ic-games Review - Devil Kings (PS2) - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Devil Kings (PS2) - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Devil Kings (PS2)

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Reviewed: Playstation 2
Genre: Hack And Slash
UK Release: 02nd Feb 2006
Article Date: 24th Jan 2006
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: £29.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 80%

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Pros

Very Polished

Addictive

Cons

Breaks in battle

On screen map

Screenshots

1 of 16

It is an age of chaos and turmoil, warriors rise to reign the lands, warriors who believe in power, and will stop at nothing to grab it. Only those with true valour and strength will prevail..... So put that sandwich down, this is going to get very messy.

The story doesn’t actually matter in the general scheme of things, but for consistency purposes we will give you a quick heads up. As mentioned there are six warriors fighting to control the lands they live around, after a few battles each of the warriors agree that the only way they will ever progress is to finally destroy the others, and instead of sitting down and talking about it they set off to do just that.

On first starting the game you can choose to play as one of six available characters (warriors), each with their own unique weapons and special moves (that must also be unlocked). By completing the main conquest mode, with each character, you'll eventually unlock six more playable characters. The characters themselves are well balanced, some (for example Red Minotaur and the Devil King) can dish out high hit points (and so make a great starting choice). Others have better defence and so on; it’s all exactly what you would expect from the developers of Devil May Cry.

Each of the selectable characters own a certain amount of land at the start of the game and it’s their purpose to increase it until they own the whole map and the game ends. All experience they have gained on completion of the game is saved and the character can be picked again for another round albeit this time they’ll be stronger and be able to tackle the harder difficulty levels.

Each stage is fought on a tiny map which contains clusters of enemies (red dots on the map). Usually inside the cluster you’ll find group leaders, that once taken out, drop treasure chests that include things such as improved weapons and abilities. It’s feasible to ignore a large proportion of the enemy clusters and bolt towards the stage boss but you’ll also miss out on some cool weapons if you take that approach. The only exception to this rule is when certain groups of enemies are protecting a location, such as a wall or gate, if this is the case, only after you have destroyed the units in question will the game allow you to progress. Eventually you’ll make your way to the stage boss (marked as a helm on the map) and upon dispatching the boss warrior the level will be won, and that part of the map will then belong to you. There are a lot of manga and CGI effects on offer between battles but it only blurs the bigger picture. You simply pick your warrior with the hope of smashing your way through all the levels to ultimately control the whole globe. Yes the whole process is a no brainier but it’s been done with such aplomb that you can’t fail to be impressed.

The crux of the gameplay in Devil Kings takes place in the conquest mode, although there is a free-battle mode as well. In the conquest mode you start off with your home base, and depending on the character you picked at the start, a few other territories. To progress you must take over opposition land (and generally the boss that controls the land), the only requirement being that your own territory touches the land you want to invade. It all sounds like a game of ‘Risk’ on paper, but believe us in practice it’s a lot simpler. After you have picked the conquest you’ll then engage in a battle at the contested stage, and if you win you'll take over that territory. Once you have chosen your battle, you are taken to the battle preparation screen where you can equip your character with items and assign abilities earned in previous battles, so at the beginning you’ll not have much to do in the way of prepping your character but as the game progresses more and more abilities will be unlocked.

The control system is as easy as it gets. The game is set in third person in a similar vein to the hugely popular Dynasty Warriors series although the attacks are a lot simpler. Your basic attack is square button which at the beginning you’ll probably pound to death. When you gain some experience, and learn the advanced attacks you can utilise the boost attacks, which are performed by tapping either the square or triangle button (depending on what you have linked). Two boost attack slots are available right at the beginning, but as mentioned, you’ll have to unlock the moves first. Chaining hits together awards you with even more experience and a commentator announcing your prowess which range from Double (100+ hits), Triple (200+ hits), Quadruple (300+ hits), Immortal (400+ hits) and finally Master (500+ hits) all chained together. When you pull off a devastating chain you’ll really begin to understand what makes the game fun. Finally you have the rage button (circle), better left to when things are a little crowded. The rage button is only available when you have filled up your rage gauge (by performing killer moves), but once activated, performs a fury drive that has the strength to take out anything that gets in its way.

The graphics are pretty impressive, especially when you take into consideration the amount of enemies on the screen at any one time – and the shear size of some of them. Whilst the models might not be as impressive as what we saw with Kingdom under Fire, the lack of any noticeable slowdown, coupled with some detailed backdrops really showcases how impressive the PS2 can be at times. Of course the most striking models are left for the stars of the show, and both user controllable players and the remaining boss characters really have to be seen to be believed.

Once you have slashed your way through the whole game with one character, other characters will become selectable and the whole process starts again. The story does change with the different warriors under your control, but as we mentioned, the bigger picture never really changes – this is a hack and slash and there’s no hiding it.

There are a few problems, it’s sometimes difficult to get your bearings with the on-screen map, and which direction you should be heading but once you get acclimatised to the camera controls that particular niggle soon gets forgotten. Finally their was a little too much stopping and starting for our liking during battles, even if some of the fade out shots were highly impressive.

There is plenty to like about Devil Kings, the presentation is top notch and the combo system really does have you trying to chain up the hits. It’s not perfect though, and toffee nosed gamers might not like the simplistic nature of it all. However, for a quick blast, and a legal way to vent your anger you can do a lot worse than this release from Capcom.

DETAILED GAME INFORMATION

Version Reviewed: PS2 Promo
Other Versions: No
Muliplayer: No
Price: £29.99

PEGI Rating

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