Blood Will Tell (PS2)
For those of you that follow me outside of the blog, you'll know I did a blind play of this game for my Let's Play Honestly series on YouTube. I'd heard of this game through MetalJesusRocks and the way he described I was pretty sure I'd enjoy it. So I played a bit for my series, and then recently picked it up again feeling like it was worthy of more time played and a review. This one grabbed me in the beginning wanting to play more, but can the rest of the game keep my attention?
The controls for this game feel really great. Combat is smooth and responsive, as is the jumping. What's difficult to get used to in this game is the right joystick having no control over camera movement. Instead it triggers a first person view that can completely break your rhythm.
No matter the form they take, though, each one comes with a nifty little health bar placed directly over their heads. These health bars come in three layers : the low "single" bar is red, middle is yellow, and the top "full" health bar is yellow. Not all enemies are necessary to fight, but some are.
In the overworld, there are three things that can "pull" you away into a separate mini-objective. Two challenges (annihilation and timed) and the boss fights. For the annihilation challenges, you'll be closed off in a small area and given a number of enemies to eliminate before you can continue. Timed challenges will place an objective on the map which you have to reach before (obviously) time runs out. Lastly, the boss fights take place in their own special arenas, and these guys are huge, pack a strong punch, and come with a massive, filled up three-layer health bar.
Whatever you're up against, you are the weapon that brings them down. Since losing his body parts, Hyakkimaru has been fitted with a stunning arsenal of weaponry to aid him on his quest of hunting down the Fiends. He carries a samurai sword, his left arm has been turned into a sword, his right a machine gun, and his leg is a cannon. Ammo for the guns is randomly dropped by enemies, or can be found in containers or stones in the world that can be hacked until they break.
Lastly, you gain a companion on your journey : Dororo.You meet them very early in the game (maybe 20 minutes in), and except for when the game forces you two to split apart, Dororo is constantly by your side. You can control where he (or she, it's never blatantly stated) goes and what he does between fighting with you, picking up items that drop in the area, or staying put so you can handle whatever is in front of you.
Blood Will Tell is a really fun game. It plays smooth and is an excellent blend of gameplay, "current" cutscenes, as well as flashback cutscenes that deeply flesh out Hyakkimaru's backstory and that of the Fiends who are in posession of his body parts. Is it challenging at all though?
The generic enemies are pretty easy. For the most part they are avoidable. They'll pop-spawn almost right in front of you, and even if you decide to attack them, more often than not you'll be able to reach them before they even start their attack move. As I mentioned, the health bars in this game come in three layers, and most of these basic enemies only have one bar filled, with maybe a portion of the second for some of them. Either way, a few whacks with your weapons and they're done.
Bosses are a bit tougher, putting them at a moderate challenge. All three health layers are filled up, they tower over you, and if any of their hits land they'll deal massive damage. The biggest hurdle to climb in these fights is getting into a rhythm with their attacks. Some move very sluggishly and are easy to handle, while others move super fast, or can jump and cover great distances in the area you're fighting. However, once you find that rhythm, the rest of the fight becomes pretty easy.
Lastly, the challenges are between easy and moderate. The annihilation challenges are pretty easy, you're walled off in a small area with no time limit to take down less than ten enemies. And it's the same enemies you come across in the rest of the game so these don't even feel like mini-bosses, just a slightly bigger speedbump in the road. As for the timed challenges, these are a bit tougher but simply because the time you're given is just enough to reach your goal with minimal to spare if you can avoid any fights along the path.
Definitely not the most difficult game, but it'll put you to the test while you play it. But before we wrap this one up, let's see what was good and bad about it.
- IRL Portrayal. This ones a bit shorter and only lasts through the beginning of the game, but this feature and detail is one of the reasons I hunted for this game in the first place. The first thing that happens when you start up Blood Will Tell is the game warns you that the black and white you're about to witness is not an error, and to not turn off or adjust anything. That's because one of the 48 body parts is Hyakkimaru's right eye, and until you recover it the game takes place in black and white. To me, it was reminiscent of the first Metal Gear Solid and the fight with Psycho Mantis where it would make you think your TV disconnected. It's a small thing but it works wonders to make it feel like you're more a part of the game.
- Companion Assist Delay. One of Dororo's settings is that you can tell him to lend a hand during fights. The problem is he reacts extremely slowly and by the time he raises a fist, the enemy he's aimed at drops to the ground. It doesn't screw you over, the weapons do more than enough work on their own. But if you're going to build a second AI character to assist, make them useful (Sheva from Resident Evil 5 anybody?)
I have retrieved about 1/4 of Hyrakkimaru's body parts, so I'm not completely done with this game yet. I'm slowly chipping away at it, and I'm considering on including it on a stream one day because more people definitely deserve to know about this game.
The Story
Our story follows that of Hyakkimaru, a samurai who was cursed at a young age when his father made a deal with a lot of Fiends to sell 48 of Hyakkimaru's body parts in exchange for money and invulnerability, which he used to go on and win numerous battles. Now he's all grown up, and fitted with prosthetic parts that double as weapons to make up for his missing body parts : swords for arms, and a gun and cannon in his legs. Will they be enough, though, as Hyakkimaru sets out to locate and kill the 48 Fiends and earn his body parts back?The Controls
Blood Will Tell is a third-person action game, that combines elements of hack and slash, platforming, and puzzles. The joysticks and D-Pad serve as your movement controls, with the right joystick triggering a first-person point of view to look around the area better. The shoulder buttons activate your gun and cannon limbs, as well as L1 controlling the direction the camera faces and allowing you to strafe. Lastly, the button interface is where all your melee combat is done through, jumping, and directing your companion Dororo, telling them to help in fights, pick up items, or just wait while you do the work.The controls for this game feel really great. Combat is smooth and responsive, as is the jumping. What's difficult to get used to in this game is the right joystick having no control over camera movement. Instead it triggers a first person view that can completely break your rhythm.
The Gameplay
Taking place over the shoulder, Blood Will Tell is broken down in to nine extremely linear sections. Every area you go through has one entry point and one exit, with not much in between to do. As you run through the areas, your enemies will progressively spawn in front of you, and they take many different forms.No matter the form they take, though, each one comes with a nifty little health bar placed directly over their heads. These health bars come in three layers : the low "single" bar is red, middle is yellow, and the top "full" health bar is yellow. Not all enemies are necessary to fight, but some are.
In the overworld, there are three things that can "pull" you away into a separate mini-objective. Two challenges (annihilation and timed) and the boss fights. For the annihilation challenges, you'll be closed off in a small area and given a number of enemies to eliminate before you can continue. Timed challenges will place an objective on the map which you have to reach before (obviously) time runs out. Lastly, the boss fights take place in their own special arenas, and these guys are huge, pack a strong punch, and come with a massive, filled up three-layer health bar.
Whatever you're up against, you are the weapon that brings them down. Since losing his body parts, Hyakkimaru has been fitted with a stunning arsenal of weaponry to aid him on his quest of hunting down the Fiends. He carries a samurai sword, his left arm has been turned into a sword, his right a machine gun, and his leg is a cannon. Ammo for the guns is randomly dropped by enemies, or can be found in containers or stones in the world that can be hacked until they break.
Lastly, you gain a companion on your journey : Dororo.You meet them very early in the game (maybe 20 minutes in), and except for when the game forces you two to split apart, Dororo is constantly by your side. You can control where he (or she, it's never blatantly stated) goes and what he does between fighting with you, picking up items that drop in the area, or staying put so you can handle whatever is in front of you.
Blood Will Tell is a really fun game. It plays smooth and is an excellent blend of gameplay, "current" cutscenes, as well as flashback cutscenes that deeply flesh out Hyakkimaru's backstory and that of the Fiends who are in posession of his body parts. Is it challenging at all though?
The Difficulty (or lack thereof?)
With no exploration to do, Blood Will Tell's difficulty is wrapped up in a tight little circle. Your enemies, bosses, and the challenges are the hurdles you'll have to get over to clear this game. Let's see how they are.The generic enemies are pretty easy. For the most part they are avoidable. They'll pop-spawn almost right in front of you, and even if you decide to attack them, more often than not you'll be able to reach them before they even start their attack move. As I mentioned, the health bars in this game come in three layers, and most of these basic enemies only have one bar filled, with maybe a portion of the second for some of them. Either way, a few whacks with your weapons and they're done.
Bosses are a bit tougher, putting them at a moderate challenge. All three health layers are filled up, they tower over you, and if any of their hits land they'll deal massive damage. The biggest hurdle to climb in these fights is getting into a rhythm with their attacks. Some move very sluggishly and are easy to handle, while others move super fast, or can jump and cover great distances in the area you're fighting. However, once you find that rhythm, the rest of the fight becomes pretty easy.
Lastly, the challenges are between easy and moderate. The annihilation challenges are pretty easy, you're walled off in a small area with no time limit to take down less than ten enemies. And it's the same enemies you come across in the rest of the game so these don't even feel like mini-bosses, just a slightly bigger speedbump in the road. As for the timed challenges, these are a bit tougher but simply because the time you're given is just enough to reach your goal with minimal to spare if you can avoid any fights along the path.
Definitely not the most difficult game, but it'll put you to the test while you play it. But before we wrap this one up, let's see what was good and bad about it.
PROS
- Terrific Story. By far one of the coolest stories in a video game I've ever come across. I've played ones with the character missing a limb or two for a portion of the story...but kicking things off with 48, and you get to personally hunt down the demons and restore them? It's fantastic. And on top of it, getting to see not only "current" cutscenes, but massive amounts of backstory filling in what happened before really helps drive this game through.- IRL Portrayal. This ones a bit shorter and only lasts through the beginning of the game, but this feature and detail is one of the reasons I hunted for this game in the first place. The first thing that happens when you start up Blood Will Tell is the game warns you that the black and white you're about to witness is not an error, and to not turn off or adjust anything. That's because one of the 48 body parts is Hyakkimaru's right eye, and until you recover it the game takes place in black and white. To me, it was reminiscent of the first Metal Gear Solid and the fight with Psycho Mantis where it would make you think your TV disconnected. It's a small thing but it works wonders to make it feel like you're more a part of the game.
CONS
- Getting Knocked Down. One of the most infuriating things in combat is when you get knocked down. First off it seems to happen any time you get hit. I can't remember a time when I took a hit and didn't fall on my back. So either every hit is meant to knock you flat on your back, or I just have crap luck in fights in this game. On top of that, getting back up from this is harder than a turtle flipping itself over from being on it's shell. It seems likes it's designed to be how you wiggle the joystick and tap the jump button, but just like falling down it's either executed horribly or it's a random process getting back up.- Companion Assist Delay. One of Dororo's settings is that you can tell him to lend a hand during fights. The problem is he reacts extremely slowly and by the time he raises a fist, the enemy he's aimed at drops to the ground. It doesn't screw you over, the weapons do more than enough work on their own. But if you're going to build a second AI character to assist, make them useful (Sheva from Resident Evil 5 anybody?)
Final Verdict
Blood Will Tell is a pretty rare title in the US, and that rarity has bumped up the price tag on this one. When I first heard of this game, CIB was around $25. When I was hunting for it, the CIB price was just under $60 (I got super lucky on eBay and swiped mine for $30). But now, a loose copy of this game goes for $60 while a CIB copy being a little under $100. So it's a bit difficult to justify spending that much on a title (unless you're a rarity collector). But, the game is incredible. It's a lot of fun, the combat is great (despite the knock-down flaw), and the story definitely is set apart from most other titles you'll come across. If you're lucky enough to come across this one for a deal, don't pass it up.I have retrieved about 1/4 of Hyrakkimaru's body parts, so I'm not completely done with this game yet. I'm slowly chipping away at it, and I'm considering on including it on a stream one day because more people definitely deserve to know about this game.
