Developer: NatsumeAtari
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform: PS4
Tested on: PS4
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia – Review
The Seven Deadly Sins might just be one of the best mainstream anime series of the last few years, as it’s original, has fun characters and the plot itself is quite enjoyable. As with many popular anime series, a game was quick to follow. Knights of Britannia is the game adaptation of the first season, and a small part of the second season, of The Seven Deadly Sins and we were fangirling quite a bit when we saw the initial trailers. While the game had its fortes, the overall bland experience might be addictive for those who are hardcore fans of the series, it left us with a dry aftertaste. Luckily we still have the My Hero Academia game to look forward to. If you’re too worried about our somewhat harsh intro, don’t fret too much, as real fans will still find their pick in what’s mentioned below.
Story
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia follows the same story as the first season of the series, which revolves around the seven outcasts, who were once the top of the crop of the Holy Knights of the kingdom of Liones. These seven outlaws are suspected of killing the previous general of the army, and are now hunted. Nonetheless, they were able to dodge the authorities for over a decade, and they seem to be important once again, as the Holy Knights have performed a coup and are currently running the show. One of the king’s daughters, Elizabeth, is out to find the Seven Deadly Sins, hoping they will rise up against the corrupted Holy Knights. It was already clear from the start that something fishy was going on, and that these so called ‘sins’ were actually the good guys (not really a spoiler, as this is already clear in the first episode of the anime). We’ll keep other spoilers for ourselves.
Overall the Adventure mode will tell you what went on in season 1, with a minor teaser of what to expect in season 2, but if you haven’t watched the series, it’ll be hard to properly string everything together, as the game leaves out many key scenes and dialogues, which could have given you enough background information. Nonetheless, the Adventure Mode is rather elaborate and offers a lot of content, be it canon or extra fun and useless dialogues.
Graphics
Graphically the game doesn’t really feel like a PlayStation 4 title, but rather like something that came out at the end of the PlayStation 3’s lifespan. While the characters look like decent 3D counterparts of their original anime selves, a lot of polygons are visible, some poses are awkward and while there are many different arenas they feel a bit like a copy paste-fest went on. Don’t get us wrong, there are many arenas to fight in, but they are all filled with what feel like the same trees, buildings and clutter, which always fall apart in the same fashion, leaving the same pile of rubble, over and over again. While the game is a decent representation of the source material it’s based on, it feels dated, a bit on the bland side, and something which a B team worked on, making this game feel a bit like it was simply released to grab a bit of cash from fans of the series.
Sound
The music is fairly unnoticeable when you’re tearing your opponents a new hole, but it’s decent nonetheless. The soundtrack follows the music from the series, which is great, but it’s the voice acting that steals the show, as every dialogue in the Adventure Mode, and the rest of the game for that matter, is completely voiced by the original Japanese cast. There are fun dialogues to explore, and others simply tell the story, but everything is handled in a top notch fashion.
Gameplay
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia is a brawler that in its normal duel mode comes in a 1 vs. 1 format, which is then mixed up in the Adventure Mode, which you’ll have to play first to unlock all characters. In the adventure mode, you’ll be able to play matches in different formats, where you sometimes team up with another member to fight one or multiple opponents. When battling main characters, things will go according to the normal rules of a fight, if you happen to find yourself having to kill multiple monsters or guards, they can be finished off in a few hits. In the Adventure Mode you’ll be roaming on the map of Liones, where there are the main quests, the side quests and the random battles, the latter being the same as side quests. Most quests will revolve around fighting, but you can also play some fetch quests with Elizabeth, who gets escorted by the valiant pig, Hawk. When completing quests, you’ll gain gossip points in your respective area, which leads to new quests thanks to useful information, which allows you to progress further. Side quests are often good for granting you new items, which can be used in combination with the rewarded magic crystals to create buffs and items for your characters. Some buffs are passive, others have to be equipped. Overall this system is enjoyable, but with the very random spawning of the optional battles on the map, it’s sometimes hard to find the right items when you need them, as your crafting menu is unlocked in a specific sequence, where you need certain items before others.
All of the fights happen in 3D arenas, which have buildings and other destructible items in them, which will reward you with more magic crystals if you destroy them. Other than that, the game feels like a rehash of an ancient 3D Dragon Ball Z game, as the mechanics feel pretty much the same. You’ll have some basic attacks and one ranged attack, and you can perform three special moves, with one ultra move. You’ll notice similar features, like being able to teleport behind an enemy’s back, in order to counter his moves, or to simply attack him from behind, breaking his block. While the mechanics are okay, the overall targeting system feels rubbish, the controls aren’t always that responsive, and your ultra move does a ridiculous amount of damage, while other characters’ ultra moves are utter and complete garbage. When walking against an ally or an enemy, you’ll be blocked by what seems to be an impenetrable wall, which expands slightly around the character, which then becomes very tedious if your AI controlled ally or opponent just stands in front of you in a corner, mercilessly wailing on you.
While the controls are fairly dated, the game has enough fighters to keep things interesting. There are around twenty characters to choose from, and even though some are a variation of the same character, each and every one of them plays differently and It’s fun to mess around with them. Nonetheless, the game clearly has some balancing issues, which aren’t that noticeable when playing against a computer controlled opponent, as they are mostly crap, but against real players things get one-sided when playing with certain characters, especially in terms of the power of their ultimate move.
Even though we mentioned some negative points of the game so far, it was strangely addictive, probably because we were massive fans of the series. Nonetheless, the game makes you press forward with its short missions, the small story fragments, even for the side quests and of course, the many unlockable skills and characters in the Adventure Mode. Before we knew it we had spent an entire day messing around in the rather expansive Adventure Mode, not knowing why, but not regretting it either. That’s probably why fans of the series will still find their share of fun in the lackluster title.
Conclusion
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia is a moderate game that is based on an anime series. While fans of the series will perfectly understand what is going on, newcomers will be – mostly – left in the dark in terms of the story content this game has to offer. The gameplay mechanics are sometimes dodgy at best, with balancing issues, but the overall experience is enjoyable, once again for those who enjoyed the original series this was based upon. While the overall execution may be flawed, the gigantic Adventure Mode in this brawler was enjoyable and kept us pressing on and on, until we unlocked most of the characters and items the game had to offer. This title is decent if you can buy it at a discounted price, or if you simply want to enjoy every ounce of what The Seven Deadly Sins franchise has to offer.
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