Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors

"How deep is a puddle?"

Otogi 2 is a 3rd person hack n' slash game. It's enough to make you think, 'oh, boring', isn't it? Well don't run away just yet people. Let me rephrase myself. 'Otogi 2 is a glorious looking, 3rd person action game with hidden depths'. Sounds much better doesnt it?

As you dive into the game, you can't help but be stunned by the care that has gone into decorating your surroundings. Sure, they can lack clarity at distances, but see past that and you have one of the most glorious looking games this generation. Every environment is wonderfully textured, whilst enemies are imaginativly designed.

When you begin to play, you'll probably start mashing buttons. You start worrying that all the game involves will be smacking various enemies until they die. This will continue until you reach a certain stage. I'm not going to spoil the secret, but it changes the game for the better.

Basically, FROM Software decided that making you perform the same tasks again and again wasnt much fun. So, from this point, you have various ideas that keep the game fresh - for example, in one stage you must guide your soul to a temple by making it follow the various lights dotted around the area, whilst protecting it.

Its these little twists that keep the game fresh. Nothing to drastic, but it's enough to keep you enjoying the game.

After a while, you'll start noticing other hidden depths - the various attributes of each character can be upgraded - strength, magic, and so on. Something else that surprised me was that the unlockable weapons were never 'better weapons', but simply better in different circumstances. This forces you to make tactical descicions on both weapons, AND character. This is also helped by the fact that each character can carry one item into a stage, that can do different things. It could make them fireproof, or give their magic attacks more powerful, it all adds up to make a game that seems shallow to begin with, much much deeper.

It has bad points though - in fights, you can sometimes lose track of what is happening, thanks to the (lovely looking) particle effects covering the screen. Sound is merely decent, and the plot is really not my kind of thing.

All this adds up to make Otogi 2 a good solid game, that will keep you entertained even after the story is finished thanks to its numourous unlockables and replayability.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/20/05