Topic: Anima: Ark of Sinners

Has anyone downloaded and played Anima: Ark of Sinners? There's already a video review on YouTube and he thinks the game is really crappy and has problems with faulty controls. I really wanted to like this game but after watching this review I just don't know.

I don't rely on one person's opinion. Has anyone other opinions on this one?

The guy in that review seemed to be quite nitpicky about the controls. Some of the peoples comments on the video were saying they really liked the game. I think the reviewer just needs to learn how to play.
I usually trust Nintendolife's reviews so I'll wait and see what they say about it.

The reviews from Demon212 are usually objective and fact-based. He's never one to bash on a game, even one I completely despise. Now, has he turned evil? Or is this game really that bad?

On the other hand, like you said Link79, there are people in the comments saying that they have found almost no problems with the controls. Maybe Demon's controller is not functioning correctly?

I'm really interested to hear other opinions because I still think that the game looks good graphics-wise. After seeing the review even more.

I was hoping this game was going to be one of the few good WiiWare titles. I hope they fix any bugs that could ruin such potential for a great WiiWare title.

Sounds to me like he was looking forward to it a lot and it didn't turn out how he specifically wanted it to. I did notice in the early part of the review he was going through quite well because he seemed to be playing and talking at the same time, something I can't do without either playing badly or speaking badly.

I think I might still go for this later on.

I always thought this game looked really bad. I never understood why people were actually hyped for it. Everything about it in the trailer, from the character design and overall graphic quality to the floatiness of the main character's jump, made it look completely amateurish. I'm not surprised to find out that the guy who played it says it's crap.

Even though I hate Demon212 so called reviews, I agree with him about this game. So far I'm more annoyed then enjoyed.

Lets start positive. The music is pretty good and so are the sound effects (only the constant moaning of the main character gets on your nerves pretty soon). The graphics look great too. Most enemies are color swaps, and more difficult, but it looks pretty good. The main character looks ok. I love the backgrounds and it looks pretty cool and gothic. The artwork cutscenes between the gameplay segments that tells the story looks good as well. The story is pretty well told as well by these cutscenes.

Now on to the negative. It begins by them exchanging the functions between the 1 and 2 button. Now, 1 is confirm in menu's and two is cancel. Why would they change that? Thankfully ingame 2 is still jump. But that's the first you notice as well, the jump is really awkward. It's hard to explain, but it looks really weird and feels imprecise, like normal physics don't apply. The camera causes trouble as well. At one point I was stuck. I don't know where I can go. There was only one way, going down. But you never see a platform there.

The combat is even worse. It just feel so bad. You can't block attacks and sometimes it seems like the attacks don't work. It just don't work fluidly. When you attack, you can't jump out of danger directly. It's just frustrating. And they can in fact attack you multiple times in a row without giving you any chance to attack back, block or jump out of danger. Out of all the enemies I have encountered so far. I died the most by blue blobs that comes out of nowhere and chase me. So annoying and frustrating.

But what's even more terrible is dying. When you die, you are put back at a save point. But not with full health, but the last health you had on the point of entering the scene. So if you are low on health before entering the scene. You are screwed. There are two kind of orbs. Red and green. Green restores your health bar with red restores a magic like bar. Funny detail is that the health bar is blue and the magic bar green so it's makes even less sense.

So at this point I can't really recommend this title. Especially at 1000 Points. If they would have released a demo first, I sure wouldn't spend any money on this game.

Yeah I think I'll wait for a review after it's release, before downloading this game. A demo wouldn't hurt either, but lately Nintendo really hasn't been making any available @Sneaker13.

Maybe it's because the 3DS and the WiiU are currently claiming all of their attention. Or maybe it's because they don't want us to see how crappy the WiiWare titles are, before we spend our money.

It's up to the developer to create a demo in the first place, and this requires extra development time, testing etc.

It's not great but I wouldn't level the same vitriol towards it as Demon212. I don't think he mentioned the long range attack than can help against some enemies. But that uses a meter so you do have to refill it with standard attacks sooner or later.

When (not if) you die it loads back in very quickly, so you can try again easily. I find that because of the controls you have to play it a certain way. A special move is forwards on the dpad and attack, so if you're running when you attack you always do this really lengthy animated attack, but if you stay on the spot and attack then it's much better.

Not awful but not great. 5/10 from me.

Dang. It looked really cool.

Really how much more development and testing could it possibly take, if they've already completed the finished product?

@Sneaker13:, @SigourneyBeaver: Thanks for your estimation of the game, I do really appreciate it. Seems that the game isn't that great as I expected it to be. But I won't ignore it completely, maybe I give it a try sometime because of the nifty gothic graphic style. I mean it's not unplayable, isn't it? And sometimes I even enjoy games that everybody else seems to hate, for example Robox.

I wouldn't say it's unplayable, but it has its annoying quirks. For example, if you try to adjust the character mid-jump by pressing in the opposite direction, the character turns around completely and this puts you a full width further back, so you miss the landing. Then there's the landing animation which you must wait for before you can do another successful jump.

I'd describe it like Sonic Episode 1, where you're expecting it to behave a certain way. Then it turns out not to be like that and you have to figure out how to get the best out if it. It doesn't feel polished though, a bit scruffy overall.

That is hilarious.

I noticed that too

I have just finished the game this morning and it has left me a very nice feeling, so I wanted to write this review

Graphics 8 / 10
Solid for a wiiware game. The design of both the characters and stages are very well done. Enemies are bizarre but great, and the main female character is very well animated.
Sounds 8 / 10
I really liked a lot the music. It is very well composed and even has choirs. Each theme fits for the mood of the game, in special the menu one.
Sounds are correct. Not incredible, but not bad either.
Story 9 / 10
I don't know if the story is directly taken form the RPG in which the game is based on (never read it), but the story of Ark of Sinners is great. Even if the main premise is strange at the beginning (find someone who is lost in the city), once you advance across the game all begins to fit and, at the same time, to be more and more mysterious.
Also, the gloomy feeling that the monoliths of the city give is a nice add on to the atmosphere.
Gameplay 8 / 10
Very solid too. At the beginning I had problems with the control and the combat system, but once you really understand how jumps and attacks work, the fights become very fun. The problem is that the main character has a lot of combos and special attacks, and if you just use the basic ones, the monsters are quite tough. Kept also in mind that only special attacks damage multiple monsters, and you need to find a way to separate them if you don't have magic points.
For an "open adventure game", the game is a bit linear, and only 3 or 4 times you are really free to visit different parts of the city. However, all the stages have a different feeling, like the one in which a big monster is chasing you and you need to escape from it.
Dificulty 7 / 10
Too high. I'm a hardcore gamer and sometimes I had a hell to pass some zones, specially in the end part when you need to face long waves of enemies. For people who are not hardcores or doesn't like too much difficulty, I recommend Easy Mode, where you can hit multiples enemies with normal attacks.

Total 8 /10
Ark of Sinners is a good and fun game but, if I had to find just one word to describe it, I would say solid. From the beginning to the end I had the feeling of being playing and old school work, but one very well done.
I wish there was more titles like this in wiiware.

Hi Luchen. Thanks for your detailed review. It is interesting to read other people's opinions of the game. Seems these old-school type games have to be quite difficult because otherwise they would be over to soon. One question: How varied is the game world in AOS? In the videos (the few that I have seen) there's always these pillars and a ruined city in the background. Is this all the game has to offer?

Just so you guys know, user 'Luchen' is in fact Mario Ferrer, CEO of Anima Game Studio. Be sure to keep that in mind when reading his review.