My expectations of this game were far more than it could promise, on reflection I should have just left this game alone. The pretty pictures on forums gave me the impression that this is a solid platforming romp with adult undertones. Instead It is a clunky half platformer half RPG with some of the most annoying bosses I've ever seen. Hopefully you will forgive me for omitting the phrase "In videogame history" at the end of any negative sentence, as it makes up at least 80% of any youtube game review. (The remaining 20% being an embarrassing attempt to feign anger at games, or express genuine surprise at something which has likely been played many times before.
With that out of the way, perhaps a bit of back story to this game wont go amiss. 'Ushio To Tora' is based on a popular anime and manga series of the same name. Like all anime based videogames theirs that 'hit or miss' risk factor when buying them. Despite my hatred of Naruto (which probably isolates me from the entire Japanese gaming community) I can understand that the games are enjoyable, if not identical to countless Dragonball Z titles, but I digress. The problem with Ushio To Tora is not that its poorly made, far from it. Graphically its impressive and clearly anime inspired, theirs also a major undertone of Japanese folklore imbued within scenery and especially enemies. Its problems arise from how unfair the game is, even the first enemies within the game, a slew of spirits cannot be beaten without taking a fair few hits. Their attack pattern is borderline sentient, and dodging is made all the more difficult by the bizarre jumping controls. Soon after flailing wildly at these ghosts in the hope of beating them, the next screen was a boss battle and my main gripe with game...so much so that I have fallen to a stress related illness known as 'new paragraph trauma'.
See...now the bosses come thick and fast, it wasn't until the third stage that I realised this game wasn't a platformer in the traditional sense, like say castlevania...no. Rather than progressing through the level, ultimately leading to a boss fight, every single level is a boss fight! This wouldn't be so bad where it not for the fact that their attack patterns don't seem to leave an opening. Take the example of this dragon with a floor for a mouth: (or is it mouth for a floor?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FltjmvYMzZE&feature=related
A picture tells a thousand words as they say, and watching this reminds me just how few swearwords their are. Go straight to 4:53 and see for yourself how annoying this boss fight is. I still cannot find a way to beat this monstrosity without taking as many hits as I give, perhaps it is a subtle metaphor for the concept of Karma. In the end I gave up on strategy and decided to nestle myself under the beast and spear its chin to high heaven, while I took several hits it was a lot faster than jumping around to avoid floor mouths yellowing teeth, and it also guaranteed I wouldn't miss. Now bearing in mind I was playing on the easy difficulty, I cannot fathom how anyone could beat this game above anything other. The game offers some respite from being savagely beaten by Japanese folklore, luckily you are given an infinite number of continues each chapter, bearing in mind each chapter normally boils down to 1 or 2 boss fights you can probably blindly spear your way through before you die. Enemies may also randomly drop extra lives or food, the food manifests itself as the traditional rice ball or a not so traditional hamburger. Oddly it always seems to be the wandering ghosts that drop these hamburgers, and here's me thinking vengeful spirits were vegans. (Although it could be quorn)
Id like to comment on the story, but not being able to read Japanese puts a spanner in the works. It has a lot of text on screen between chapters, which I assume is probably a good thing, so....that's that then.
Looking back on my review I think I may have been a bit too hard on a game that doesn't necessarily deserve such criticism. Yes it is frustrating, but nonetheless enjoyable in its own sordid way. Perhaps that's just a reflection of my own masochism and self loathing...or I'm just a sucker for ghostly hamburgers. Either way I would recommend you play this game just to find out for yourself how hard a boss fight can be. For anyone who can complete it past easy difficulty, please write an FAQ as to how. The world must know of your heroism and bravery!
