PlayStation

Akuji: The Heartless

Not too bad. Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s not an easy game, just not ridiculously hard. Some enemies are a breeze, while others are quite a bit tougher. One particularly irritating guy is actually just a skeletal trunk who crawls around on hands and knees, chasing you. If he gets close enough - BAM! He’ll smack you with his spinal cord. All at once, cool, hilarious and really demeaning.

I really enjoyed the game... good to look at, atmospheric sounds, enjoyable to play, but not too brain taxing. Had it not been for the annoying camera angle Akuji could have possibly been a classic.

All in all, the game is interesting, likable, and very creative. The gameplay is fun, especially for Tomb Raider fans and even including some new surprises. While the sparse problems within the game don't ruin the experience, they are noticeable. The graphics are very nice, even if they are grainy, and with all of the dynamic lighting and shapes, it all looks very eerie and very cool. The sounds are average, so overall, the game is pretty good.

Akuji is another well-done offering from Crystal Dynamics. It looks good, sounds good, and, most importantly, plays even better. It's not the end-all be-all of action-adventure games, but it's definitely one of the better available on PlayStation.

Als de makers van Akuji wat meer zorg hadden besteed aan de gameplay (en dan doel ik voornamelijk op het camerawerk), was de score waarschijnlijk stukken hoger uitgevallen. Desondanks scoort de game toch wel een dikke voldoende.

While Akuji delivers on style, it falls a little short on substance. If platform hopping's your lifeblood and the threat of a vexing camera doesn't dissuade you, Akuji's voodoo magic will cast its spell on you. Otherwise, a weekend rental will do the trick.

Akuji the Heartless falls flat on its face when it comes to delivering a fully enjoyable game. Granted, the action isn't bad, but the annoying camera makes the game completely unplayable at times. You wouldn't do bad buying Akuji, but be prepared for some frustration.

With a modified Gex: Enter the Gecko engine at its core and a loose interpretation of voodoo as its backbone, Crystal Dynamics' Akuji the Heartless is a grim and gritty "full scroller" that dares to defy Spyro the Dragon and the rest of the recent slew of light-hearted 3D platform games for the PlayStation. The story is equal parts Todd McFarlane's Spawn and Dante's Inferno: You're a voodoo-practicing, blade-wielding hero, and you've been slaughtered and had your heart ripped out on your wedding day by your brother. Now you travel through the planes of hell, destroying its caretakers and collecting the souls of your ancestors for the top-hat-wearing voodoo loa, Baron Samedi. If you do, he's promised to grant you passage out of the underworld to take revenge on your sibling rival and reunite with your sweetheart.

The Achilles Heel of Akuji The Heartless is by far the slow pace of the game. It just screams for more intense combat. The uncooperative cameras are just another nail in the games coffin as they will have more than a few players muttering some choice comments under their breath as they constantly have to manually adjust its settings to see where they want to. These factors coupled with the generic feel of the game make Akuji The Heartless a very average title that doesn’t provide any memorable moments.

Ironically, it's the heart of the game that's missing, just like Akuji's own disembodied organ. Visually, the game is smart, and the action is smooth and fast. We even like the plot, but running around flicking switched is not our idea of a voodoo fantasy.