First impressions on Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War demo

When Koei promised us one heck of a hack n’ slash party and being able to mow through hundreds (even thousands) of enemies in the form of Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War, we just know that we’re in for a big surprise. Now that the Bladestorm demo is out on PlayStation Network, we’re going to find out what it is we can expect from the game, compared to our own expectations.

The game starts off in the tavern where mercenaries get their contracts from. Surprisingly, the demo already lets players customize their characters…and it’s not just merely choosing from an available stock characters, but one can choose to play as a male or female character, and even choose facial features. Of course, players can name their in-game avatar.

The tavern also offers other services and options, like accessing character inventory and status, listening to gossip, and even buy equipment. There’s only one piece of equipment available for purchase in the demo, however. It should be noted that in the demo, the System menu is blacked out, preventing players from using the save function in the demo.

Now, customizing characters in a demo and getting access to all of the game’s features save the System menu is nothing short of awesome, but why is it that we keep on grinning and laughing amongst ourselves instead of dropping our jaws in awe? Simply put, it’s the voice acting. The barkeep’s badly-mimicked accent just sounds too strange to be French, and is nothing short of chuckle-worthy. Even the voice of our custom female player has a cute accent as well. But its bearable, though a bit distracting.

In the game, players can choose to play either for the English or the French, then choose any of the available job contracts offered by either army. Contracts generally require taking over a certain stronghold, or base. Once fulfilled, you will be rewarded with equipment and a certain amount of Fame.

Read the rest of the review in the Full Article link!

When Koei promised us one heck of a hack n’ slash party and the ablity to mow through hundreds (even thousands) of enemies in the form of Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War, we just know that we’re in for a big surprise. Now that the Bladestorm demo is out on PlayStation Network, we’re going to find out what it is we can expect from the game, compared to our own expectations.

The game starts off in the tavern where mercenaries get their contracts from. Surprisingly, the demo already lets players customize their characters… and it’s not just merely choosing from an available stock of characters, but one can choose to play as a male or female character, and even their facial features. Of course, players can name their in-game avatar.

The tavern also offers other services and options, like accessing character inventory and the status menu, listening to gossip, and even buy equipment. There’s only one piece of equipment available for purchase in the demo, however. It should be noted that in the demo, the System menu is blacked out, preventing players from using the save function in the demo.

Now, customizing characters in a demo and getting access to all of the game’s features save the System menu is nothing short of awesome, but why is it that we keep on grinning and laughing amongst ourselves instead of dropping our jaws in awe? Simply put, it’s the voice acting. The barkeeper’s badly-mimicked accent just sounds too strange to be French, and is nothing short of chuckle-worthy. Even the voice of our custom female player has a cute accent as well. But its bearable, though a bit distracting.

In the game, players can choose to play either for the English or the French, then choose any of the available job contracts offered by either army. Contracts generally require taking over a certain stronghold, or base. Once fulfilled, you will be rewarded with equipment and a certain amount of Fame.

Now on to the meat of the demo, the battle itself. Before entering the fray, players will go on a comprehensive tutorial that teaches how to take command of an army (by pressing the X button while approaching a unit).

Here’s where the fun starts: there are many types of units to take over: Bowmen, Crossbow, Greatsword, Spear Horsemen, Sword, Sword and Shield, and Sword Horsemen. Each type of unit has their own unique abilities, made accessible by pressing the Square, Triangle, or Circle button. Most of the abilities have charging times, so do be careful when button-mashing.

So far we have managed to control four types of units: Crossbow, Sword Horsemen, Greatsword, and Sword and Shield troops. We prefer to use melee types, because there’s some satisfaction to be found from charging head-on into a large enemy army -and  then performing the Greatsword’s special move Sword Wave en masse, sending numerous enemy soldiers flying into the air.

Crossbow units are also quite useful, provided that they stand at a safe distance, a few meters away from the heat of the battle. Crossbow troops manage to deliver painful and long-range attacks, but suffer from long charge times. Being able to pierce enemy’s armor, they are a force to be reckoned with.

Which now brings us to the slightly unwieldy Horsemen troops. From time to time, while setting out, you may find your horses imitating Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk. Sideways, even. Being of little use in close combat, using horsemen units are only good in closing wide gaps between the two clashing armies. The sight of horses doing the Moonwalk (or crab walk) is a tad disturbing, and should be fixed in time for the actual game’s release.

The battle ends when a Contract is fulfilled. But if you want to prolong the battle, gain notorious amounts of Fame or just get more booty, you can defeat more opposing army troops and take over more bases before fulfilling the Contract.

Unlike most demos, the game doesn’t end after completing a stage (or in this case, a campaign). There will be other job offers available in the Tavern, ensuring lots of replay value – and this is just a demo. However, the System Menu and the saving function are blacked out, so players will have no choice but to start all over again after turning off their PS3s.

All in all, the Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War demo is filled with chock-full of features promising oodles of replay value, provided that gamers aren’t freaked out by horses imitating a crab walk. With various options available as character customization, buying equipment, and others, the game is very much worth the download.