50%Nintendo Switch

This was a weird one, I played on PS3 a few years ago and I recall dropping it pretty quickly, I might've learned that the game was one of the PS3's most expensive games at the time or later, but that doesn't really matter since the game now has a Nintendo Switch remaster while getting a PC remaster beforehand, and after beating it? My thoughts are pretty much the same, I can see why myself from a few years ago did drop the game and the only reason I was able to get to the end at all was because it checkpoints well and for the combat, you restart exactly where you died from pressing the L, R, and A buttons at the same time, more on that later. Outside of that, I find the game to be painfully mediocre in almost every respect. I intially played it at all because some called it an "underrated" game while terms like that are nebulous at best, I still don't think it's a good game or a game deserving of that reputation.

The good thing about El Shaddai or at the very least is the visuals, it might be the only thing about the game that geniunely stands out. If you are one the seemingly many people who love to complain about 7th gen games being "brown", "grey" and having "ugly" color palletes, this might be a game from that gen to capture your interest since everything is vibrant, colorful and has a nice cel shaded look to it. The environments have a dreamlike design to them and some of the visuals are so bizarre yet awfully eerie. If you are the kind of guy who really wants a game to look very nice and care about that more so than the gameplay or love to go on and on about how a game looks visually then check the game out because now I transition to the negative and not so good things about El Shaddai.

Before I do that, I'll also say music and voice acting is passable enough if nothing standout.

I'll start with the combat, and it's interesting on paper, the game apparently uses a rock, paper, scissors system of enemies being weak certain weapons but the problem I noticed right away was even back when I first played is that enemies are massive damage sponges, they take forever to die and taking them down just takes way too long, and btw, I played on easy and this is still an issue.

Veil was by far the best weapon since it does the best job at staggering enemies and it has a dodge command that is somewhat reliable, it's esstentially the Nemen Cestus from God of War 3 in that it's a pair of magical boxing gloves and it allows the character to move like a boxer but due to the enemies being damage sponges, it never feels as awesome or empowering as GOW3's Cestus.

Arch and Gale never really feel that great and just feel weak, especially the latter, I just whailed on the attack button with Gale and it chips away at enemy HP very slowly and it felt like what was supposed to be a 5 minute fight went on for 10 minutes. Arch just feels like a typical sword with not much standing out from it.

The enemy roster is also pretty weak, outside of the fact that the game stops introducing new enemies after you get Veil, their only threat to the player is how hp spongey they are. I wonder if having the ability to switch between the 3 weapons could make the combat more dynamic and enjoyable but I'm not sure.

So with all these issues, what helped me get through the game? Well, it's the fact that during combat Enoch can't get a traditional game over, like I said before just press L, R, X and A and you can keep respawning without redoing any content, this also works on bosses. They are also HP sponges and some are required to lose in order to progress the story but it doesn't really matter since you can keep respawning with no consequences.

However there is one problem, you can keep respawning after death during combat but not during the platforming, and this leads me into my second big issue with El Shaddai is that the 3D platforming is really terrible. There is 2D platforming as well, and these parts are okay, if nothing special but it does make the game feel confused on what it tries to be since the 2D platforming can feel jarring compared to the 3D sections and they are gone over halfway into the game.

The 3D platforming is just awful, some of the worst 3D platforming I can even recall, there are late 90s 3D platformers that control better than this. The best way of describing it is that what if Devil May Cry 1, had more platforming? This is what you get, the camera doesn't do the greatest of job giving you an angle on where to jump and the jumping physics never feel precise, half the time if I want to make it to a platform, it's a 30-50 guessing game, sometimes I'll land and at other times I'll fall off if I nudge the analog stick a little too much, and the game doesn't just have you jump to platforms, no, you got to dodge traps and moving platforms as well and it takes what was already bad and makes it worse.

Overall, El Shaddai could've been so okay, it's average but the platforming just makes me dread playing

70%Nintendo Switch

Incredible vibes and graphics, frustrating platforming, annoying combat.

60%PlayStation 3

It looks very nice, but I'm not really a fan of the gameplay, with enemies that soak up a lot of damage (even with weapon purification). It just feels like a slog, running through some corridor to a combat arena, and then onto the next one.

90%PC

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron è un titolo che almeno una volta vanno giocati, soprattutto data la sua dissomiglianza da qualsiasi altro gioco, anche ignorando il gameplay non sempre perfetto.

Recensione completa: https://www.crazygamecommunity.it/cgcreviews-el-shaddai-ascension-of-the-metatron/

30%PlayStation 3

Great art but the gameplay is button mashing with a bit of timing. The story has an interesting story it could tell but tells it in a horid way.

70%PC

História - 7/10
Gráficos - 8/10
Jogabilidade - 6/10
Som - 8/10
Nota Final - 7.2/10

50%PlayStation 3

5/10 Story
6/10 Level Design
4/10 Characters
5/10 Gameplay
5/10 Graphics
5/10 Music/Sound
4/10 Voice Actor

Difficulty MEDIUM

Overall 55%

50%PlayStation 3

I had high hopes for El Shaddai - the graphics looked great and kind of psychedelic and the story's premise sounded very interesting. Sadly, that is already everything positive to say about this game. The fighting system never evolves after you got your third weapon and neither to the enemies (except the bosses). The battles are tiresome and boring and would have profited from just cutting the enemies hp in half, so they would be over faster. I only really liked El Shaddai, when it went away from it's standard gameplay loop and let's you do some 2D platforming (there is also 3D platforming, but thats horrible due to the bad camera) or when it turns into a battle racing game (the idea is totally not stolen from Bayonetta).

The whole game felt like a chore after the first 2 1/2 hours and neither the story nor the graphics could make up for that. The game also loves to throw you into "boss battles" that you are predetermined to lose. Which is fine once or twice, but El Shaddai does it dozens of times and often just minutes apart. The real boss battles range from being a bit more fun than the normal battles to being ridiculously unfair. I can live with hard games, but the problem here is the control mechanics - once you have started an attack, the animation will "play" until it's done. You cannot cancel an attack to dash or jump away. Meaning if you start a combo and midst combo the boss will launch a heavy attack at you, you simply have to chance to dodge it.

Out of the 50+ games I played through this year until now (it's 2020, so I have a lot of time staying at home..) this one was one of the worst - I even enjoyed X-Blades more...

80%PlayStation 3

"Sequel" by NIS on PS4.

70%Xbox 360

Enoch has a great pair of jeans.

60%PlayStation 3

Beautiful and interesting game. Story was blah. Fighting was just okay, but had a lot of interesting elements. Puzzles not that difficult. It was very different and I appreciate that. Bosses were good, but had boring moments in between. 6+

50%PlayStation 3

It starts out interesting enough. The plot is really unique and it plays like Devil May Cry on acid. But about halfway through the game all pretenses at a plot are dropped and the game degenerates into more and more bizarre imagery that you just walk through while a narrator voice spouts nonsensical dialogue. The ending is extremely abrupt and dissapointing.

90%PlayStation 3

This is probably one of the greatest games ever made, if the gameplay wasn't so difficult and glitchy. It can get boring fast, but if you put it in easy mode you can get through storymode very quickly. I would rate this game hire if it did not have such an abrupt ending.

50%PlayStation 3

Interesting story and excellent artwork and setting, but combat quickly gets boring. At least its very short, meaning completing it wasnt a chore. Definitely worth playing, but maybe rent it

80%PlayStation 3

God bless this games' visual. El Shaddai may be the most beautiful game I have ever played. The colors are so trippy and far out that it's like a good acid trip without any of the drugs required. I honestly can say that this game could have had the worse gameplay mechanics on earth and I still would've sat through it because of the visuals. Thankfully, I did not have the plug away mindless hours playing a bad game with great graphics. The gameplay is pretty simple, utilizing a rock, paper, scissors style of weapons to fight enemies with. After the first 30 to 45 minutes, maybe an hour depending on how long it takes you to get through the tutorial with all three weapons, you have seen pretty much all the combat possibilities and combos you will see in the game. That's not exactly a bad thing, the game is still fun, but if somebody is looking at this for some sense of character progression through unlocking combos, they best look elsewhere. However, it does a good job being what it is, and there is variety in the game with some side scrolling bits, tons of platforming, the first pure platforming I've seen in a game since the PS2 era, and an epic driving sequence that is one of the most badass displays of badassery I've ever witnessed. However, the game does get kind of boring, and if you do not focus on the story you will not have much of a point to traverse through the game, but focus and enjoy it for what it is, and you will love the game!

80%PlayStation 3

Has an interesting and varied visual style, and a rock-paper-scissor style weapon system: the trick being that you can only carry one weapon at a time, so if you are in a battle with 3 enemies all carrying a different weapon, the order in which you defeat them becomes quite important: it was an interesting system. The story was there, but not really featured. A game that may serve as inspiration for future game designers.

70%PlayStation 3

Were I solely judging the game by its presentation and aesthetic, I'd give it a 9, but taking everything else into consideration it is closer to a 7. The combat is pretty fun, though simple and repetitive. The platforming works, but it's not especially tight, and the story is mostly nonsensical. But, boy, are those visuals nice. The look ranges from a beautiful watercolor painting to a colorful Dr. Seuss-esque look to a starkly contrasting black and white. In a nutshell, it's a decent game to play, but a great game to look at. I found it worthwhile.

50%No Platform Specified

I never developed a cadence while playing El Shaddai. The game has absolutely no rhythm. And most importantly, even after beating it, I never felt like I really got anywhere. I never felt like I excelled at the game even though I saw it through to the end. I never felt that I was getting better. I was simply going through the motions. And the motions were terribly boring and tested my patience more often than I’d like to admit.

A second playthrough with the HUD certainly provides for an improved experience. And the game’s aesthetics are its saving grace. But regardless, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron simply isn’t a good game. And that’s too bad, because it certainly had the makings of one.