The lethal female assassin from the Tekken games has been given her own game, which is a mix of action and adventure.
...But, is it any good? Look below.
Gameplay:
Death by Degrees is an action/adventure game much like Tomb Raider and Devil May Cry, and it also feels like a weird mixture of those two. The game itself is kinda linear because it's simply very hard to get stuck, which is not necesarrily a bad thing actually.
The gameplay relies a great deal on the battles between our beautiful heroine and the enemies who crosses her path. The battles are usualyy very fun, but does sometimes become frustrating because it can be rather difficult to perform Nina's different moves. This is mainly because the action in the fights is controlled with the analog stick. At first it feels strange, but as time passes you get more and more used to the fighting-system, and it's actually quite good in the end, despite the fact that it can be somewhat hard to do the different moves. You can also use weapons, such as guns and katanas, in battle, which only makes it more enjoyable to kill the enemies. The adventure part does not contain anything special, though. It's pretty much something you've seen before.
The boss battles are also not anything that you haven't seen before. The storyline is actually good, though. It offers some interesting background story of Nina's, since the game takes place before any of the Tekken games.
A thing that can be annoying are the loading screens, which pop up pretty often. It's not terrible, but if you're inpatient it might become annoying.
Graphics:
The graphics are actually good, but not great. The FMV's are well done, and the animations are also well made. The character designs- and models are a little boring, except Nina who looks great in her skimpy clothes. It is also very easy to see that there has been put more work into making the main characters look better, than the enemies walking around.
The areas and levels are also well done, and offers some nice designs and such.
Sound:
The music is nice and fits the game well, but everytime there has been a loading screen the track starts over, so you end up not hearing a music track to the end, which is annoying.
The voice overs are okay, but can also be very bad. The voice over of Nina, which is also the most important one, is actually good, although I felt like the voice did not fit her at first. The voices of the bosses range from bad to mediocre.
All in all Death by Degrees is not a great game, but definitely offers some good moments and can be enjoyable if you can live with loading screens popping up from time to time. If you're a Nina Williams fan, like myself, you have to play this game, to understand the character proberly.