Bloodforge comes from the creative minds at Climax Studios. It has an interesting art style and gruesome battles that bring something new to Xbox Live Arcade. It is a game based within Celtic mythology which you don’t see as often as others. During the game you take on the role of Crom in his quest for vengeance that definitely deserves a mature rating.
Pros:
Combat: The combat of Bloodforge is fairly simple; you have light and heavy attacks, a long ranger attack, and the ability to dodge. All of these can be linked together for devastating combos. There is also the blood rage meter, when activated it makes you faster and stronger which can lead to even deadlier combos. There are also health and damage bonus that can be picked up throughout the world and mapped to quick buttons for easy access.
Blood and Atmosphere: The art style of the games makes all the blood and different environments look stunning. The bloody scenes in the game could be compared to the hit show Spartacus: Blood and Sand except here it would be Crom: Blood and Snow. The small cut scenes and kill animations are extremely gory and will leave blood stains in your wake. The finishing kill scenes are also different depending on which weapon you are using at the time of their last breath.
Weapons: There are three different weapons in the game that can chance between. I feel that Climax did this because they know everyone has their own play style and these different weapons would let you play your own way. You have the sword for fluid attacks, the hammer for slow heavier damaging blows, and the claws for fast paced strikes. These all can chance the way you play and it is best to use all of them for the different situations that arise.
Avatar Awards: We can all see that Crom looks like a great warrior and you can get his outfit for your avatar. You can unlock his helmet by performing a kill move, and his top and leggings from story related actions.
Challenges: There is one small multiplayer aspect to the game, you can set up challenge rooms and then send the challenge to your friends. It is great fun to have to do your own challenge and then send it out to try and be completed by your friends.
Quality: When watching someone plays the game it can sometimes seem that it could be a retail title. It has some great graphics that are very detailed and great hack and slash action you normally see on store shelves.
Cons:
Camera: The camera is a zoomed out, over the shoulder, third person view. It bounces as you move and made one of our writers sick. It can also be hard to see enemies that are flanking you because of the angle of the camera. While it is very different and took some getting used to, it might benefit some players if the bounce was reduced.
In Conclusion:
Bloodforge does great at being what it was meant to be a hack and slash adventure. It was sometimes hard to keep track of what was going on with the story but the graphics and the action keep you pulled in. The price of the game is 1200 msp and I feel it would be more fitting as an 800 point so you may want to wait on it to show up in deal of the week. I would recommend playing the trial and deciding for yourself if you want to pay full price for it.
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