Akuji the hopeless

Author's Rating:

Pros: Cool graphics and enemy design

Cons: Became too dull and easy too rapidly

Author's Review
Akuji the heartless starts off as an exciting action game based on a voodoo epic. Then it starts to go downhill.

Akuji the heartless is about a voodoo leader named Akuji whose marriage to a daughter of another tribe promises lasting peace between rival tribes. However, Akuji's brother is outraged by the marriage and murdered Akuji on his wedding day. Now Akuji must find his way out of the underworld, avenge his death and save his wife from being sacraficed.

Controls are fairly simple in this game and combat mainly consists of slicing enemies and casting easy to find spells. Slashing enemies and casting spells is actually an enjoyable process for those who like to smash apart bad guys. Graphics range from average to spectacular but nothing too earth shattering. Some enemies are rather creative but some enviornments are quite bland. The camera became extremely annoying at times when I was engaged in battle. Although the camera is able to go into a first person objective as Akuji, it still proved unreliable in corners or when a pillar or platform was in the way. This irritating detail also exists in the ultra short Soul Reaver demo that I also tried. The music did not catch my attention too much and was a mild sequence of drums. Voice acting was also average leveled and not very emotional at times. The "bosses" were easy to defeat and represented little challenge. But some of them were well designed and were a treat to look at. Levels were especially easy and at times too easy. The game itself soon became a repetative cycle of finding stones, opening gates, and locating ancestors. I became rather bored and disappionted within my first couple of hours of gameplay.

Akuji the heartless was intended to be a fast action filled adventure but became a gorey game with simplistic obstacles. If you must see it I recommend a rental or buying it on sale.