TGS 2010: El Shaddai Impressions

I'm a bit at a loss as how to go about talking about this game. I think it's easy to dismiss the game because of it's weird title and the fact it's being developed by a studio within Ignition Japan. El Shaddai stands for God Almighty in Hebrew and the game is apparently heavily inspired by biblical tales as the story involves God's plan to rid the world of renegade angels by destroying everything via flood and your character trying to hunt these angels down in order to stop it. It's a third person action game so of course I have worries that it'll just be an onslaught of dudes with no really game play innovation or strategy.

Even after playing it, I've still have my worries. But from what I played, it felt good, surprisingly good. I have a theory and it has to do with how the game looks, which by the way is really good. Really surprisingly good. I don't think it's on the same level as first time I saw Wind Waker or Okami. The shock of seeing a stylized game such as this has worn off a bit and it probably won't be until the next artistic approach comes along before I really get knocked back again.

But El Shaddai looks great. I think that has a lot to do with the feel of the moves and the impact they make when you perform them. There are a bunch of wide sweeping over emphasized moves and theres a smoothness to the animations that only adds to the feel.

The demo started off with the character just using his hands duking it out. There is a way to take enemy weapons, which I did and proceeded to use the bow shaped sword for most of the game. It was fast, blindingly fast. The movement and charater portrayed that. Then I came across a larger enemy who carried a pair of fist shields. I took them from him and I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been, to find them heavy and lumbering. It should have been obvious that they weren't going to be as nimble as the sword but I think it was how the visual cues added to the feel that really stuck with me.

After reading this watch the video above again. You'll get a better feel about what I'm talking about. Watch how with the sword there's a lot of extra movement and wild moves but when the character is using the the fists, it's a lot more deliberate and more impactful.

Finally to close it out, there are a few 2-d side scrolling sequences. At first glance they look dazzling. The one with the stained glass is colorful and brilliant and the other one involves the sun rising and setting while you ride ocean waves forming beneath your feet. But to be honest, there's not much to the sequences. It's basic generic platforming with just nice visuals. I hope these sequences are either short and sweet or they find something to keep players interested. No matter how pretty something is, it'll still become tired quickly if not handled well.

But even with my worries about the game being all visuals, I can safely say that instead of just a question mark El Shaddai is definitely something I will be checking out when it releases.

David