Otogi: Myth of Demons

"You won't get your money's worth. Don't expect to finish this game!"

Before anyone starts to get angry at me for giving Otogi such a low score, I would like to state that my initial opinion of this game was very high. However, having played it for about two months now, I've realized that this game has a very tragic flaw that totally messes up the whole game.

GAMEPLAY

While the rest of the game amazes and dazzles, there are many flaws with the gameplay. Let's start with the fighting engine. Although there are two buttons for attacks, you end up doing the same attacks throughout the game. As if the repetitiveness wasn't enough, the dash feature (which is very important for certain parts of the game) is sometimes hard to control. Everytime you dash, you never seem to get where you want to go. You're either going too far ahead, too far behind, or the wrong direction.

However, that isn't even the worst part. Even if you can tolerate the lame action and bad controls, you most likely wouldn't even be able to complete the game. Don't get fooled by the first few levels, they're easy. The difficulty, sadly, does increase at a very fast pace, with the middle of the game being very frustrating to complete. Of course, there are those hardcore gamers who will think that I'm being too mean about the difficulty, but my point of view is coming from one that I believe most people share. But hey, if you're confident that this game will be a breeze for you, you can raise my score by 2.

GRAPHICS

Wow... I have to say that my initial reaction to this game was fully based on the graphics. With the game looking so great, I was stunned for days. The character models look great (well, at least the costumes anyway, the facial features are less than stellar). But the main focus of this game is the amazing environments. With such realistic detail to trees, mountains, and houses, it really makes you feel like you're watching a movie. The graphics really hold this game up from all of its flaws.

SOUND

With the great graphics to awe at, the music is hardly noticable most of the time. Not to say that the music is bad, but it's certainly not as impressive as the visuals. The voice acting in this game is pretty good, though (for a videogame). There won't be any bad acting that'll make you cringe (eg. Resident Evil PSone). Overall, nothing to complain about here.

REPLAY VALUE

Really, if I could comment on this, I would. However, with the difficulty being so high, I haven't been able to beat the game yet. I have less than a third of the game left to play, but I've been stuck on the same level for weeks now.

FINAL WORD

The presentation of this game was done very well. I was drawn into this game from my initial reaction to this game. However, the difficulty is too high for the majority of the gamers, and most of us aren't patient enough or free enough to play the same thing over and over again. Playing games should be just that, playing. When you start to get angry and frustrated, it loses its whole purpose as a game and becomes worthless. I usually like to say that you buy games so you can play, not so you can work. If I want to work, I would at least want to get paid for it.

Verdict: Miss

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/03