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Otogi: Myth of Demons review

Otogi: Myth of Demons is the second game to be released from Sega Europe since they regained their status as a standalone publisher earlier this year. However, not many people know about the title; an unknown Japanese gem from the creators of Armoured Core, and was thankfully picked up for Western shores by Sega of America and Sega Europe.

The gameplay is immediately enjoyable, providing a pleasantly simplicistic and easy-to-play slash-em-up. The game has such a simple objective, yet there is originality within the title; the game provides a point to your actions, through a story that involves your character, Raikoh, reviving the great seal which has for a very long time been the protector of Man through finding four spirits. Through each level, you have to 'clean' the environment of the demon spirits, and this is where the combat comes into play. The combat is the important part of the game, and thankfully it's excellent. The character moves swiftly and effectively, and you able to easy pull off impressive combat combinations with ease. But adding to the gameplay is the fact that fights are often three-dimensional, with combat in mid-air a common occurrence. Your characters ability to jump a few times and slash an enemy is great fun, and offers you another tactic to play with. Aside from the slashing and the gymnastics, Otogi also provides for an element of magic into the proceedings, which plays a greater role as the game goes on.

The graphics for Otogi are amazing. The level of detail going into some environments is impressive, and the characters models - themselves well-designed and original - also are stunning. But it's not just the quality which is good - the graphics are used appropriately, so scenery provides the correct atmosphere the game to take place in; dark and moody, with brighter colours representing spirits and magic. On top of this is the sheer scale of things - the levels are tall, long and wide, and contain a great number of features from cliffs to buildings within them. The number of enemies which are on-screen fighting you (or even others standing back away from combat) is mightily impressive, with barely any noticeable slowdown at any point through the game, even in the most hectic moments.

The environment is also very destructive. Although you can't destroy the core landscape, there are a great number of pillars and even walls that can brought down by the power of your own swoops. In fact, you can often bring down a whole building from the inside. This is not only a graphically impressive feature, but actually plays a role in the gameplay. Many times throughout play I was destorying scenery which would fly towards the enemies, damaging them, and starting my character on the way to defeating them with a couple more swipes of the blade. I also encounted situations where my character was thrownback by the force of an enemy attack, sending him flying through a nearby wall, increasing the injury, and there was an occasion in an early level where combat destroyed a set of stairs in a building, forcing my character to fly up to the rooms above, rather than take the conventional method.

Despite all this praise, everything is not perfect with Otogi. There is the occasional issue with the camera getting stuck, but the biggest problem lies in the game becoming slightly repetitive. You will notice this especially towards the end of levels and/or after longer bouts of play. Although Otogi is enjoyable enough to encourage you to continue, you will often find that if you're not used to this type of game, it can become a bit tedious unless you stop and come back and play it at a later time when your mind if fresh again. It is a pity it cannot sustain the enjoyment constantly throughout the game, but those who do stick it out come across a total of 29 levels to enjoy.

Ratings

Click here to buy Otogi: Myth of Demons from Amazon.co.uk.

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