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Release Dates Out Now (North America) Out Now (Europe) |
Review
Adventuring has got to be a tough job. The hours are long and the pay is meagre. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to see why it’s worth it at all. Sadly for most heroes, they don’t get the choice. It’s either into battle in the name of honour, or death. Which in most circumstances isn’t exactly desirable.
Perks of the job? Fame, fortune, power and of course... damsels in distress. Where would adventuring be without these buxom vixens? Well to be honest, if developers start taking leaves out of Sudeki’s book, we may soon find out.
Sudeki is an action RPG following the exploits of four very clichéd heroes. Tal the sword-wielding soldier, Elco, an intrepid scientist with a thirst for machinery, Buki, a barbarian warrior and Ailish, a royal sorceress are the four characters tasked with the reclamation of some very important crystals. About the only surprise in this plot is that it’s actually very good.
Originally exploring the world as Tal, Sudeki eases you into the action with several short tutorials on combat and exploration. Combat only really uses two buttons – X and Y. When used together in the correct rhythm, the power of Tal’s strikes become stronger and inflict more damage. Tal and Buki both work in this way. Ailish and Elco however are ranged fighters and as such take a different approach to combat. They fight in a first-person view and suddenly the battle becomes very cheap. Essentially it’s possible to back-peddle whilst firing frantically and not take any damage. The game is a lot easier to play this way, though not as fun. Fortunately, the early ranged weapons are so poor in power, that this tactic becomes tiresome quickly.
And tiresome it will be, as combat appears in Sudeki more than anything else. And it’s tough, make no mistake. It is impossible to travel to other towns without fighting your way through a small army of admittedly well-designed enemies. You won’t see them on the screen until you enter their area, at which point all exits are sealed and they teleport into view. Essentially, it’s a similar system to the random battles of Final Fantasy ilk, except infinitely more frustrating to begin with.
The AI of the enemies deserves a special mention. Many of the enemy groups encountered consist of various ranks of troops. For example there might be four typical soldiers, two heavy brutes and a healer. Naturally, they defend their healer at all costs, forcing you to deal with the bigger enemies first. Any enemies with shields can and will use them, which can become annoying since they can in fact block indefinitely with no penalty. Fortunately, Tal and Buki can do the same.
The boss battles are the true starring roles of Sudeki though, requiring more thought over muscle. Each of the four heroes will at some point engage a major boss on their own, whilst the rest of the time they will fight alongside each other. When fighting alone however, simple force will get them killed. Take for example the spider-queen boss in the temple of Mo. Buki is forced to face her alone and in a melee fight, she is torn to pieces in seconds. Instead she must find a way to tip the battle in her favour. This is repeated throughout most of the boss encounters. It’s a very welcome change to the tired formula of so many other RPG’s.
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