This game took me by surprise. A whole lot of fun and diverse moments really add up to make a great game.
+ The best way to describe this game would be a combination of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Devil May Cry, Prince of Persia, and at the end of the game a little Portal. All of these are great games, so this combination naturally feels good if you've enjoyed those games.
Essentially this is a hack and slash adventure. You have your main sword and you have a number of different moves you can perform to string combos together and kill enemies. Every time you kill an enemy you gain blue souls, which can be collected and used to purchase upgrades. Other weapons that you find/unlock include a scythe (good for multiple enemies) and a powerful fist. These three weapons are the only ones that you can level up by killing more people with them. They can also be enchanted with a certain slot item if you find one. You must always keep your main sword, but you're able to switch between the scythe and fist at any moment.
You can find other items in your adventure including a boomerang, a horn, a revolver, and a ball and chain which all come in handy at certain parts and are useful fighting certain kinds of enemies. You can equip any three to your loadout at once, but it's easy to go into the inventory menu and replace one at any given time.
You also have a wrath bar that is used to unleash real powerful moves, but depletes a bar after using it and must be refilled. Also, you have a chaos form which again must be refilled. Once filled you can change into this form where you are much stronger and do much more damage, but it only lasts for a few seconds. You are also able to interact with a number of world objects including cars and pipes. By picking these up you can either swing them at enemies or you can throw them directly at them.
Besides the great combat, this game also features a lot of platforming puzzles similar to the Legend of Zelda games, which I really enjoyed. Some of them seem almost too familiar to Zelda, but nevertheless they are a lot of fun and fit the environment. At the end of the game you also get to unlock a portal-like device which lets you cast two portals on certain walls and jump through them. Again, even though this is a straight imitation of Portal it is just another neat feature this game has to offer.
What I really loved about this game most of all was how diverse it was. There was some open world moments, some linear moments, some combat moments, some slower puzzle solving moments, and great boss fights. There was also a fair amount of freedom to customize your character depending on the situation and your preferences. There is plenty to unlock and upgrade and chances are you won't max everything out on your first playthrough. But this game gives you plenty of reason to want to start again and find what you missed.
Story/Presentation: 3/5
+ I thought the setting and environment were absolutely fantastic. You get to play as War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And basically you are playing in a post apocalyptic world where the humans were essentially wiped from the Earth. Still, you have to fight both forces of heaven and hell since you're a rogue who doesn't quite belong in either.
The problem, though, lies in the storytelling. It just falls flat at times and doesn't capitalize on the great environment that it has set up. There are a lot of confusing moments that don't quite seem to make sense or don't have the right flow to them, which is a shame. So yes even though the story has a lot of potential and the setting is rich, the storytelling makes it forgettable and lackluster.
Graphics: 4.5/5
+ Overall I thought the graphics were really impressive. The character models and the animations and effects were very solid and fluid. I couldn't really find any disappointing factors except that the cutscenes were rendered in a poorer resolution so you could see some clear jagged lines. What most impressed me was how they managed to reduce loading times. They did cleverly hide a few transitions between worlds, but you never really have any loading screens which is impressive for the large scope of the levels.
Value: 4.5/5
+ Surprisingly this game lasted me 16 hours. I wasn't really expecting it to be that long, but I was really satisfied with the length. There's a lot to explore and I missed a lot of stuff the first playthrough. I'd definitely like to play it again and max out all my weapons, plus grab a few achievements I missed the first time around. There is no doubt that this game is good enough that you could play it again and enjoy it. I got it on sale for cheap, but I think it's currently $20 on Steam and that is absolutely a reasonable price. Buy this game if you're a fan of Zelda, Devil May Cry, or Prince of Persia. It's worth it.