Blades of time series#

Even the most common opponents can chew obscene amounts out of AyumiвЂ™s health bar and she has absolutely zero defense against ranged attackers, of which there are tons.

Her blocks are inefficient, she can take damage while dodging, and the enemies are not only numerous, but capable of fighting through the playerвЂ™s combos. Ayumi is absolutely terrible at defending. The action is adequate for some shallow hacking fun, but it does suffer from an inelegance that makes the game much harder than it has to be. If it happens to be a flying creature, Ayumi will cling on and attack for a limited while - a cool idea, though poorly implemented as Ayumi will undefended damage while dashing, and many aerial creatures are positioned over deceptive death drops. Finally, thereвЂ™s a lock-on system which allows players to dash straight to an opponent. With a click of the right stick, Ayumi can switch to projectile mode, starting with a rifle and upgrading to a machine gun, which can take down flying opponents and thin the ranks of oncoming monsters before they reach melee range. Simply hammering the attack button will see our outgoing protagonist whirl about at a dizzying pace, while more damaging magical attacks are unlocked throughout the game, performed via simple two-button combos.

Blades of time series#

It feels like more than a series of amateur third-person Unreal mods, which is a nice improvement.Д«lades of TimeвЂs combat system is of the stereotypical hack nвЂ™ slash variety, with Ayumi dodging, blocking, and button mashing her way through most battles. Such a concept is rudimentary stuff for most videogames, but given GaijinвЂ™s prior efforts, itвЂ™s a dramatic step forward for the series. While X-Blades was merely a set of vapid arenas with no sense of cohesion, Blades of TimeВ attempts a sense of pacing, with fully designed levels through which the narrative weaves. The ludicrous story might make no sense but at least itвЂ™s the first clue that Gaijin is actually trying to make a real videogame this time. I still canвЂ™t quite work out why Ayumi thought the bad guy was a good guy when he was established as her enemy at the very beginning of the game. In case you havenвЂ™t guessed it, the plot is about as detailed as it is sensible. Once there, she has to do some other things to something before something else happens.

Nevertheless, one canвЂ™t help but feel sorry for it, and at least feel a little charmed by its noble attempts to be taken seriously.Д«lades of TimeВ (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 )ДЇamous treasure hunter Ayumi, having traded in her thong for some hotpants and her American accent for a British one, is doing some things in a place when something happens, before she gets transported to a place called Dragon Land for some reason. Blades of Time is far from a masterpiece. It announced a release date a week before launch, and the game itself missed that date in most areas by roughly three days. Taking over the publishing duties from Southpeak, Konami has famously refused to put any effort into promoting the game.

ItвЂ™s amazing how much faith Gaijin has in the seriesвЂ™ barely clothed heroine, Ayumi, because Konami certainly has none. Despite this, Gaijin just keeps on plugging and is even prepared to revisit its prior failures, giving the world a spiritual successor to X-Blades in the form of Blades of Time. The Russian studio has noВ reputationВ for creating good games, and 2009вЂ™s X-Blades was particularly mediocre. YouвЂ™ve got to give Gaijin Entertainment some credit.