feast for the eyes , with settings and characters that have been endowed with a very striking color and vividness. The fighting also takes place quite smoothly, at least in the version we have tested (PS4), although it seems that the delivery for Switch suffers a lot in this regard, although we have not been able to verify it. The sound is also fantastic, with a dubbing that without understanding a word seems to us to give the hit, varied and forceful effects and well interpreted melodies.
Visually it is a real marvel. The aesthetic line is really attractive and it shows that it has been the most careful part of the whole game.
An interesting hack’n slash … but that promised more
Generally speaking, it is easy to recommend this interesting hack’n slash action adventure.to practically any enthusiast of the genre. It has all the ingredients that are usually part of this class of titles, the combat is agile and striking, the duels against final bosses are quite frequent (while the adventure lasts) and it is possible to use certain special abilities and progressively improve the skills of the protagonist . And above all this is its fantastic technical side, with a really beautiful and careful 2D visual finish. But, unfortunately, the game also has its defects, such as its invariable development, the little variety of rivals that come out to meet us or the little that the elements related to jumps and platforms in general contribute. It is the typical production that, in the case of receiving a sequel, surely this will end up being really good as soon assmooth the rough edges that this first installment monopolizes.
