Ok, I went ahead and picked up
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron this week and as I often do, I'll post some impressions. Note for fair disclosure: I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the game from what I can tell, so things may improve/deteriorate later in the game.
Story
El Shaddai is very loosely based on Judeo-Christian concepts, but it recasts a lot of things that are covered in the various official texts (Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, et. al.).
You're playing as Enoch, a messenger of Heaven, and you've been sent to Earth to track down seven wayward angels who have decided that they'd rather rule on Earth than live in Heaven.
Needless to say, this is all quite blasphemous if you're deeply religious, so I'll get that much out of the way: if you are offended by artistic re-interpretation of religious concepts, stay away from this game.
Otherwise, the game has a rather disjointed method of storytelling that might rub people the wrong way. I spent the first three chapters completely bewildered by what was going on, even with my somewhat limited knowledge of "angelology", but it does eventually sort of coalesce.
Presentation
This is by far one of the most eye-catching and refreshingly pretty games to come along. While not all of the art is outstanding, the style changes radically every time you move to a new area. One section looks like Japanese woodprints, another looks almost like a Saturday morning cartoon, and another wouldn't look out of place in TRON.
Animations are clean and the framerate stays stable.
El Shaddai is easily one of the prettiest games released this year.
Gameplay
The game boils down to three basic modes: 3D world platforming, 3D combat, and 2D platforming.
The default mode has you wandering around the environment in 3D, looking for hidden things, fighting weaker enemies, and avoiding pit traps and other dangers. This is interspersed with frequent set-piece 3D combat arenas where enemies will attack you in a limited combat arena.
The 2D platforming sections use the same movement and fighting options (see weaponry below) and are only moderately challenging, but they're lovely to look at. Falling has only a minimal penalty (you take a very small amount of damage from falling off the screen), so it's mostly painless.
Combat itself is where the game really makes its stand. At first it seems like your standard button-masher; there's only one basic attack button (
), and there are only 3 basic weapons to work with, which each have one special attack and different defensive/movement abilities. It takes a while before it kicks in but the three weapons have this interesting rock-paper-scissors mechanic where each one is strong against enemies wielding the other, and weak against the third.
After taking out about half of an enemy's health, they become stunned and you can go up and steal their weapon from them (most enemies except bosses use one of the three weapons).
The three weapons are:
Arch: Basically a curvy bow-shaped weapon that doesn't actually fire arrows. It's a fast melee weapon and works especially well against enemies with high defense (Veil - see below). It gives you the ability to hover while jumping, so you fall less quickly, which makes platforming easier, as well as avoiding some enemy attacks.
Gale: This is a cluster of triangular-shaped particles that you can use as a projectile attack, or which you can cluster in front of you as a shield. This is the only ranged attack in the game, but it deals little damage. On the plus side, it wrecks enemies that use the Arch or similar fast melee weapons, and it has an excellent special move which lets you dash a long distance to avoid attacks, or air-dash to cover more distance while platforming.
Veil: This is a shield, split into two pieces, and used basically like tonfa in combat to bludgeon your enemies into submission. It deals a ton of damage, but is very slow. On the plus side, it has by far the best defense and can block a lot of enemy attacks completely. Its special ability lets you run for a short distance with the shield up to avoid damage while moving.
As you progress, enemies will gang up on you in different combinations, forcing you to decide which ones you want to take out first so you can steal their weapon and use it on the others.
Weapons also get more corrupted as you use them, so you sometimes have to take a moment to hit L1 to Purify them and make them effective once again, which can be hairy when under attack by multiple opponents.
Audio
The soundtrack is mostly unremarkable and the sound effects are nice but there's not a whole lot that's memorable here. It doesn't detract from the gameplay, but it doesn't really help it much either.
Overall
I'm pleased with El Shaddai. It oozes originality and style, and while I could wish for somewhat better storytelling, it's a competent game with a lot to like about it.
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El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Linear Mode
