Developer: Marvelous AQL, SCE Japan Studio
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PS Vita
Soul Sacrifice – Review
Soul Sacrifice is a third person action rpg in which the important element is the ability to sacrifice parts of your protagonist’s body to harvest great power. However these sacrifices are not an infinite resource of power, as they leave permanent damage on the body of your protagonist. So you’ll have to use them wisely.
Story:
You are a sorcerer, waiting in his cell to be executed by another powerful wizard named Magusar, who comes into possession of a magical book named Librom. By reading the book you’re able to relive the memories of Magusar, as it seems this book is his journal. While reliving his memories you also learn new spells, which you can use outside the book. The point is to be able to finish the book, as so many others before you have failed. If you’re able to complete the book, you’ll be ready to fight Magusar face to face.
Graphics:
Graphically the game looks nice, the environments are beautiful designed but it is noticeable that they did not fully make use of the graphical power of the Vita. This handheld has the ability to generate much more than what the developers have chosen to use for Soul Sacrifice.
What struck me the most was that there was not much variation in the levels, it seems as they recycled levels to keep the budget in line.
However they seem to have put more time in the design of the book Librom, than in the design of the levels which makes the book a gem for the eye.
Sound:
This game has some nicely composed music in its repertoire with, if I may compliment it, a very beautiful singing voice. The sound effects are very realistic and fit in just right in the game. The voice acting, apart from the first character which made me laugh really loud, is very solid. It’s been a while since I’ve heard such a great voice acting cast on a handheld game. What made me laugh about the first voice was that it was so overacted, it just didn’t fit that character. But apart from this little mistake, there is nothing at all to complain about.
Gameplay:
As said above, Soul Sacrifice is a third person rpg where you relive Magusar’s memories through his journal Librom. While reading the journal, yes reading it like an actual book, even flipping the pages yourself, you’ll get to know more of Magusar’s past and how he became the mad sorcerer he is today. You can flip the pages by swiping over the touchscreen or by pressing the X-button.
By flipping the pages, text is revealed and is read aloud by Magusar himself. Except for the parts that are spoken by other characters, then their voice is used to read that part aloud. This makes it so much more interesting to learn more about the history of Magusar. Again the voice acting is superb, you can really hear in the voices that they really experienced everything they tell. To top it off, the book has some beautiful animations on its pages, which will keep you clustered to the little screen of your Vita.
Once in a while you’ll get to relive a memory by fighting in a small level. Fighting is done by casting magic. This is done by using items known as offerings, which are essential to use magic, but each offering has a limited number of times you can use it before having to recharge them or else they break. If they break before you could recharge them, they are only repairable by using Lacrima, a moisture coming from Librom’s eyes. But they are not tears, don’t ever say that to him, because it seems to be a touchy subject
When near death in a fight, you’ll be able to sacrifice a part of your body to harvest great power, but beware this will have consequences on your body. For example the first sacrifice you’re able to do, is sacrificing your skin which deals a lot of damage to your opponent but also halves your defense. This damage you sustain is permanent to your character, unless you use the Lacrima from Librom’s eyes to restore your body. So talk to Librom after every level you clear, because you’ll need that Lacrima if you’re planning to sacrifice a lot.
When an enemy is defeated, you can choose to save or to sacrifice it. Saving restores a small portion of health , while sacrificing an enemy will restore charges to your offerings. The choice between saving or sacrificing your enemies will also have an impact on the story.
The levels in which you have to fight are relatively short, which is very handy when playing on the train, bus, etc. Finally a developer that has taken into account that handhelds are actually used when traveling. If the levels are too long, people will not play the game on their travels. And be honest, that is why handhelds were invented, were they not?
From the beginning you have the option to fight Magusar, but you’d be wise to complete the game first before trying to fight him. If however you do try to fight Magusar, you’ll learn that you won’t stand a chance against him. So complete the main story, collect your offerings and become stronger by combining your offerings into new stronger ones. If you have multiple offerings of the same type, you can combine them into a stronger one. This gives the levels a high replay value as you can collect as many offerings as you want if you just keep replaying the levels. The more offerings you collect, the more powerful you’ll become.
There is also a multiplayer part to the game. In the menu you can choose the option Inside Avalon, which you unlock after completing the first chapter of Librom. Here you can complete levels with up to four players. This works pretty much the same as when playing alone, with the difference that when a person on your team dies you can also choose to save of sacrifice that person. Saving brings the person back into the fight, but you will lose half of your health. While Sacrificing a person creates a powerful damaging spell with an area affect of the whole map. A sacrificed player, can’t take part in the battle anymore but will enter spectator’s mode to see the fight until the end.
Conclusion:
Compared to what’s available on the Vita, Soul Sacrifice is one of the few gems available for this handheld. Hopefully there will be more games like this one in the future, because this game brought back my hope and trust in this very powerful but underrated handheld.
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