After delivering last year's cult classic Deadly Premonition, Ignition Entertainment had to be feeling the pressure to emulate the same level of intrigue among Xbox otaku. Knowing they couldn't rely on last year's formula - "so bad it's good" gameplay buffered by a bargain-bin price — they're aiming to impress in different ways with this debut effort from the company's Tokyo studio. Sure, El Shaddai is off-kilter — after all, it's an action game based on ancient Hebrew text with a cell phone-toting narrator - but this time Ignition means business. And for the most part, business is good.
With a developer whose staff worked on the likes of Okami and Devil May Cry, it should come as no surprise that El Shaddai features action adventure elements set against a gothic and mythology-filled backdrop. The main character, Enoch, is a mortal given a God-granted ability to traverse the afterlife and other supernatural locations. His destinations in this story are the dominions of a group of fallen angels planning to unleash Hell on Earth. Given the amazing creative powers of these enemies, the path laid out for Enoch is unpredictable.
Each of the 11 stages has a unique look, and the urge to see the next crazy style will probably be the primary force driving you forward. Over the course of the game, you'll visit a vista sculpted from ice, an undersea lair, a futuristic cityscape, a light-hearted playland, a demon-filled disco, and much more. While the game has a unique concept and the hero characters have interesting things to say, the sometimes complex story often takes a backseat to the amazing visuals.
Given the team's development history, you'd expect El Shaddai to tread the same ground as this generation's action-packed elite. In a nice surprise, however, Ignition has realized the high barrier of entry for those ultra-hardcore games and created the most user-friendly action-game engine of this console generation. They've accomplished this goal with a few workarounds.
First and foremost, there's no heads-up display or status screen to distract the player from combat during the initial quest. Your health is represented by the number of armor items adorning Enoch, while weapon-equipping is done in-battle by stripping your enemy of one of three weapons — a Devil May Cry-influenced sword-like melee weapon (the Arch), a projectile-shooting ranged weapon reminiscent of Bayonetta (the Gale), and a more original defense-focused, gauntlet-style weapon (the Veil).
To take the guesswork out of picking the right weapon, El Shaddai incorporates a rock-paper-scissors system, but it doesn't make the stronger or weaker implement completely over-or underpowered. Each weapon has only six or seven unique attacks, but the ability to perform combos and counters lends a bit of variety to the brawls.
A more subtle change to the action-game formula is the increased reliance on platforming elements. Roughly 40% of gameplay is spent navigating the various angels' homeworlds, presented as a largely linear platforming experience. Most of it is in 3D, and the platforming runs the gamut from frustrating to entrancing. (How well Enoch's shadow contrasts with a world's platforms is usually the determining factor.) Additional platforming sections restrict movement to a 2D plane while keeping the movesets and physics exactly the same. These sections avoid the pitfalls of the 3D stages (pun definitely intended), although their relative lack of combat makes us glad they're the appetizer instead of the meal.
Where the game ultimately falls short of greatness is the ambiguity that permeates most of the experience. Even if you're able to wrap your head around the story, the visually striking levels are betrayed by how repetitive they are: most drag on with similar-feeling platforming segments and far too many encounters with the limited enemy roster. This problem is exacerbated by the boss battles — even though the different homeworlds have divergent styles, the fallen angels look (and fight) very similarly, with a surprisingly high number of inconclusive encounters that throw you back into the stage you thought you'd just finished. Placing an unwinnable battle at the beginning of a game is fine - it's been a staple for years. When a game still has consequence-free boss battles in its latter half, though, it becomes a constant source of irritation.
At the $60 price point, El Shaddai doesn't afford gamers the same level of regret-free purchasing that Ignition provided with Deadly Premonition. From a pure value perspective, fans of that game won't find El Shaddai three times as fun or one-third as problematic. What El Shaddai can deliver is the same level of uniqueness. Between the stages' constantly changing art style, the strange story, the unforgettable cast, and the novel take on action combat, this game is definitely worth checking out for people seeking something new.
+ Scores the A/V hat-trick with gorgeous art, a great orchestral score, and well-delivered dialogue.
+ Simple yet nuanced combat that doesn’t require menu-diving for re-equipping or leveling-up.
- Repetition sets in due to awkward pacing and lack of enemy variety.
? Why no Kinect integration to recognize snaps?
