Blood Will Tell ~ Tezuka Osamu's Dororo (PS2) :
Another game based on literature now, this time based on Osamu Tezuka's manga series Dororo! It tells the tale of Hyakkimaru, who due to a deal with demons his father made before he was born, is now comprised of mainly prosthetic parts...The demons each demanded a part of Hyakkimaru in exchange for "bringing peace back to the land", and now rescued by an old inventor and all grown up, Hyakki decides to hunt these fiends down and retrieve all 48 body parts that were stolen from him.......
He soon meets up with a young thief named Dororo, who decides to accompany him on his quest, and at various points in the game you give commands to Dororo, or even take control of him at certain points....The game plays as a standard third-person action adventure type affair, with Hyakkimaru hacking, slashing and blowing up demons using his prosthetic arm-swords and knee cannons...and occasionally you'll be required to solve some puzzles, especially in the sections where you take control of Dororo as these are less combat based....
I've really only just started playing this game, but so far I've noticed a few things that really make me want to continue playing this game right the way through...Firstly, it uses the lost body parts thing really well! At the start of the game, everything is in black & white...and it stays that way until you recover your eye from one of the demons, which then lets you see the game in colour! Every part you recover adds something new to the game with your nose allowing you to sense demons for instance, which vibrates your PS2 pad when one is near! It's a really cool game mechanic, and I like it lots....
Second is the plot! The storyline is crazy, and will make you want to stick with the game just to see how it all pans out...and playing through has made me want to check out the manga series too! There's even a live action film I'll need to try and find an English subbed version of that looks pretty good too....
(original Japanese trailer has vanished and I can only find the spanish trailer now, so...)
But by far my most favourite thing about Blood Will Tell is the freakish enemies you'll have to fight throughout the course of the game...some look creepy, some look weird..all of them are wonderfully bizarre and Japanese and some would provide great inspiration for some totally mental Halloween costumes!
It does have problems...the camera can be really annoying and fiddly at times, and it can get a bit repetitive...but so far, the story, enemies and fun of unlocking new stuff with every body part has got me hooked! I definitely recommend it for monster lovers or fans of manga!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since I originally posted this, I've also discovered a cartoon from 1969, and another newer colour version, so here's an episode of each of them for you to watch too! Enjoy :)
No comments:
Post a Comment