PlayStation 2

Trapt

In a nutshell, Trapt possesses a unique style of gameplay that can't be experienced anywhere else, even after four editions and 10 years. It offers a nice mix of strategy (almost reminiscent of Dynasty Tactic's "push, attack, push, attack" combo system) and action where timing plays a crucial role. Despite its technical drawbacks, it's a fun and quirky title that may leave you questioning just how moral you really are ... okay, that's being a little dramatic, but Trapt really is sadistically fun.

While most games outfit you with an assortment of weapons, fighting styles and deadly characters with which to inflict massive amounts of pain upon the enemy, Trapt features an almost entirely defenseless main character... Well, other than her devilish ability to control an assortment of traps that you'll use to decapitate, de-limb and generally demolish your foes.

Unfortunately, the game manages to work in plenty of masochism, too; the camera controls inflict searing pain, and the process of endlessly evading foes until the critical moment feels like a punishment itself. Trapt is good for some laughs and bloodshed, but the gameplay doesn't quite make the cut.

Tecmo's latest adventure game, Trapt, may have the same name as the lackluster nu metal band that brought us the unremarkable song "Headstrong," but thankfully the two properties aren't at all related. Trapt the game combines common survival horror themes with puzzle-based gameplay. Although it isn't quite like anything you've played this generation, Trapt isn't entirely new. In fact, this game is part of a series known as Kagero: Deception (later shortened to Deception), which saw three installments on the original PlayStation. Whether or not you've played any of those games, you should check out Trapt if you're looking for something different and are willing to forgive a few technical shortcomings. At $50, though, this one is best left as a weekend rental.

I've always held that there are two types of games, though: games about the experience and games about the mechanics. An good experience Trapt is not, but the mechanics of laying traps and unleashing them on enemies can, at times, be extremely satisfying. That is perhaps why Deception has always remained a strictly cult series - its mechanics clearly are not enough to make it a hit phenomenon, but are appealing enough to a core group of gamers. If the idea of Trapt tickles your fancy, it's probably worth a shot, but the shortcomings in almost every area make it hard to recommend to most.

I enjoyed the Deception series on PSone, but this sequel hasn't made any strides forward. Inflicting unspeakable pain on mindless video game drones puts you into the shoes of wily Kevin McCallister, but as you'll soon learn, anything that reminds you of Macaulay Culkin is not good.

Making the traps is one thing, but when you can't see your opponents to set the wheels in motion at the right time, it's massively frustrating. Yet with a certain amount of patience, the ability to think creatively, and an open mind, those wishing to take out their day's frustration on a steady stream of hapless AI opponents could do a lot worse than give Trapt a bash.

Strategy games come in many different flavors: real-time, turn-based, role-playing, puzzle/strategy, etc. Thanks to two significant, highly innovative games (Pikmin and Full Spectrum Warrior) the genre has begun to get attention from all gamers, not just those who are glued to their PCs.

We never knew we could be so wilfully sadistic. Given our tendency to free unseasonably active Ladybirds from EG towers at this time of year, it says something unexpectedly unsavoury about our mental state at the degree of belly laugh satisfaction we got from Trapt, a game fixated on sending dozens of unfortunate souls to their doom in a variety of increasingly unpleasant ways. Bwahahahaha.

The original PlayStation was home to a lot of quirky concepts. We saw games about building towers, cooking meals, operating bulldozers, and even simulating the daily lives of prehistoric cavemen. One of Tecmo's contributions in this experimental climate was Deception, a game about setting traps in a dungeon in the hopes of snagging any nosey do-gooders who might be snooping around. Now, Deception's fourth iteration is about to hit the PS2 in the form of Trapt, another adventure of tricks, traps, and gore. Unfortunately, a serious lack of variety causes things to feel old pretty quickly.

Inventing ways to see how people squirm and die seems to be a prevalent notion found throughout history. Branks, chastity belts, hangings, Chinese water tortures, scalding liquids shoved down people's throats, and other torture devices have been used by nearly every country -- and for the weirdest reasons. Even the perennial phrase of having your dirty mouth washed out with soap by Mom or Dad stems from a form of torture.

Trapt is another game that fails to translate a good idea into a solid video game. The core of a clever and rather original game is here, but it's booby trapped by an almost unusable camera. It's clearly a game that wasn't given a huge budget, but some of the design problems could have been sorted out pretty easily. If you can somehow get to grips with the camera and don't mind the experience ending rather too soon, Trapt will certainly give you something a little different to the norm.

You play as Princess Allura, a young woman wrongly accused of murdering her father. Seeking refuge in a nearby manor, she encounters a disembodied being known as the Fiend, who grants her the ability to trigger traps remotely. It's a simple beginning, and the gameplay concept is even simpler: lay snares in the path of your hunters, and trigger them to score combinations, and feed the Fiend souls.

We've all been the hero. We've saved the princess/kingdom/world/universe more times than we can count, and sometimes, we want to root for the other team. Spending your time on the other side of the ethical ball by laying waste to those unforgivably insipid do-gooders is rewarding in its own evil right.