Rating

D

Specific Ratings

GraphicsB-
SoundA-
GameplayD+
Replay ValueF
Learning CurveF

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Some breathtaking scenery
  • Good music
  • Fair amount of exploration
Cons
  • Everything else

Venetica (PlayStation 3)

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Reviewed on:

Summary

An enchantingly aggravating game, definitely

Images


Description

VENETICA



*A quick note* I hope this review will be greatly appreciated by everyone who views this page whether you have actually played the game or not. Don't hesitate to let me know if you liked it. I would feel better because here I am having painstakingly written nearly the entire review (and it was quite lengthy) when my laptop died and I had nothing saved. Sadly, it failed to warn me when the charge was getting low as it normally does, and just shut off in the middle of my sentence to my great displeasure. I hope, therefore, that someone finds this review helpful.


So, I'll say this once again...

There are few games as mind numbingly dull and simultaneously addicting as Venetica is to me. This is in no way a compliment, rather I can find nothing better to compare it to than my first cigarette. A harsh and sickening feeling mingled with that brief, light-headed rapture that had me seeking another. In the same way Venetica is a distasteful RPG that I find repulsive and alluring at the same time. While addicting is probably too strong a word, I certainly have found myself returning to the game time and time again and not being able to tell myself why. Why did I play it? What joy did it bring me? There are few rewarding moments in the game and most of my time spent playing I vividly recall the cursing, the frustration and utter disapproval of every aspect of the game that dares to defile my Playstation 3 system by simply being in it. Yet I always returned to it so this review is in the hopes of scratching this nagging itch that the game has burdened my mind with.

You begin the game as Scarlet, an ordinary woman who wants nothing to do with fighting and adventure. She claims that she is not a fighter (a lot throughout the first half of the game in fact) and she is madly in love with a soldier named Benedict. The two are having a romantic conversation, enjoying their last night together before he leaves on the following morning to see to his duties. Very original so far, no?
Well the romance is short lived. A quick and fiery attack crashes down onto the small mountain village by a band of assassins. Scarlet and Benedict become separated and Scarlet must fend for herself. She finds a fire poker to arm herself with and takes out three assassins with the crude weapon with deadly and precise efficiency (Despite her claim that she cannot fight she just defeated three trained assassins? Trained assassins with SWORDS!?).

As more assassins approach all suddenly seems lost though and Scarlet drops her weapon, resigning to her fate. Of course Benedict conveniently rushes in from out of nowhere, slaying the assassins around Scarlet and everything seems right again. But wait, one of the assassins throws a knife at Scarlet just before he collapses in death. Benedict, our brave and fearless hero, throws himself in front of the small blade, thus dying in Scarlet's place.

We now find ourselves five minutes into the game and it's all too clear that the story is unoriginal, uninspiring and poorly constructed. Given the many other faults already easily noticeable at this point (graphics, voiceovers, and controls which I will discuss below) I imagine many people would quit playing the game right now before going any further. I would not blame them.


I kept playing. I don't know why, but I did. I thought that maybe there was some mystery here. Maybe our heroine, Scarlet, was more than meets the eye. I decided to give the game a chance but I soon found out something about her that had me asking if the game developers were stoned or stupid. Scarlet is the daughter of Death. I don't mean in a analogical kind of way like "religion is the opium of the people" (Karl Marx). I mean she is literally the daughter of Death. I guess I can see how it sounded good as an idea, but it quickly comes off as childish rather than enticing. Then again, I didn't learn this while playing the game (it may have had a better effect on my biased opinion if I learned the mysterious truth later), it's actually printed on the back of the game case! So rather than have this tidbit of information kept as an ace up the sleeve to be revealed as a story altering, mind-bending, juicy little plot twist at some pivotal point in the timeline (if done correctly it may have been quite engrossing) they decided to reveal the truth about the main character before you ever pick up a controller. And that's it. That's all the mystery to her. Now you know all about her. Any other truth about her past that may be revealed to you later is just caulk. Something to fill in the gaps with details made trivial by what should have been a major revelation to the player.

Now that you know what the first five minutes looks like, what does it sound like? I speak, of course, of the voice overs. I have so much more to discuss regarding the conversations in this game than simply voices of course, but we'll begin with them. Now any good game developer knows that to really make a player relate to a character, they must feel what the character feels. Their voice must reflect the anger, the hate, the joy, or the love of their present situation. The tension within an awkward scene for example, should fill the air around the player like smoke rolling from the television speakers. Gamers want that connection to their characters. Venetica, however, seems to possess no real ties to emotion. I mean, you can hear the anger in Scarlet's voice when she chastises an enemy, but it's a forced and unemotional madness. You know she's angry, scared, hurt, etc... but you just don't care.

Moving onto character interaction via conversation and dialogue choices is where things will often become confusing and irritating. IF YOU ARE DEAF, YOU MAY NOT WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME! While it does have subtitles, I would suggest players try not to rely on those as they are often mistyped in misleading ways. For example when a person I spoke with during the game said, "I can't..." the subtitle read, "I can..." This is especially annoying because often you want to read the subtitles rather than listen to the slow, insipid babbling of the people inhabiting this world in order to move on with the game, but do so at your own risks because you may find yourself doing other than what you need to do.
There's more...

The player is frequently given dialogue choices during these interactions but sometimes the game doesn't care what you picked. Conversations can become completely pointless and seem like little more than random sentences garbled together. Scarlet may have a mind of her own when she says something other than what you picked. Furthermore, the person you are speaking with may answer a question neither she nor you asked. These are extremely odd and confusing moments during the game but it's hard for me personally to get to upset about them. I find them somewhat amusing and comedic myself, though I still dislike it, especially if its quest related information that I'm after.

At last we arrive at the graphics. Now these are less than desirable, considering I am playing on a Playstation 3 I would certainly expect a little better. People and objects, while not so blocky as you see on the Playstation 2, do seem unrefined or distorted most of the time. This disappoints me somewhat because Venetica really is a beautiful game with great scenery and enticing imagery. Much of the inspiration for the game was taken directly from Venice, a magnificent city in itself. In fact the major in game city is Venice, although on a larger, exaggerated scale with elements of fantasy and mythology. Often these magical depictions just beg for a smoother grain that I'll never get to see. However, they come with the grace of a rather good musical score typical of RPGs but clear, diverse and original. Despite the hazy graphics, I still find it fairly easy to engross myself in this world, despite the many flaws of its gameplay and inhabitants.

Another thing to be desired is of course the gameplay and controls. These two go hand in hand with most games and the fluidity of the two working in conjunction is a plus. Venetica proves very frustrating in this respect as well however, because the sub-par controls take a great deal of fun out of what may have been acceptable gameplay. Beginning with the controls, the problem I have is that they are sometimes unresponsive. While trying to avoid taking damage from an attacking enemy I will usually try to roll away from them, just as you might do in any God of War game. However I often don't roll, instead getting pummeled by several devastating blows, or I roll the opposite direction, into the attack! Rolling is my biggest gripe and I seldom have problems with everything else, which involves unresponsive commands but those are relatively rare and I wont go into further detail here. Suffice it to say that the inability to roll away has gotten me killed more than any other reason and has been a huge game breaker for me.

Combat may be the best thing Venetica has to offer. That is not really saying a lot. For the most part, you have three basic commands: roll, strike, or block with your sword (we know how well rolling works). I usually don't block because for some reason, the game developers decided that you cannot block with the Moonblade; the sword you will be using for probably 90% of the game. Why I cannot block with this sword but I can with any other is beyond me. Furthermore, weapons can only block attacks made by a weapon of the same type. Spears can only block spears, hammers block hammers and so on. The game wants you to choose your weapon based on the weapon your opponent is using, but that is annoying and it's much easier to attack with my sword anyways because the enemies aren't particularly difficult. Besides, I should just be able to roll away from their attacks anyways, right?

So it seems the most effective option here is to attack. Just swing away and mash the X button. There's not much skill to that. Here, however, you can time your attacks for added damage. By tapping the X button again, just as your first attack is finishing, you can perform a more powerful attack, and you can keep doing this with each successive swing. So, ok, I'll hand it to them, some skill is required here, just a tiny bit. But it has never really seemed that much more effective to me, and if you like, you could easily vanquish your foes by mashing the attack button as well. There are many other skills you can learn as you progress through the game and level up, but I hardly find use for them. Sometimes they don't work, but mostly I just don't need them. Enemies fall under the sword easily enough that I just don't bother, but who knows. Try this game and perhaps you'll enjoy them more yourself.

Aside from combat the rest of the world is rather uneventful. Quests are made available to you to various ends, but they ultimately involve killing things, or finding things (you'll have to kill things to find things, naturally). There is a fair amount of exploration if you're interested in discovering things on your own, but dark passages are a hassle for me. Some caves and halls are so dark you need a lantern with you to light the way. Simple enough, Scarlet ties it to her belt and it doesn't interfere with your gameplay so I don't mind. But it only lasts so long. After a few minutes, refilling the lamp oil is necessary if you want to keep using it. Sure thing, not a big deal. So I'm in a dark tunnel, my lamp goes out, I hit select, go to my menu, select the oil and the lamp is filled. Well... yes and no. Selecting the oil does fill the lamp but it also immediately boots you out of the menu. This would be fine but your your lantern still isn't lit. Why? You have to open your menu and re-equip it. WHY DID YOU FORCE ME OUT OF THE MENU IF I HAVE TO DO THAT? WHY SHOULD I EVEN HAVE TO DO THAT?! It makes more sense to have an unequip option. I already equipped it once, so why would the game automatically unequip it just because I filled it?

It's time to come to an end. Unfortunately I could continue this review, stretching it out, adding thousands of more words, describing yet more disturbing and glitchy occurrences within the game, but I think I have made my point pretty clear. If you're an RPG fan out there desperate for a fix, or a trophy hunter looking for a another platinum, give this game a try. It's cheap (I got mine for free but it was priced $9), it's mildly entertaining, and good for a laugh now and then at the odd misleading conversations. Ultimately, it's going to depend a lot on the player. In my opinion, there are better things to spend $9 on, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. I gave this game a D, which is still a passing grade after all.

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