Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Long Overdue Review of Demon's Souls

I got my PS3 as a Christmas gift in 2009. Around that time, Game of the Year honors were being bestowed on deserving titles. Gamespot wisely gave the nod that year to From software's Demon's Souls, and I picked it up on a whim the next day. If only I had known what I was getting myself into, I likely would have picked up a copy of MGS4 and called it a day. Though, after many long hours of frustration and a respectable number of ragequits, I finally realize how glad I am to have pressed on through to the end. Demon's Souls is no doubt a difficult adventure, but what you're left with at its conclusion is a sense of accomplishment and childish giddy wonderment unparalleled by any game in recent memory.

Most everyone in the gaming community remembers a different age of video games--a ruthless era in which after a precious few attempts were exhausted, (usually in the form of "lives") it was game over. And game over wasn't always as forgiving as it is now. Demon's Souls harkens back to those days in a magnificent and beautiful way. Enemies' attacks are absolutely brutal. Apart from the first level training dummies, pretty much any enemy in this game can be your undoing. We've been trained over the years to see any soldier that doesn't look like a total badass as a pushover. Demon's Souls retrains that part of your brain, or at least it should if you hope to succeed. Even an unassuming, weak looking soldier could have some trick up his sleeve that will make short work of an unprepared player. I must stress: this is not a game to rush through. Each encounter is a full scale battle, and if you don't approach it with care, you're probably going to end up dead.

As a matter of fact, players should expect to die quite often in Demon's Souls. It's a natural part of the game. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's one of the most important aspects of the game. Each death is a learning experience. Despite what you may have heard, nothing about this game is "cheap" per se. At worst, you'll encounter something unexpected, die, maybe cry for a bit, then get back in the game knowing that something's waiting for you around that corner, or that there's a hole in the floor in that one really dark area you rushed into last time.

Okay, that's enough about how hard it is. As important as that is to stress, it can't be fun to read about. It's a tough game, you've been warned. On to simpler things. Story-wise, Demon's Souls is relatively weak. It's pretty much a generic 'evil has taken over the world because somebody screwed something up, and we need you to fix it by killing a bunch of bad guys' narrative, and you shouldn't expect many surprises or cool plot twists to spice it up. The characters are pretty shallow, and voice acting tends to be sub-par, but for a Japanese port I'd say it's not too shabby. None of that should really bother you, though, and even though it may seem that these shortcomings should take away from the experience, it's still very possible to immerse yourself in the world of Boletaria. Again, I'm trying not to dwell on the difficulty too much, but it really becomes a factor in feeling like you're a part of the world. Every second of Demon's Souls feels like a desperate struggle against insurmountable odds. It's a different experience from most games nowadays in that you're just an ordinary person who's been flung into chaos and forced to fight to save the world. Oh, and in case you missed it, the keyword there is ordinary. But legit ordinary, not like you thought you were ordinary but OH how convenient you have this secret power and now go save humanity.

Onto gameplay. Demon's Souls excels in plenty of areas, and in my opinion the place it shines brightest is in combat. Occasional annoyances with the lock-on feature are just that; annoying, but they only rarely detract from the action. Whether you fight with melee weapons, magic, or a bow and arrow, all your attacks feel like they have weight to them, and are complemented by great sound effects and even better (and incredibly varied) animations. Even so, combat always has a looming feeling of tension around it. You really need to know what weapon you are using and how it behaves in order to succeed. Knowing when to go in for an attack, when to block with your shield, when to try for the deadly parry-riposte combo, and when to dodge altogether is the most important thing in the game, and learning all of this can only come through lots of playtime and experience. Which, in this case likely also means lots of death.

Demon's Souls isn't the best game I've ever played. It's pretty darn close though. It's lackluster story and characters are more than made up for with exceptional combat and immersion. It's punishing difficulty can easily be a turn-off for less disciplined gamers, but those who take the plunge and suppress their short tempers for long enough will be rewarded greatly.
Obligatory 10 point scale score: 9.5

Friday, March 4, 2011

More Dead Island

I really didn't ever intend for this blog to be a one trick pony, and I promise it won't be for much longer. But, after seeing this article, I felt I needed to post a response. Needless to say, I'm kinda bummed. Pretty much everything I said about the game needing to be very reminiscent of the INCREDIBLE reveal trailer has pretty much been thrown out the window. I suppose I should take it in perspective and say that yes, it still sounds like a game I'll enjoy, and one I'll likely pick up on launch day. However, I think it's safe to say that Techland's shot at game of the year honors is relatively small now. Oh well. Then again, did they ever really have much of a chance? Seems I forgot about some of the amazing titles headed our way this year. Here's a few I'm particularly hyped up for, and will likely be writing about in the coming weeks.



Whew. Went a bit crazy there, and even so I'm sure I left out a few key titles that I'll be hyped up for when the time comes. What can I say, 2011 is looking like a fantastic year for gamers. For our wallets? Not quite as fantastic. But they'll get over it.