Kagero: Deception 2
For the first time, I’m not entirely sure how I would classify the game I’m about to review.
It’s not uncommon to find titles that mix genres, even back to the early days of gaming. It’s a great way to keep stale formulas fresh and try new things. But I’m not entirely sure what genre Kagero fits into, or if it even fits into one at all. It’s part third person adventure, part strategy, part survival horror, part RPG and, dare I say, a little bit of a puzzle game. A lot of games like this tend to become disjointed and incoherent, but that didn’t happen here. Kagero is an outstanding game, but it comes with a major caveat.
I am just going to get it out of the way, Kagero is a very violent and at times, very disturbing game. It really, really earned its M rating. As a PS1 game, the blood and gore aren’t really all that shocking. In fact, the blocky character models and lacking details make the game much easier to stomach. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a game entirely about luring mostly innocent people into elaborate traps and killing them. It’s kind of like the infamous “No Russian” mission in Call of Duty, except every level is like the “No Russian” mission. That being said, Kagero offers some very fascinating and completely unique gameplay.
You play as a girl named Millenia, a human in the service of a beings called Timenoids. Humans and Timenoids, or TMD as the game calls them, don’t particularly get along, as humans are constantly trying to take the TMD secret of immortality. Millenia is trying to protect this secret, but she isn’t exactly physically formidable. She has no hand to hand combat skills, possesses no magical ability of any kind and is unarmed, so she must use cunning. As I mentioned before, the gameplay focuses on setting traps for your adversaries. You patrol each area in a third person perspective and can set traps via a grid system. Each room is set up as a grid and you can set three traps per room, one each on the floor, ceiling or wall. These traps range from poison gas to pushing walls to falling rocks.
The key here is chaining them together for more damage and consistent hits. For example, you can set up a magnetic wall to attract an adversary, locking them in place so you can drop a high damage but low accuracy rock on them. Each area also has stage hazards, like floor spikes or saw blades, that can do a ton of damage if you can lure or push enemies into them. The traps have something of a leveling system, you can unlock better ones by researching different combinations and buying them with currency. There is a good variety and none of them are useless. Some enemies are immune to certain traps, which forces you to bring a varied loadout into each level and not use the same few traps every time.
The story here is told through cutscenes, most of which are just done with the game’s graphics. That’s okay, the graphics are above average for the time period and no one is playing this for the story anyway. That’s good, because we have yet another game with straight up horrible translation. I think the plot has something to do with usurping a king and eternal life or something, the only thing I got was the basic premise I outlined before. But this goes beyond that, there is broken English everywhere. You equip traps with the “trap set” menu and acquire them with “trap get.” The translation even adds to the “disturbing factor,” the game congratulates you on a “perfect genocide” if you kill all your enemies.
The sound is pretty minimalist, but also well done. The handful of tracks in the game are strong and the sound effects are crisp and clear. This is important, as you need to rely on footsteps and other sounds to know where your opponents are. The silence also adds to the survival horror feel, as it combines with the cavernous levels to give you a sense of solitude. Hearing your enemies coming heightens the tension and really puts you on edge. Remember, Millenia is unarmed, so missing your traps means you are going to be in a lot of trouble.
I would say the biggest flaw in Kagero is its pace. I am all for games that are deliberate, but this is pushing it. Enemies walk very slowly and if they spawn on the other side of the map, it could take several minutes for them to reach your location. You could try to meet them half way, but that could leave you with little chance to set up your traps. On the contrary, if you stay put you will often find yourself waiting for an extended period of time with nothing else to do. It’s not game breaking, but it makes the game a bit accessible. Those looking for nonstop action and intense combat should definitely look elsewhere.
And I will say it again, Kagero can be pretty disturbing. There is no positivity here, it’s straight up darkness and brutality throughout. Due to its dated graphics its probably not going to make you as uneasy as something like Spec Ops: The Line, but there were definitely moments in the game where I really felt uncomfortable with what I was being asked to do. It might not turn off hardcore gamers but its certainly not for everyone.
I still think Kagero is an excellent title in the Playstation’s vast library. I feel like I usually describe the games I write about pretty well, but I’m not sure I did it justice. There are certainly a lot of dated aspects to Kagero, but it’s also a type of game you don’t see nowadays: one that’s actually unique. They could have just given you a gun or a sword or whatever and been like “take out everything that moves,” but Tecmo decided to go a different route. Honestly I thought the series was dead, I didn’t realize they released a Deception game in 2014 for the PS4 (or that Trapt on the PS2 was a part of the series). I have not played DIV, but it appears they went with a straight anime aesthetic as opposed to the more realistic tone in the earlier games. I am normally not a fan of that, but this may be an instance where it was necessary to make the game feel less disturbing and more accessible. That said I think that Kagero is still worth playing today for gamer's with a little patience and strong stomachs.
9/10
For the first time, I’m not entirely sure how I would classify the game I’m about to review.
It’s not uncommon to find titles that mix genres, even back to the early days of gaming. It’s a great way to keep stale formulas fresh and try new things. But I’m not entirely sure what genre Kagero fits into, or if it even fits into one at all. It’s part third person adventure, part strategy, part survival horror, part RPG and, dare I say, a little bit of a puzzle game. A lot of games like this tend to become disjointed and incoherent, but that didn’t happen here. Kagero is an outstanding game, but it comes with a major caveat.
I am just going to get it out of the way, Kagero is a very violent and at times, very disturbing game. It really, really earned its M rating. As a PS1 game, the blood and gore aren’t really all that shocking. In fact, the blocky character models and lacking details make the game much easier to stomach. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a game entirely about luring mostly innocent people into elaborate traps and killing them. It’s kind of like the infamous “No Russian” mission in Call of Duty, except every level is like the “No Russian” mission. That being said, Kagero offers some very fascinating and completely unique gameplay.
You play as a girl named Millenia, a human in the service of a beings called Timenoids. Humans and Timenoids, or TMD as the game calls them, don’t particularly get along, as humans are constantly trying to take the TMD secret of immortality. Millenia is trying to protect this secret, but she isn’t exactly physically formidable. She has no hand to hand combat skills, possesses no magical ability of any kind and is unarmed, so she must use cunning. As I mentioned before, the gameplay focuses on setting traps for your adversaries. You patrol each area in a third person perspective and can set traps via a grid system. Each room is set up as a grid and you can set three traps per room, one each on the floor, ceiling or wall. These traps range from poison gas to pushing walls to falling rocks.
The key here is chaining them together for more damage and consistent hits. For example, you can set up a magnetic wall to attract an adversary, locking them in place so you can drop a high damage but low accuracy rock on them. Each area also has stage hazards, like floor spikes or saw blades, that can do a ton of damage if you can lure or push enemies into them. The traps have something of a leveling system, you can unlock better ones by researching different combinations and buying them with currency. There is a good variety and none of them are useless. Some enemies are immune to certain traps, which forces you to bring a varied loadout into each level and not use the same few traps every time.
The story here is told through cutscenes, most of which are just done with the game’s graphics. That’s okay, the graphics are above average for the time period and no one is playing this for the story anyway. That’s good, because we have yet another game with straight up horrible translation. I think the plot has something to do with usurping a king and eternal life or something, the only thing I got was the basic premise I outlined before. But this goes beyond that, there is broken English everywhere. You equip traps with the “trap set” menu and acquire them with “trap get.” The translation even adds to the “disturbing factor,” the game congratulates you on a “perfect genocide” if you kill all your enemies.
The sound is pretty minimalist, but also well done. The handful of tracks in the game are strong and the sound effects are crisp and clear. This is important, as you need to rely on footsteps and other sounds to know where your opponents are. The silence also adds to the survival horror feel, as it combines with the cavernous levels to give you a sense of solitude. Hearing your enemies coming heightens the tension and really puts you on edge. Remember, Millenia is unarmed, so missing your traps means you are going to be in a lot of trouble.
I would say the biggest flaw in Kagero is its pace. I am all for games that are deliberate, but this is pushing it. Enemies walk very slowly and if they spawn on the other side of the map, it could take several minutes for them to reach your location. You could try to meet them half way, but that could leave you with little chance to set up your traps. On the contrary, if you stay put you will often find yourself waiting for an extended period of time with nothing else to do. It’s not game breaking, but it makes the game a bit accessible. Those looking for nonstop action and intense combat should definitely look elsewhere.
And I will say it again, Kagero can be pretty disturbing. There is no positivity here, it’s straight up darkness and brutality throughout. Due to its dated graphics its probably not going to make you as uneasy as something like Spec Ops: The Line, but there were definitely moments in the game where I really felt uncomfortable with what I was being asked to do. It might not turn off hardcore gamers but its certainly not for everyone.
I still think Kagero is an excellent title in the Playstation’s vast library. I feel like I usually describe the games I write about pretty well, but I’m not sure I did it justice. There are certainly a lot of dated aspects to Kagero, but it’s also a type of game you don’t see nowadays: one that’s actually unique. They could have just given you a gun or a sword or whatever and been like “take out everything that moves,” but Tecmo decided to go a different route. Honestly I thought the series was dead, I didn’t realize they released a Deception game in 2014 for the PS4 (or that Trapt on the PS2 was a part of the series). I have not played DIV, but it appears they went with a straight anime aesthetic as opposed to the more realistic tone in the earlier games. I am normally not a fan of that, but this may be an instance where it was necessary to make the game feel less disturbing and more accessible. That said I think that Kagero is still worth playing today for gamer's with a little patience and strong stomachs.
9/10
Comments
Post a Comment