El Shaddai - Ascension of the Metatron

Every once in a while, a game that truly attempts to do something unlike anything else comes out. More often than not, these games become destined for obscurity, mainly because they're overlookeed by the majority of gamers. Therefore, it's hard for that game to achieve genuine mainstream acceptance.

El Shaddai: Acension of the Metatron will most likely become that game. The game's source material will certainly alienate many gamers because of it's what it's about: a game based on a long-forgotten Jewish text about the Book of Enouch. Unless you have a considerable knowledge on historical religious texts, expect a lot of El Shaddai's story events to go way over your head. El Shaddai follows the story of Enoch, a priest who is seeking seven fallen angels to provent a Great Flood to destroy all mankind. Guided by mysterious voices and Lucifel, a guardian angel in charge of the protection of Earth, Enouch has to find them and set things right. The following story I just explained is a very loose translation of the actual text, so if you haven't read the text, you really needn't worry here. El Shaddai mostly has influences from many other religious tales, and re-tells them in a modern and quirky manner. Even though the story does confuse at times, El Shaddai still manages to keep the story interesting. By switching between in-game dialouge, and actual cutscenes, El Shaddai adds an element of mystery to it, and has enough obscurity to it to keep you playing. The English dubbing is very good and entertaining, and Lucifel's chats with God on his cellphone give the game a nicely-welcomed sense of humour. It can be very heavy stuff at times, but El Shaddai's religious undertones and themes are never an intrusion in the game itself.

The gameplay of El Shaddai can most accurately described as a third-person actions that features many platforming elements. Enoch has three different primary weapons to choose from which are the Arch, the Gale and the Veil. Each one of these weapons has a primary purpose. The Arch is a fairly standard melee weapon, but it also allows Enough to float for short periods of time during platforming sequences. My personal favourite of the bunch, the Gale provies Enouch a quick dash abilty, alongside the abilty to shoot darts in the air for long range enemies. The Veil, another melee weapon, is a big, white shield which is ultimately the slowest weapon out of the three, but it is a very effectice melee weapon to use when you want to finish enemies off quickly. Whilst on the suface, El Shaddai seems like a typical third-person action game, but the combat is surprisingly very rhymtic, smooth and flowing. Whilst you won't execute insane combo chains with Enouch in the same way as a certain spartan or demon hunter, El Shaddai has fun combat which is also very tactical. Since you don't have a weapon inventory to choose your main three weapons from, the key is to swipe these weapons when your enemies are in a vulnerable position. This adds a surprising level of depth to an otherwise, often-used combat system.

Another combat mechanic El Shaddai uses is Purification. Purfication allows Enouch to enhance the abilties of his three weapons, and ultimately, break the defense enemies more effectively. El Shaddai is a game that bursts will niche concepts, and to it's credit, they're nicely hued and balanced for the most part. However, El Shaddai does have problems which considerably taint the gameplay at times. The main criticism for me with El Shaddai was the lack of a lock-on targeting system. Since you cannot target your enemies, fighting a lot of the same enemies in El Shaddai become long streches of tedium and annoyance. It also becomes very much an issue of trial-and-error; hoping that your attacks will finish off the enemies quickly so you can move on. Another problem is that El Shaddai suffers from a lack of visual clarity during platforming. Since the game combines so many styles at once visually, it makes it difficult to judge your distance when your jumping. Expect to plunge to death many times, but it's no fault of your own. The camera can get touchy during fights, often getting stuck in a tight corners, and the bosses can be a bit on the overpowered side. However, the atmosphere, visual design, and the sensual mood of El Shaddai more than makes up for it all. The game always offers something different, whether it be with the gameplay with charming 2D side-scrolling sections to exciting driving sections, to the visuals ranging from painterly backdrops to Tronesque futuristic cities, El Shaddai is never lacking in variation, imagination and artistic creativity.

Now, here we come to the part where El Shaddai has been recieving a lot of it's attention: the drop-dead gorgeous visual design. The visual design of El Shaddai is just magnificent. Right from when you start playing, it feels like you've stepped into an interactive painting. It's quite simply alluring to look at, and joins games such as Okami where the art enhances the experience. The music in El Shaddai ranges from sweeping and epic choral and orchestral pieces, to pumping rock and ambient, subtle music. The music and sound design adds to El Shaddai's almost aural and sensual mood, and fits the action rather fittingly.

For a game based inspired by the Deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, El Shaddai will certainly surprise people. It's a testament to games artistically as an industry, in terms of how creative games can be visually, and proof that sometimes, doing something different can actually end up being a satisfactory experience. It's saddening El Shaddai won't find a true audience, as it's heavy focus on art and style mixed with a religious text will not appeal to everyone. However, if you're willing to take the plunge, El Shaddai is a trippy, physcadelic, and intriguing action game, with ideas of it's own that on it's own merits, are to be commended.

El Shaddai looks like a very ambitious game that the developers couldn't quite get out the door in a finished state. The plot, very loosely based on the book of Enoch, revolves around you (Enoch, a scribe in heaven) being tasked to capture seven fallen angels to prevent a second great flood. It's told mainly through narration by Lucifel, who's quite obviously the Devil, but we're never quite sure whose side he really supports. For an epic story about Angels and the redemption of humanity, the tone is oddly placid and laid back, which actually works, as it brings a sense of otherness to the game. However, it doesn't really explain the majority of elements it introduces, and the story itself comes across as incomplete.

The gameplay is solid, and while simplistic by modern standards (a 3rd person brawler with only three weapons and no real character customisation) it does what it sets out to do and provides a decent challenge without ever really getting frustrating. The limited number of enemy types, most of whom are just humans wielding the same weapons as you (leading to a sort-of interesting weapon-stealing mechanic) and the fact that most of the bosses in the game use the same model but reskinned suggest that the game was running out of money. There are platforming and vehicle sections to break things up, which are competently executed, but nothing more.

Style is this game's strongest point. It has more of it than any game released in the last five years, and you'll be surprised by every single shift in visual style it makes. It's like a game consisting entirely of final dungeons. Trippy visual filters, unconventional character designs, epic locations and well-choreographed action scenes make the game amazing to look at, and definitely do a good job of making you feel like your holy mission is something completely unlike a normal video game quest. It also earns points for sticking in loads of fan service of the male characters, with clothing damage being a common theme. Too many games relegate females to eye-candy, so it's refreshing to see men used in the same way.

The audio is neither great nor terrible, and most of the voice work does its job but fails to amaze. The exception being Jason Isaacs as Lucifel, who delivers 'man of wealth and taste' in a laid-back and cool style that never gets old, even though he has by far the most lines of any character.

Overall, I'd say El Shaddai is worth a look, despite feeling a little empty in places simply because it attempts new things and it's rare in this age of brown shooters and bald space marines to get anything that looks this stylish.

This is one of the most unusual games on PlayStation, with a concept madder than the devil at Easter. As Enoch, heaven's resident bookworm, it appears God has decided to get all 'mysterious ways' on you, and quicker than you can say seven Hail Marys you're on a mission to track down a clutch of earthbound renegade angels. Luckily for you, hipster angel Lucifel, voiced by Brit character acting legend Jason Isaacs, is on hand to give you cryptic hints whilst he fills in the big guy upstairs using his celestial mobile.

The combat is more straightforward than similar rivals like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden but the simple one-button attack style befits a game where the mood and atmosphere take precedent. The strategic element relies on choosing which one of the three heavenly shards of God's wisdom (or 'weapons' as I call them) you want to use for each fight. The 'arch' is your starting balanced blade, 'gale' is a series of long range shards, and 'veil' a set of God's own Incredible Hulk fists. Pilfering the other weapons from enemies mid-brawl lends it a neat tactical edge but that's about it.

Aside from the bananas plot, what makes El Shaddai unique is its looks: screenshots simply can't do it justice because you need to see the way the game moves to appreciate it. The heavenly host of characters and otherworldly landscapes are rendered in a blazing cell-shaded palette, like a glorious mix of Okami, Ico and the Italian renaissance section of the Louvre.

Combine this with a soundtrack unlike anything I've heard since my wildest teenage nights and you've got an intoxicating mix of blissed out and pearlescent pretty. One you'll keep coming back to because, despite it's simplicity and the unstintingly linear levels, it's both magnificently beautiful and refreshingly uncomplicated.