Sudeki

"Nice grap...OH MY GOD! IS THE CAMERA HAVING A SEISURE?"

Sudeki, won my heart do to graphics, or sex appeal?
Although some of you don't know about Sudeki, some people have been waiting a good 2 years for this game. First announced in 2002, when the Xbox was still fairly young. Back then, there were few, to no RPG's on the Xbox. Sudeki appeared out as a beautiful game of it's time. However, like all good things (Example: Michael Jackson), it was delayed, and pretty much forgotten. Hell, the only reason I knew about it was a EGM story back around the end of 2003.

So, what exactly is Sudeki's problem that I have to give it a 5. Well, it's quite a bit of things, but part of that can be contributed to the fact that Sudeki came out one year too late. If it was done around the time before last summer, then my opinion may be different. However, too many similar RPG's have came out since then, and Sudeki is just a mere polish of those games.

My my, Ailish, won't you back that thing up?
As you can see from most of it's press, Sudeki is a very beautiful game. Hell, just looking at the cover makes you think "God, are those hot women ever going to get it on?". Well, no, but they are good to look at. Anyways, getting back on track, Sudeki does have a rather impressive graphics appeal. Most of the edges are very smooth, and unjagged, and most of the character models are somewhat beautiful. However, there is still a few flaws.

With graphics like these, you need some sort of overdrop (Sky, etc), as well as changing lighting effects for different areas. Well, that doesn't always happens. You see, there is a brightness to the character models which make them look somewhat crappy if you go into a darker area, or building. Worse, there is a glare which makes some areas hard to look at, and burn your eyes. You may want to turn down your brightness a few notches before you play this game, if you want to...

Arrr....I am a pirate, and I KILL things
Now to Sudeki's more disappointing areas, the combat. You see, instead of being a good boy and stick to turn based, Sudeki went in the direction of MMORPG's, which at this point have been done to death and back, and boy was it a bad choice. You see, although each character has a different trait he or she can use, it's still the same: Kill this guy, more appear, you get random items, kill more people, and so on. Basically, they pulled a Kingdom Hearts/Ninja Gaiden, but with numbers.

While Sudeki does have a few impressive features that would of been impressive back in early 2003, everything it has done was either used in Ninja Gaiden, KOTOR, or pretty much any other RPG to date. The combo system is easy to use, and rarely offers any challenges. While the Leveling up system is somewhat unique, it's been done (Adventures of Link, KOTOR).

Although some may think I am complaining about nothing, you will see one of the combats major flaws early in battle: The camera. Seriously, a game shouldn't twitch around so violently for no damn reason. Even if you don't use the L or R triggers, it still feels the need to either get too close, or too far away, and randomly move in a direction where I CAN'T SEE THE ENEMY!

Yeah, in short: The main draw of the game is the suckiest part. Boo.

Durr...Voices and music?
Yeah, this is a so/so field as well, but not as bad as the gameplay. Music is the generic stuff. While some of it's somewhat good, it's too damn soft to hear any of it. Seriously. it Sounds more like a silent hum then actual music.

Voice acting, however, is variable. Some voices were actually decent, and didn't sound like complete crap. However, the majority sounds like either bad accents, overacting, trying to be funny, or just plain out bad. While most publishers try to use a variety of actors and get lesser ones to sound different, Sudeki suffers from using the same voice too often.

The Aftermath
With RPG's, you have to give it time to get into the system. With Sudeki, I gave it around 8 hours before I wrote this review, and my impressions are the same. If a game cannot deliver much more then "Slash this guy, go here, save, and repeat", without too much interaction with the story, then it gets stale to the point of not wanting to play any farther then those 8 hours. Thats the ISSUE with Sudeki, you just can't get into it to actually give a damn.

However, those 8 hours weren't a complete waste. There were a few humorous characters that gave it charm, and a few highly graphic areas to give it some charm, but nothing beyond that. Quite honestly, I left playing Sudeki a bit dissapointed and wondering what went wrong with a game I once wanted.

Maybe it's just taste, but I simply didn't get into the atmosphere in Sudeki that shadows most MMORPG's and Anime stories. If you are a big fan of both: good for you, you hit gold. Otherwise, $50 US is a bit too much for a game that offers the minimum for most RPGs.

Review Scores, impressions, and recommendations
Graphics: 7/10
Music: 6/10
Voice Acting: 6.5/10
Combat: 3/10
Originality: 4/10
FINAL: 26.5/50, Equal to 5/10

Impressions:
+Graphics are above average
+Some voice acting is decent
+Leveling Up is a nice twist
+Beautiful World to explore

-Combat is ugly
-Camera is...bad
-Same thing you have seen in almost every other RPG
-Music is generic and stale. Low budget stuff.

Recommendations: (Similar games)
-Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
-Star Wars: KOTOR (Xbox)
-Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
-Fable

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/04