SOUL SACRIFICE : Review

After passing several times in our hands since last E3, Soul Sacrifice finally arrived in our latitudes. Often compared to wrong - and right - to the Monster Hunter series, the title developed by Marvelous AQL and supervised by Keiji Inafune is at the heart of important issues: give a boost to a machine lacking headlines since the beginning year - at least in Europe - and prove he is not a clone of the monster license Capcom. Just that. After spending many hours in his company, it is time to take stock of this dive in hell.

Locked in a cage in the middle of an evil mansion, a man linked to the powers of the magician Magusar, a man, alas, doomed to certain death. Slave in morbid place, being about to be sacrificed arises when an old magic book with yellowed pages by the test of time: Librom. Combining the stories of past battles between monsters and wizards, the book bearing two misshapen eyes and a dirty mouth then invites the player to relive the battles of another age to better understand or modify ...


MAGUSAR ON THE ROOF

First step before embarking on the adventure personalization. Sex is defined, the voice and appearance of their avatar, knowing that these choices are purely aesthetic and can change any of these parameters between two quests. Five minutes later, time to jump into the arena came because let's be clear: Soul Sacrifice, it is first and foremost the raw action of stripping. As a beat'em all, the basics are simple since with three front buttons normal opening shots on basic combos, shots or charged projectiles on strikes. Weapons (sword, ax, etc..), Shields and other armor to temporary effects are also scattered around on the playground Moreover, in the manner of modern 3D action games, enemy lock through the trigger left allows attacks to fly without worry and roll is also part of the range of movements to dodge enemy trickery. Until then, nothing transcendent must admit.

In fact, the interest and originality of the title published by Sony rather just how magic fits the gameplay. Thus, the harvested material (roots, eggs, ogre, bulbs, claws, feathers ... arm) after the fights become offerings acting spells. These are accessible in the lower right corner of the screen are arranged in two sections of three offerings and their use remains strong, since exchange of magic on the fly via the right trigger. In the end, fighting fishing and resource management becomes an integral part of gameplay. Indeed, an offering may be depleted during the confrontation if abused too. Refills are scattered here and there, however, it is possible to achieve short face some demons rather tough. Even though it would be the case, we can recover spells exhausted after a victory with some tears Lacrima, a 'money' earned throughout the adventure.


Wyvern LEAVE OR DIE

Even more than the use of magic, these are permanent choices that make the game up. If the mower strikes, you can ask to be resurrected through some life to a teammate, or just be sacrificed, rewarding an ally of a spell powerful enough to sweep a boss too swift. One can also choose to commit suicide and become a ghost on the battlefield, allowing the state to boost the offensive capabilities of friends alive via the touch screen. Decisions, we must take as an enemy when banged. Is it better to save it to increase its vital and defensive capabilities or, conversely, to sacrifice in order to improve his offensive skills and therefore the magic? This duality permanent choice makes it more attractive as a wizard fighting can ally with the player afterwards, something obviously impossible if one chooses to ease his suffering.

As we noted in our preview, the increasing level shows natural or flexible because life balance / magic can be changed if desired. A mission that requires having a solid bar life? Simply cut off - finally - magic points to earn XP in the box 'health'. A very significant process in terms of progression, which allows part of bearing some gaps in AI in the solo mode. Indeed, the allies is not the most memorable and these are often run over by the big demons (Cerberus, Wyvern, Werewolf ...) they do not anticipate little or attacks. It is therefore necessary to waste time constantly resuscitate rather attacking the boss in question. Nevertheless be noted that it is often useful to keep the same allies rather than change, high affinity creating better results in the end.


EARTH, WIND & FIRE

Like any good game that meets Soul Sacrifice is based on a multitude of elemental affinities, ice> fire> poison> stone and so on. Obviously, some enemies have weaknesses - fire against harpies, ghouls against stone, ice against Jack O Lantern - and it will sometimes go groping to find the most harmful spells based bestiary of the selected mission. Progression by failure, then, but in any case frustration. From a quantitative point of view, it is clear what to do. On the one hand, you can collect hundreds of offerings and improved several times. On the other hand, mergers are possible to create new kinds of magic: defensive, offensive or subtle (copy of a spell ally, best ground transportation, attracting the attention of enemies fruit etc..).

This wealth, it is also found - a little - in the scenery through. Thus, if the alternating indoor and outdoor environments shows just aesthetics, the presence of aquatic arenas part modify the attack patterns, since everything is slower. Some spells like "The Ember Soldier" are also much longer be active. More than ever, it will be important to manage the distance vis-à-vis enemies. In addition, some areas momentarily give bonuses / penalties to attack or defense, which again can change the game in battle. Despite all this, after dozens of hours on the clock, it is difficult not to feel a certain level redundancy driven environments and faced bestiary.

Precisely speaking of feelings, so be clear: the game is fun to use, simply. Where Monster Hunter may annoy some because of its collisions, extreme slowness of entertainment and its general weakness, the game Sony wants more nervous - as to be always trying to make a youngest '. I must say that the short format quests - one minute to fifteen minutes on average - is well suited to support.


"SACRIFICE, PAY THE PRICE, COLD AS ICE SACRIFICE"

Fears that there is little issued on a purely technical level are unfortunately confirmed. So yes, the art direction is to die, really. Dark fantasy lovers will be delighted to Berserk, the character design, armor, enemies (huge rats pierced screw and trash, cyclops, centaurs ...) transpiring class. All is running fine and no loss of frame rate can be reported, even online. However, we regret the extreme poverty of the textures (soil, vegetation etc..) That clearly think the PSP boosted. Similarly, if hell is synonymous with aliasing and colors sometimes too dull and bland rather than alcohol and rock'n'roll, we prefer to spend our turn ...

In any case, a title will never stuck to a better game because if in defiance of repeated player barely defeat a archdemon efforts (this is their first names), you may choose to sacrifice part of his body. The magic that follows is monumental and often takes the whole screen, the price is aligned accordingly: defensive capabilities halved for immolation, altered vision for a look sacrifice runes inactive bonus for offering arms, etc.. Of course, lost limbs are whole again if we have enough tears Lacrima. There is something really exhilarating to use these demonic furies, but also something disturbing, as if a part of us literally flew. At the same time, what more inhuman than a human sacrifice?


THE GRIFFIN SLEEPS

Also, needless to mention that life is huge. The multiplayer mode, both locally and online, remains impeccable and battles will have four absolutely epic. The quests grouped into pacts Avalon are many, some of which are accessible only to a specific stage (magic level 15, for example) while others require the player specific conditions for success: defeat enemies in less than two minutes, get a number of specific memories, etc..

As for Stakhanovists collectors, they will get their money given the number of different offerings, besides the traditional trophies and scores missions that we can always improve. For information, they are higher or lower depending on many parameters: assault and attacks against employees, third eye (sort of heat vision) enabled, hit points, allies made sacrifices, accomplished time ... The quest for the high score is not trivial, however. It rewards skill and players who score high are rewarded with better offerings than those who achieved an average or feeble note.

Finally, one can only applaud the work on the soundtrack. The musical themes designed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenoblade and many others) are all simply gorgeous and remain head once the console is turned off. A real pleasure hearing. As for the location, it will rely on honest English dubbing and subtitles French decent. However, we would like to see land the Japanese voices for the time reserved for pre-orders of a major brand selling video games. Perhaps a sacrifice common sense will make other than tumbling through a DLC announced paying ...