by:	August 16, 2004

Otogi: Myth of Demons is an experience that differs from many in the action genre on the Xbox. It offers much more then the typical games currently on the market. It’s done in a fashion that many barely focus on anymore. More about gameplay and less with the tricks and magic that games now of days try to employ to distract the players. Otogi may be a sleeper hit but it all ready has justified itself for worthy for a sequel.

The story pits you into the role of Raikoh, a warrior that returns from the dead to free the world of the demons that are terrorizing it. Raikoh has the abilities to wield many deadly swords to vanquish evil or even cast some gratifying spells that will make you want to turn Raikoh into a powerful sorcerer to see how much power he has within himself. Raikoh just always seems to be invincible and becomes stronger as you play. Part of that reason is due to how you can level him up but I will cover that subject on the next page. Raikoh resembles a samurai and actually is one of my favorite new characters of the past few years that don the samurai/ninja resemblance.

Controlling Raikoh is simple and the gameplay is essentially a button smasher but it does have a heart to it. Raikoh is the antithesis of a construction worker. You take him into a level and destroy everything around you to gain extra points to your point tally that will grade you when you complete the level. Other various things that are judged at the end of the level will be how many enemies you have killed, how long you took, total damage, times it took to beat the level, gold you earned, experience earned, spirits released and max combos. This all ties in easily and it’s actually a good way to keep the player wanting to beat his last scored and time.

So yes the game plays great, but it doesn’t come without some difficulties. Often times you will be surrounded by enemies and you will only have one way to escape. Let me give an example; I was destroying a water tower for an objective and I had to get knock it down with also avoiding sorcerers that are trying to stop me. In this case, I was floating around destroying some pillars and I was knocked out of midair by a spell that took me back to the ground. After that initial hit, I was bombarded with about 20 magic spells that repetitively hit me one after another. This beating would have kept going if I wouldn’t have teleported to safety. Just a small exploit that broke some of my nerves due to that I was almost finished completing the mission until that happened and died soon after.

The last thing I would like to discuss about the gameplay is the mini-bosses and villains that you will encounter throughout the game. I had a lot of fun fighting these enemies as it gave me the option of avoiding all the other enemies and just going straight to them to finish the level. That’s right; you can ignore all the enemies in the game and just defeat the boss at the end of the level to complete the mission in no time. I have completed levels in less than three minutes and usually an average of five to seven minutes. The bosses range from sea harpies to hydras looking monsters that all have a little fun added to them every time you do face off against them. My favorite boss would be the giant centipede that is full of evil and has a cocky attitude. Taking down him down may be the biggest task up until then.

Go to the next page to find out impressions on the sound, graphics and intangibles --->