Archview #23: Destrega

 At least, you can say it´s interesting.

 Destrega is a 1 on 1 arena-based Fighting game that focuses on long range fighting. It´s original, that´s for sure, however, it ends up not feeling quite like a fighting game. There is close ranged fighting mind you, but it´s a very shallow 2 button affair. When fighting in close quarters, you have a Weak attack, a Heavy attack(Which can be comboed into) and a "dodge attack" that circles around the oponent. Put some distance between you and the enemy, and those three attacks become Tidu, Est and Foh, which translate into Fast Magic, Strong Magic and Spread magic. There are three universal moves that don´t change regardless of distance: Dash, Jump and block.
 The game is a lot deeper than that though. For starters, magic can´t be blocked, you can only dodge it, by moving, repel it, by timing the Block button, place a barrier, which consumes your magic gauge or countering with the aproppiate counter: Tidu beats Est, Est beats Foh and Foh beats Tidu. Below your life gauge lies the Magic gauge. Using magic consumes this gauge, but it regenerates quite quickly.  Whenever you press a magic button, the character charges up for a few seconds, during this time you can initiate a Barrier, a Charge Dash which homes in on the oponent, a charge jumps that allows you to unleash loads of magic attacks for a small cost or use higher level magic. Higher level magic is executed by pressing more magic buttons as the character charges the spell.

 There are four different magic levels; Level 1- A basic spell, Level 2- Two spells used together, FohEst, EstFoh, FohFoh, etc, Level 3- Three spells, using one twice, like FohFohEst, FohFohFoh,EstFohTidu, etc and Level 4, which unleashes the Special move for your your character, by pressing each spell once. There´s another "Rock,Paper, Scissors" triad, Magic beats Melee, Melee beat Charge Dashes and Charge Dashes beat magic. So, yeah, it´s a pretty deep game, sadly, I´d have wished the melee fighting would´ve recieved the same care. Also, sometimes it´s a bit hard to gauge distances, as to know if you will get a melee attack or a spell by pressing square. True, the magic gauge turns red when you are in melee, but in the thick of battle, is not advantageous to keep track of it if you move in close.
  The graphics are passable. The respectable 12-character roster is pretty diverse, but most designs are passable, forgetable or just bad. The models themselves are pretty bland, but they do have their fare share of detail. The arenas look pretty good, and there´s nary a hint of slowdown. Voice acting is in the realm of "So bad it´s good", the awful dialogue doesn´t help it´s cause one bit, but I found myself laughing at some of the story scenes, so that´s a good thing. Maybe. Kinda. There are not many unlockables, but each character has a 2nd costumes(which is just as bad or worse than their normal outfits) and unlockable Dynasty Warriors  skins, and sadly, they tend to look better than most of the cast of the game.

 The game has all the modes that fighters tend to have, Arcade, Survival and Time Attack. It also has a hilariously bad Story Mode. It´s really boring and dumb, but at least it´s there. The game itself isn´t bad, but it´s not a great game. It´s just... average. It tries something different, and it works, but it´s not my cup of tea.
 5 out of 10.