It doesn’t feel as great as some other entries in the genre, neither having the movement options of Freedom Wars or the fun spells of Soul Sacrifice, but you can change your equipped abilities to experiment with playstyles which is fun enough. You can dodge and block with x, lock on with L and use items with R and as such, the game devolves into the standard flow of avoiding attacks then unleashing damage when you can. You have a stamina meter that is expended by using strong attacks (triangle) or spells (circle), while your normal attack with square doesn’t use up very much at all. Interestingly, you can switch at any time and each has their own distinct exp pool to level up.Ĭombat lands somewhere between an action RPG and a hack ‘n’ slash, with a small amount of weight to your attacks. There’s a solid selection of options here, but the most important of which is fighting style- you can wield a number of weapons from dual blades to long pole arms and each gives you different combat possibilities in the way you strike, defend or move. So as always in this genre, the first thing to do is to create your custom avatar. Unfortunately the soundtrack isn’t one of the better examples of the genre – the tracks here contain short loops and are repeated far too often, leading to me mostly muting the game when playing.Īcting as Square-Enix’s attempt to get a piece of the Monster Hunter pie, Lord of Apocalypse isn’t a bad effort at all – it ticks all the boxes you’d expect and while it offers nothing revolutionary on top of this, it’s still a good time. Still, the cutscenes (which were more numerous than I was expecting) were absolutely gorgeous and demonstrated a level of attention to detail which I enjoyed. Speaking of character models, in general I was impressed with the number of animations on show (this included idle animations), but you can tell they’re at least a generation if not more behind other launch titles like Uncharted. Things like floor textures can be stretched and rather bland (this extends to clothing detail on characters which are clearly a generation behind) and there’s a lack of objects in some areas which make them feel a little sparse. The small environments do remind you that you’re playing a PSP game at the core here, compared to later titles like Freedom Wars and Phantasy Star Nova that better unlocked Vita’s potential. These do wonders for variety and although each area is generally quite small giving the game a compact feel, I did find myself stopping and taking numerous screenshots during genuine moments of beauty. It’s a stylistic choice that works well for it, setting it apart from its contemporaries particularly as you sever limbs from monsters and get a shower of blood in return.ĭespite its darker influences, there are a variety of environments you’ll battle through that include colourful green forests and winding deserts with blue oases dotted about. So much like Square’s other Vita launch title Army Corps of Hell, aesthetically Lord of Apocalypse goes for a gory underworld look with blood splatter everywhere, foreboding dark corridors and a general feeling of dread in many of its environments. One thing I did love however was the minor cameos with things like Bahamut from Final Fantasy showing up as a boss and overall, this was an interesting world to exist in – just one that I wished for a bit more from.įeaturing a tonne of Lovecraftian horror influences not dissimilar to Soul Sacrifice, the graphics in Lord of Apocalypse were a lot better than I was expecting although were clearly held back by cross-generational development. I was interested in the world and lore that had been built here and there were a few truly engaging setpieces, but it all just feels a bit limited in the way it’s executed to be truly engaging. You’re stripped of your powers at the start as part of a deal with the gods and you learn that there is a dark force destroying worlds that it is your destiny to stop. That said, there are some interesting ideas here. Lord of Apocalypse feels like it comes from a different era when story was less important, instead glossing over the key points to give you a reason to keep hunting monsters with your party. Hunting games made big strides forward with their plots on Vita, with titles such as Freedom Wars and Soul Sacrifice delivering genuinely engaging stories. Based on the Lord of Vermillion arcade game, Lord of Apocalypse follows your quest to obtain the Vermillion Stone, an ancient artefact said to allow those who possess it to wield the forbidden magic of Arcana.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |