Gaijin Entertainment's next-gen title, (available on PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3) X-Blades, is a rather formulaic, hack-and-slash button masher, but despite that, really isn't as horrible of a game as one might expect from a title that seems to be desperately trying to sell itself by plastering a skimpily dressed anime girl on the cover. It definitely does very little to advance the genre -it even falls falls grossly short of meeting the expectations set by better action titles that precede it like Ninja Gaiden, Heavenly Sword, or Devil May Cry- but regardless, there is enough going for X-Blades to save it from total condemnation.
The story to X-Blades is almost non-existent, and you'll be hard pressed to find a reason to care about what's happening to the story's protagonist, a treasure hunter named Ayumi who apparently has taken the Lara Croft mentality of "the less clothes you wear the better treasure hunter you'll be" to the extreme because she runs around wearing practically nothing. There's some talk about a dark, ancient evil, an equally ancient race of creatures, the end of the world, etc. etc, but like I said before, there's really absolutely no motivation for you to care about the paper-thin narrative X-Blades half-heartedly attempts to entertain. It's pure window dressing and while X-Blades does have an alternate ending depending on which branch of magic (light or dark) you adhere to, like I mentioned before, you probably won't care all that much.
The game itself is pure hack-and-slash. You'll enter a level and be forced to take on wave after wave after wave of enemies until a little red bar on the bottom of your screen is depleted. Then, with absolutely no fanfare, the level will abruptly end and your stats for the stage will be displayed. Periodically you'll square off against a boss (who most of the time you'll only be able to damage with a single attack) but for the most part, get used to pressing the attack button over and over and over.
To vary the combat from the rather mundane and repetitive button mashing (on a side note, Ayumi dual wields gunblades which I haven't really seen since Final Fantasy VIII so kudos to that) Ayumi can learn or upgrade different spells and attacks using the souls she has reaped from her enemies. Sort of like Devil May Cry. And Ninja Gaiden. Well, no, just kidding. Exactly like them. As you take damage or kill your enemies, you progressively accrue rage which you can then use different abilities. For instance, Earthquake is an area of effect spell which helps clear out some room when you get overwhelmed, and Fireball is the only spell that will defeat certain ice elemental enemies. Some of the different skills you learn are actually pretty flashy and well animated, but again, it's nothing we haven't seen before.
The game varies from being super easy to being annoyingly cheap. There are times when you can breeze through a level by sitting in a corner and mashing buttons, and then there's others (particularly during boss fights) where you'll find yourself being consistently demolished without really knowing what to do. These movements of these extremes in difficulty though are rare though, and on a medium setting, X-Blades presents a decent challenge that casual gamers will be able to surmount in 10-12 hours of game play. Hardcore action junkies more akin to the Devil May Cry 3 or Ninja Gaiden school of hack-and-slash will want to turn the difficulty up to hard right away, and even then, veterans of the genre will probably find it too easy. You do have the option of running through the levels again for the sake of gaining more souls to unlock Ayumi's entire arsenal of magic and abilities, but only perfectionists will feel the motivation to do so.
While the gameplay itself may feel somewhat derivative and archaic when compared to other titles in the genre, it does control pretty well. The action is fast paced, and it is simple to pull off special moves and use spells as they can be mapped to the face buttons (or keys for PC users) on the controller. The camera is usually pretty consistent and does a good job of keeping track of the action, but the lock on system is what really mars the experience. There's really no way to designate what you want to lock on to specifically, and as a result, you'll often find the lock on bouncing from one target to the next as you move around. Normally this isn't that big of a problem since enemies die quickly, but against bosses, it's annoying to find yourself accidentally attacking some random monster when you want to target something else.
Though X-Blades may play like a game that would feel more at home on a last-generation console, graphically it is pretty respectable. Cut scenes utilize cel-shaded models that look sharp and fit X-Blades anime-styled presentation, and the environments are exceptionally detailed and look great. Additionally, the game runs at a very fluid pace even when the screen is bogged down with special effects and enemies. X-Blade's soundtrack isn't too shabby either, but the voice acting (and writing) is pretty subpar. It won't be the worst voice acting you've ever heard in a video game, but it definitely has its share of lines that will make you wince.
Perhaps my biggest gripe about X-Blades is just how little it brings to the table. It doesn't strive to reinvent the wheel, and that would be fine if it managed to execute the fundamental gameplay elements of the genre correctly. But it really doesn't. In every sense of the word X-Blades is a mediocre, mindless, hack-and-slash that is glaringly inferior in every sense of the word imaginable to games like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. In order to succeed in this genre, a game needs to bring something unique about itself to distinguish itself from the masses. Devil May Cry brought style and Ninja Gaiden brought difficulty.
X-Blades tries to hide its obvious shortcomings by starring a scantly clad anime chick. That's really it's only selling point and I'm almost sure the developers know this all too well. There's nothing remarkable about the game itself, so it tries to sell itself using sex appeal. It's almost insulting really, and tragically, more than a few copies will probably be sold exclusively because Ayumi wears a dental-floss thong throughout the game. While games like Fear Effect and Tomb Raider have played the sex appeal card in the past, at the very least there was actually a strong game standing behind it. X-Blades has no such luxuries.
Aside from functioning almost exclusively as eye candy, Ayumi has the misfortune of being one of the most annoying, unlikeable protagonists ever. If games like Mirror's Edge, Half-Life 2, or Beyond Good and Evil have done anything to advance the viability of females being strong protagonists who can fight evil without it being necessary to strip down to their underwear, X-Blades is a game that sets that notion back several steps.
It is entirely possible that I'm underselling X-Blades, but I can't help but play this game and think that this is the sort of uninspired mediocrity that prevents games from evolving. It's entertainment in its most shallow form, but at the very least, it never makes any pretentions of being something it isn't. It's a mindless, repetitive hack-and-slash game that stars an annoying anime-looking chick in a metal bikini and thong who uses gunblades. That's X-Blades in a nutshell. If that sounds like the kind of game you want to spend ten hours (and sixty bucks) playing, then you probably won't be disappointed.
For anyone else, you're much better off saving your money. Sixty bucks is ridiculous for a game like X-Blades. Wait a few months if you simply must play it -I guarantee you it'll be in the bargain bins before long.
Final Verdict: Pass It
Final Score: 5.5/10
The story to X-Blades is almost non-existent, and you'll be hard pressed to find a reason to care about what's happening to the story's protagonist, a treasure hunter named Ayumi who apparently has taken the Lara Croft mentality of "the less clothes you wear the better treasure hunter you'll be" to the extreme because she runs around wearing practically nothing. There's some talk about a dark, ancient evil, an equally ancient race of creatures, the end of the world, etc. etc, but like I said before, there's really absolutely no motivation for you to care about the paper-thin narrative X-Blades half-heartedly attempts to entertain. It's pure window dressing and while X-Blades does have an alternate ending depending on which branch of magic (light or dark) you adhere to, like I mentioned before, you probably won't care all that much.
The game itself is pure hack-and-slash. You'll enter a level and be forced to take on wave after wave after wave of enemies until a little red bar on the bottom of your screen is depleted. Then, with absolutely no fanfare, the level will abruptly end and your stats for the stage will be displayed. Periodically you'll square off against a boss (who most of the time you'll only be able to damage with a single attack) but for the most part, get used to pressing the attack button over and over and over.
To vary the combat from the rather mundane and repetitive button mashing (on a side note, Ayumi dual wields gunblades which I haven't really seen since Final Fantasy VIII so kudos to that) Ayumi can learn or upgrade different spells and attacks using the souls she has reaped from her enemies. Sort of like Devil May Cry. And Ninja Gaiden. Well, no, just kidding. Exactly like them. As you take damage or kill your enemies, you progressively accrue rage which you can then use different abilities. For instance, Earthquake is an area of effect spell which helps clear out some room when you get overwhelmed, and Fireball is the only spell that will defeat certain ice elemental enemies. Some of the different skills you learn are actually pretty flashy and well animated, but again, it's nothing we haven't seen before.
The game varies from being super easy to being annoyingly cheap. There are times when you can breeze through a level by sitting in a corner and mashing buttons, and then there's others (particularly during boss fights) where you'll find yourself being consistently demolished without really knowing what to do. These movements of these extremes in difficulty though are rare though, and on a medium setting, X-Blades presents a decent challenge that casual gamers will be able to surmount in 10-12 hours of game play. Hardcore action junkies more akin to the Devil May Cry 3 or Ninja Gaiden school of hack-and-slash will want to turn the difficulty up to hard right away, and even then, veterans of the genre will probably find it too easy. You do have the option of running through the levels again for the sake of gaining more souls to unlock Ayumi's entire arsenal of magic and abilities, but only perfectionists will feel the motivation to do so.
While the gameplay itself may feel somewhat derivative and archaic when compared to other titles in the genre, it does control pretty well. The action is fast paced, and it is simple to pull off special moves and use spells as they can be mapped to the face buttons (or keys for PC users) on the controller. The camera is usually pretty consistent and does a good job of keeping track of the action, but the lock on system is what really mars the experience. There's really no way to designate what you want to lock on to specifically, and as a result, you'll often find the lock on bouncing from one target to the next as you move around. Normally this isn't that big of a problem since enemies die quickly, but against bosses, it's annoying to find yourself accidentally attacking some random monster when you want to target something else.
Though X-Blades may play like a game that would feel more at home on a last-generation console, graphically it is pretty respectable. Cut scenes utilize cel-shaded models that look sharp and fit X-Blades anime-styled presentation, and the environments are exceptionally detailed and look great. Additionally, the game runs at a very fluid pace even when the screen is bogged down with special effects and enemies. X-Blade's soundtrack isn't too shabby either, but the voice acting (and writing) is pretty subpar. It won't be the worst voice acting you've ever heard in a video game, but it definitely has its share of lines that will make you wince.
Perhaps my biggest gripe about X-Blades is just how little it brings to the table. It doesn't strive to reinvent the wheel, and that would be fine if it managed to execute the fundamental gameplay elements of the genre correctly. But it really doesn't. In every sense of the word X-Blades is a mediocre, mindless, hack-and-slash that is glaringly inferior in every sense of the word imaginable to games like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. In order to succeed in this genre, a game needs to bring something unique about itself to distinguish itself from the masses. Devil May Cry brought style and Ninja Gaiden brought difficulty.
X-Blades tries to hide its obvious shortcomings by starring a scantly clad anime chick. That's really it's only selling point and I'm almost sure the developers know this all too well. There's nothing remarkable about the game itself, so it tries to sell itself using sex appeal. It's almost insulting really, and tragically, more than a few copies will probably be sold exclusively because Ayumi wears a dental-floss thong throughout the game. While games like Fear Effect and Tomb Raider have played the sex appeal card in the past, at the very least there was actually a strong game standing behind it. X-Blades has no such luxuries.
Aside from functioning almost exclusively as eye candy, Ayumi has the misfortune of being one of the most annoying, unlikeable protagonists ever. If games like Mirror's Edge, Half-Life 2, or Beyond Good and Evil have done anything to advance the viability of females being strong protagonists who can fight evil without it being necessary to strip down to their underwear, X-Blades is a game that sets that notion back several steps.
It is entirely possible that I'm underselling X-Blades, but I can't help but play this game and think that this is the sort of uninspired mediocrity that prevents games from evolving. It's entertainment in its most shallow form, but at the very least, it never makes any pretentions of being something it isn't. It's a mindless, repetitive hack-and-slash game that stars an annoying anime-looking chick in a metal bikini and thong who uses gunblades. That's X-Blades in a nutshell. If that sounds like the kind of game you want to spend ten hours (and sixty bucks) playing, then you probably won't be disappointed.
For anyone else, you're much better off saving your money. Sixty bucks is ridiculous for a game like X-Blades. Wait a few months if you simply must play it -I guarantee you it'll be in the bargain bins before long.
Final Verdict: Pass It
Final Score: 5.5/10
