None of this is delivered very well though, in fact you could go through the entire game not knowing the underlining plot at all. There’s a war going on, so you need to build up your army and kick some ass. Simple as. You’ll spend most of your time convincing soldiers of your worth for their services, trekking from A to B to do as they ask. You save them, they say they need something, you go fetch it, and voila, they are in your debt. Ungrateful sods if you ask us. Thankfully this basic nature of proceedings is disguised by a number of different scenarios, from liberating other captive soldiers to retrieving stolen goods, so each case is slightly modified and makes the simplicity forgivable. What is a shame though is a lack of NPC close-ups. You never really feel like you know anybody, not even Hel. The dodgy English accents don’t help matters either.
The backtracking in particular had us worried. This is a large, open landscape and poor Skarin’s chunky legs don’t serve well for speedy traversal. Luckily this is compensated for by teleporting rocks known as Leystones. You still have to run around a lot, but the luscious surroundings and tweeting of birds make this less of a chore. You will also stumble across other objectives which you can attend to in the meantime, along with gangs guarding tied-up allies in need of rescue. One thing that is a little annoying though is the constant change of weather, where darkening of the skies at every approach to hostile territory starts to ruin the ambience. In fairness it’s a foolproof warning of danger, and the bright sunshine becomes a reward for your hard work, but it needn’t be exploited as blatantly as it has. A simple musical score could easily substitute this, as executed so brilliantly in the past for the Zelda games.
As for combat, Skarin has four techniques; a strong slow attack, a weaker quick attack, a block and an evasive dodge. Initially it’s a tad frustrating as you have few moves to get the upper hand with, often finding yourself being struck mid-swing of a strong attack. By finding money bags, chests and urns though you will have the dosh to learn new moves from the Battle Arenas. These include light and strong combos as well as shield breakers and stealth attacks, the latter proving very useful during fort infiltrations. Evasions on the other hand are a nightmare, assigned to buttons that are so awkwardly different to attacking that you’ll eventually give up bothering.
