Demons' Souls

Raz Review: "I wanted to give this a 9, but issues with the tutorial, camera angles and fidgety targeting controls restrained my enthusiasm - which is nevertheless very high for this game.

Demons' Souls remembers one of the key elements that made old-school games addictive: difficulty.  This game is HARD.  Lots of people are saying that, and it might be discouraging to some (especially since the learning curve is brutal starting out) but if you can see past it you'll find yourself coming back for more and more.  And man, is it ever beautiful.  The payoff for your patience is a sense of accomplishment far greater than in any other game I've played.

It reminds me of Monster Hunter in a lot of ways, since you need special loot to upgrade your weapons, and there is an upgrade tree of sorts that lets you customize your weaponry.  Armor is harder to come by, but it generally just slows you down anyway.  There's magic apparently, but I haven't bothered - this is mostly about melee combat.  And it ain't hack n' slash, either; you need strategy and skill to take on even the weakest opponents.

It also reminds me of that old Dragon's Lair game, because you will die countless times trying to figure out the best strategy for a given area.  And of course, you lose all your Souls when you do, which can be REALLY frustrating; until you realize that there's a way to exploit this: find a tough area, build up souls, die, go back, build up more souls and grab the ones you dropped last time - voila, you've doubled your income.  Now you just have to get back to the exit without dying again.

Hardcore gamers will love it.  Casual gamers will either love it or hate it.  People who like Prince of Persia because you can't ever really die will throw the controller at the screen in a fit of apoplectic rage."


Online: Yes
Rated: 8.5/10