GameTech: Tear up an ancient tomb in Sundered

SPLITTING up is hard to do — just ask Eshe. It’s bad enough that she finds herself trapped in an underground tomb for ancient gods, but then she finds herself being chased by an endless horde of admirers (and by admirers, we mean bloodthirsty Eldritch horrors.)

Wed, 02 Aug, 2017 - 01:00

Ronan Jennings

Sundered gets its name because of the choice Eshe must make as she fights her way through this ancient tomb. She must choose between keeping her humanity and facing increasingly tough battles, or splitting parts of herself off for extra powers that will make the battles easier. It’s a fun concept that adds a minor moral element to Eshe’s journey through the tomb.

You’ll spend the majority of your time in Sundered doing one of two things — jumping and slashing. Sundered is a Metroidvania, meaning it’s a side-scrolling adventure where exploration, incremental upgrades and back-tracking form the basis of the game. Every so often, a gong or a klaxon will sound as you explore, signalling that a horde of enemies is about to descend and attack. Because both the attacks and much of the maps are randomised upon death, Sundered keeps you on your toes throughout. The feeling of pressure is expertly executed.

Death will come often. At first, the hordes of enemies seem impossible to beat. You will find yourself running often, only to be cornered and defeated. But in death, Sundered gives you a chance to grow, as a giant skill tree only becomes available when Eshe falls.

The more she dies, the stronger she gets, rewarding your failure in a way that keeps Sundered from getting too frustrating. As the game goes on, you’ll get better and better equipped as a result.

At its core, Sundered is an ultra-smooth hack-and-slash with outstanding hand-drawn graphics, but it does have a few more perks up its sleeve. The giant bosses are without doubt the highlight of the game, with the screen often having to zoom out tenfold in order to capture the huge creature you’re battling. In addition, while the main thoroughfares stay constant on the map, the areas that lead to these thoroughfares are randomised upon death, which helps stave away some of the stale feeling that creeps in halfway through the game as the enemies start to recur in different skins.

Sundered is beautiful and crisp and will please anyone who enjoys side-scrolling combat. We’d love to see Thunder Lotus add more story and variety to the next game, but Sundered is well worth splitting some cash from your wallet.

FINAL FANTASY

The ‘Final Fantasy’ series split from tradition many years ago. Some would argue that it began with Final Fantasy VII, the game that made the series a global blockbuster. However, it wasn’t until Final Fantasy XII that the series really started to veer from its turn-based roots.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a remastered version of that controversial entry, now available on consoles. Ironically, while it still suffers some of the same problems that hampered it back in 2006, the controversial combat system is no longer top of that list. The so-called gambit system, which allowed players to ‘program’ their allies to respond in various ways to different circumstances, has been tweaked an revamped to allow for more jobs and an easier learning curve.

In addition, you can now speed up the characters crossing the map by holding down a button and the game also automatically saves between maps.

All of these additions make Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age a much more pleasant experience than upon its first release, but it doesn’t change the core problem — a boring story. The characters, especially, are so mind-numbing we couldn’t wait for them to split.

SPLITTING THE COSTS

Finally, if you split your time between online and offline gaming, you may have a choice to make. PlayStation Plus, Sony’s online service that allows gamers to play online, is becoming more expensive from the month of August onwards. Monthly costs are going up by one euro, from €6.99 to €7.99, while yearly costs will increase from €49.99 to €59.99. Perhaps that’s why this month’s PlayStation Plus free games are so impressive — they include Just Cause 3 and Assassin’s Creed Freedom’s Cry. Trying to split our attention? Nice try, Sony.