Deception IV: Blood Ties

Despite being limited in scope and the very definition of a cult game, Deception IV: Blood Ties is a darkly comic and entertaining game.

It might not be a game you'll want to play in public, but Deception IV is a unique puzzler that's as dark as it is satisfying.

Deception IV is a gloriously silly celebration of the exhibition combo, those impractical yet impressive strings of attacks fighting experts throw together in combo videos paraphrased here with bonkers chain reactions of spikes, boulders, rakes, bombs, blades and banana peels.

Deception IV is a hint of Japan in a standardised market, a solid sequel that preserves the taste of an uncommon gameplay.

Much of the fun of Deception IV comes from what you make out of it.

Utterly stupid and often frustrating, Deception IV: Blood Ties is one of those games that manages to be enjoyable in spite of itself. It's a "bad" game, by most standards, but it's good in that "not good" way.

More creative or, dare I say, gorier death animations would have been welcome, but on the whole Deception IV: Blood Ties is something different. Fans of the franchise will know what to expect, but newcomers might find themselves pleasantly surprised by the mix of strategy, sadism and dark humour.

Tecmo at last brings us after almost a decade another piece of its cult series Deception. Blood Ties doesn't change very much of the style and mechanics after PlayStation 2's Trapt, but it does well reorganizing the controls, and puts some seriously cold-blooded, funny-to-death (literally) new trapts and devices clearly invented by a demonic version of Rube Goldberg. It is sometimes so over the top that it justifies for itself a game that still has low-res graphics and issues with the camera. But, how many times can we turn ourselves into a virtual Reaper and bring this sadistic medieval justice?

I appreciate the new freedom that Blood Ties affords combos, but there isn’t much else in place that dramatically changes up the formula from what we’ve seen before.

Deception IV: Blood Ties isn't a bad game, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

You'll likely know by now whether or not Deception 4 is for you, but there is an intriguing idea here waiting for you to discover if you do.

Deception IV requires a special sensibility to Japanese games, as it's something original that could be much better and that is still made for a market niche.

Despite its apparent flaws, the game clearly welcomes its niche labeling with open arms, swiftly constructing a pitfall for gamers on the prowl for something unfamiliar, albeit ponderously off-kilter.

Deception IV: Blood Ties is one of those games that wants you to spend a fair amount of time setting up traps, but then gives you ever chance to skip all that and easily defeat each level with minimal investment.

Fun in small doses, Deception IV: Blood Ties ultimately suffers from a bad case of repetition and is unlikely to keep you hooked for long.

While it demands a high level of investment, Deception IV: Blood Ties is still a decent game.

Besides adding a wealth of content, Tecmo Koei hasn’t done much to bring this series into a new generation, and its difficulty and tedium might alienate anyone but the most hardcore fans. This is one classic that should have stayed where it belongs — in the past.