Death by Degrees

"A next gen game that's great, though it has it's flaws."

Tekken. It's the 3D fighting game that basically made the market. It started it all, shining above all else with graphics, story, gameplay, and characters. One of these characters, Nina Williams, had such a large fanbase that Namco thought they'd give her a starring role in her own game. This game is Death By Degrees.

Graphics Score: 9/10
Ah, Nina. She's quite the babe, all her fanboys (and pretty much every man) will say. Namco knows this, so they used a next gen graphics engine to cope with that. The result? The graphics are simply stunning. Great quality CG engine, good near rag-doll phisics, incredible in game graphics, and well, I'm no Nina fanboy, but i have to say, she's quite the looker with this game's engine.

Sound Score: 7/10
Well, the game's full of sounds, no doubt. The music's good, it's a mix of ambience, rock, and a few other tracks thrown in there. It's not mediocre, but It's not great either. The voice acting's good. If you listen closely, you'll hear some very professional voice actors playing the roles. The miscellanious sounds are decent, but I mean, it's sound. How great can you get?

Controls Score: 8/10
The controls are the game's greatest aspect for some, and for a few, the games greatest flaw. Put simply, the controls are next-gen. The analong stick is used to fight , something like you would use in Ape Escape, just more mature. The left stick moves Nina, of course. And the game has quite a few other good controls. By pressing L2 and pushing the right analog stick toward an enemy (even bosses) you can do a "critical strike", which breaks the opponent's bones.

Story Score: 6/10 for the beggining of the game, 9/10 for the end.
The story starts off with Nina working in leauge with MI6 to take down a mafia orginazaition after one of thier ships explodes with the force of a nuke. It's mediocre at best, but it gets MUCH better, even leading to encounters with the Tekken Force and some other suprises.

Overall (Gameplay) Score: 8/10
With all of that put together, I'd have to say Nina's solo adventure doesn't fall flat on it's face. With great controls, a great story, incredible graphics, and decent sound, that should be a 9 out of 10. Sadly, the loading times are, as I'd say, the game's greatest (and perhaps only) flaw. Even non Tekken fans will be pleased with this great game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/05