X-Blades

The new action games' hero is a lady and her name is Ayumi. X-Blades has surely got its share of shortcomings, but the ones who love demanding hack'n slash games and who enjoyed titles like Devil May Cry or Too human, will surely have fun playing it.

The combat is satisfying and the mixture of magic keeps things fresh from beginning to end. The backtracking and repetitiveness cause the experience to drag out longer than it needs to be, but at least you feel like you got your moneys worth when all is said and done.

X-Blades is one of those games that I really wanted to like, but while it’s average entertainment, it really does nothing to move it to the next level.

When you're a hack 'n slash freak that doesn't get enough of button mashing, you will have a lot of fun playing X-Blades. The graphics are nice but the sound isn't. The gameplay is a little boring but when you're a fan, it will definitely not bother you. When you're not a fan, you should leave this game alone.

Everything about X-Blades is mediocre. It works for what it is, and there’s some charm to the action and the characters, but the gameplay design is lacking in ingenuity; a notion that is perpetuated the longer you play.

That X-Blades remains a decent title despite the lack of compelling missions and likable characters is something of an accomplishment in itself, though not one we'd recommend advertising from the rooftops.

What I once pegged as a sleeper hit has left me disappointed. X-Blades is riddled with potential, but thanks to a series of poor design choices, the game lacks the core fundamentals that made games like Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword so great. The tiny environments, the tedious and boring combat, poor audio, and lackluster control feel really bring down what could've been a solid game.

Despite a lead character that isn't the most likeable we've come across and some pretty repetitive gameplay, X-Blades still manages to be decent fun.

Ayumi's is a dumbed down airhead heroine, in a title that's simple and easy to play; it's hack-and-slash all the way. From that view point, X-Blades wholly fulfils its raison d'etre.

X-blades doesn’t succeed in delivering a rich offer. The gameplay is repetitive, and platforming doesn’t play out well. The long fights are usually boring, and the plethora of upgrades and different kinds of magic is not enough to make it fun. Add a terrible A.I., and what you get is a title that won’t be fun for anyone but hack’n’slash die-hard fans.

If X-Blades retail price was $20 dollars I might consider it a worthwhile purchase because you can kill some time with the tedious gameplay. Note that I said I might consider it. At the retail price of $59.99 I would dearly regret my purchase.

Summing up, it is possible that X-Blade: Postmortem won't be able to fit in the market because of its flaws. It will entertain those who are not familiar with this genre, but they will end finding it repetitive. The more seasoned in this sort of titles will find it directly boring. Nor the developers contribute with innovation neither the game achieves in creating an atmosphere which allows the player to get involved in the story.

Unfortunately, the good parts like the unlockable skills are obscured by generic enemy designs, monotonous combat and the most tedious boss battles I’ve seen.

X-Blades is pleasing to the eye – and not just for the obvious reasons – but otherwise lacking in ambition, imagination or charm. Ayumi feels like a massive backward step for videogame heroines. Still, nice bum.

lthough the stages look decent, hideous camera angles make viewing the action a chore and with short levels taking a few minutes to get through, it's only made worse by repetitious hack n' slash gameplay. The unappealing story further hurts the game, and we had trouble liking the main character's annoying Paris Hilton-style.

Some gamers might enjoy this for what it is: a simple hack and slash game, with some annoying design flaws, and frustrating boss fights that will test your patience.

If it weren't for the M-rated content, X-Blades could have been easily recommended to kids for its accessible action and anime presentation, which is a shame because the adult crowd is going to be left disappointed with this game, despite its sex appeal.

X-Blades is totally incapable of attracting experienced gamers. Even if it shows a certain variety, the level design is awful, the structure is deeply fragmented, and the gameplay is obsessively repetitious. Moreover, X-Blades is the button-mashing paradise, and it fails to convey a deep Hack’n’Slash mechanic. Technical issues regarding the dull camera system, the bad looking cell shading, the terrible character design, are there to keep players away from the game.

X-Blades has visual charm, but the grind of monotonous combat soon starts to wear thin. The longer you play it the more you'll hate it.

X-Blades starts like a real great game. There’s a girl and she cuts everyone open with her sword. How much can you get? Not much! As a bonus, we get to see an almost naked girl, carrying way too heavy swords. But even this gets boring after a while. Fight after fight where you have to push one button isn’t fun. Even all the nakedness of the game doesn’t cover that fact up.

All the splashy, light-blooming graphics in the world and a “sexy” anime-lite protagonist can’t save X-Blades.

X-Blades is, in summary, really just one long button-mash-fest, and doesn't require much subtlety as a result. Unfortunately the story and graphics do not do enough to make up for this simplicity - the game is of a decent length but sadly just gets very samey towards the end. Nothing special, overall; one for genre fanatics only.

Ixnay on the X-Blades. [Apr 2009, p.82]

There are a couple of decent ideas here, but the game as a whole needs some serious refinement in just about every way to have any hope of standing out in what is a fairly crowded genre.

In the end, X Blades is just downright terrible. It shouldn’t be played, it shouldn’t be rented and it shouldn’t even be looked at.

X-Blades is pretty much a game that has no intention of doing anything right. It's repetitive and has little to offer to keep you in front of the TV. Only the soul collection system seems to be a nice feature, everything else isn't worth your while.

I can only recommend X-Blades to people who really, and I mean really, enjoy the endurance challenges in some of the other games and don't want anything more than that.

Oh God, where to begin…? The utterly, mind-bogglingly dreadful character design and animation? The hugely irritating Californian-princess voice over? No, No! Even better, how about the generally sub-PS2 environments and enemies? How about the fact that the near-silent, samey, uninspiring bad guys keep floating up into the air when standing too close to the scenery? Or the sucky frame rate?