Gives a whole new meaning to Divine Intervention.
El Shaddai - Ascension of the Metatron is quite the experience, the biggest
praise I can give it is that it almost feels like a Suda 51 game.
Almost. This is a 3-D hack-and-slash action game that mixes in platforming as well as 2-D sections alongside some very
surreal imagery to create a weird, inviting beast.
The plot is hard to completely grasp, but it has you playing as Enoch, a heavenly scribe turned warrior, as he is sent back to earth to defeat 7 rogue angels. And then a ton of
nonsense happens. While the story is quite simpler than anything Suda 51 would ever do, it still feels like a very surreal experience, with a ton of stuff that doesn't make sense or never gets brought up again. That said, most of the story is plaid straight, so no hidden symbolism or what have you, just amusing stuff like Lucifel(
Not a mistranslation, since he is still an Angel his name ends on L) talking with a worried god about Enoch. The graphics are cellshaded, but it's the dream-like design of the levels that really makes the game
stand-out. It's weird and very unnatural, which fits the theme of the game so much. Every new area is a feast for the eyes.
Sadly, gameplay isn't up to snuff. The
rhythm-based combat is innovative enough, but there are only three different weapons in the entire game, and only so many things you can do with them. There's no point to styling on enemies either, since there's
nothing to upgrade. The purifying mechanic was also kinda boring, after using a weapon for a while it'll corrupt, making it much weaker, so you have to wait for an opening to tap R1 to 'purify' your weapon and restore it. Alternatively, you can just hit an enemy until it gets dizzy and then steal his weapon, purifying it in the process. A lot of the time the best strategy seemed to be to just
disarm every enemy and then pulverize them with whatever weapon you ended up with.
Honestly, the combat was decent at best and boring at worst.
The platforming was also pretty bland, be it the less than precise 3-D platforming sections or the floaty, slippery 2-D platforming sections.
Either way, platforming wasn't much fun in El-Shaddai. Mind you, it's not like platforming is completely horrible, it's just passable,
forgettable even.
While El-Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is definitely
lacking as far as its gameplay goes, the unique audiovisual presentation alongside its Suda 51-like script made me really enjoy my time
exploring El-Shaddai. I
don't think I'll be replaying this one anytime soon, but I am glad I got to play it at least once.
7.0 out of 10
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