This game is ridiculously close to perfect. I could basically end my review there!
First of all, i have to mention that Vampire Smile was created by one person and one person only. James Silva is an absolute genius and deserves an enormous amount of praise. This is why i love arcade games so much. It is clear from the beginning that Silva has put a huge amount of effort, time andThis game is ridiculously close to perfect. I could basically end my review there!
First of all, i have to mention that Vampire Smile was created by one person and one person only. James Silva is an absolute genius and deserves an enormous amount of praise. This is why i love arcade games so much. It is clear from the beginning that Silva has put a huge amount of effort, time and dedication into this masterpiece and it is all well spent. The art style in this game blows me away. It's not for everyone i will admit but the gruesome, Gothic, dark style implemented does wonders for the hack and slash genre and should be used much more often. This style also works extremely well within the 'cutscenes' told through comic-book styled text and images. The game would actually suffer if cutscenes were included due to the small amount of man-power, but once again the lack of voice and use of text/images work extremely well with not only the game itself, but also with it's genre. The soundtrack is also mesmerizing. It includes some very creepy under tones to the stillness of some of the levels, but also knows exactly when to amp up the excitement. Unlike games such as tombraider, the music isn't used to scare or alert you of danger. It cuts in exactly at the point of enemy spawns and works so well with the chaotic action on screen. The soundtrack is used to background everything else but is clearly something that was taken care of very delicately. A soundtrack is never something i usually notice within games or movies so the fact that this stands out to me personally, really shows its excellence. Vampire Smile gives players a completely unique style of gameplay. Although it follows the hack and slash genre, so there's not much that's new, but it does implement some great new mechanics. The evade maneuver being the most noticeable. Being able to dodge out of the way within an instant of an enemies attack and then within that instant, dodge right back in and begin attacking is very satisfying. Also the fact that the evade can be constantly performed and allows players to practically fly into the air, quickly switch to a stronger weapon and then come flying down screen to deliver a very powerful attack. I would say that this mechanic makes this game so unique and makes it so enjoyable. I came so close to rating this game 10/10, but couldn't do it as there are some minor problems. Firstly, the controls. Although they are fantastic and feel so fluid. The evade (which is the most used mechanic) is controlled by the right stick and often becomes frustrating to switch from attack to evade, when both are used so frequently. My second problem with Vampire Smile is the online. Although playing with a partner sounds very enjoyable, from what i've experience, it's no different than the single player. I have yet to have any communication with any of my co-op partners so it's lead me to believe that there is no way to talk to your partner. This just makes the experience feel like the single player but with an AI tagging along.
So as i said at the beginning, this came is so close to perfect. Only a few, very minor problems lowered its score and those are very, very easily ignored.
My final point here is that if you don't have the game or are thinking about getting it. What are you doing? BUY IT!
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