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Toukiden: Kiwami (PS4)

Toukiden: Kiwami (PS4) - Review

by Jake Weston , posted on 03 April 2015 / 28,016 Views

I never caught on to the “Monster Hunter” genre, the type of games inspired by the insanely popular Capcom series of the same name, whose influence has extended into similar games such as Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars, and Toukiden: The Age of Demons. Not that I have anything against the genre, I just never thought the structure on which it is built - small, bite-sized missions where you kill X amount of monsters or collect Y amount of items, building up experience and acquiring new gear until you’re ready to fight a giant boss monster - would appeal to me, especially since in these “Monster Hunter” games you seemingly hunt monsters for hunting monsters’ sake, without much of a plot to drive you forward. 

Of course, then I played Toukiden: Kiwami, and that old adage about making assumptions revealed itself to be truer than ever. 

Toukiden: Kiwami, for the uninitiated, is a PS4 port of the aforementioned Toukiden: The Age of Demons, bringing the game's unique brand of monster slaying to the living room. You play as a Slayer, a long line hunters tasked with hunting “Oni”, demons that terrorize humanity and even consume their souls. Depending on which Oni you slay, you can release these souls - dubbed “Mitama” - and they will then fuse themselves with your weapons to provide various stat boosts, specializing in either attack, defense, or providing special abilities. 

You are not alone in this quest, as during each mission you can be joined by up to four AI-controlled Slayers. A rudimentary squad-control system allows you to command them to attack, defend, or follow you, but I found they mostly got the job done in their default “free” mode. The AI isn’t particularly impressive, but its addition does help liven up what could potentially be monotonous combat, and I have to admit that I did develop a bit of camaraderie with my computer-controlled teammates.

Slaying giant Oni is the real attraction of Toukiden: Kiwami, and it’s here that the game’s combat shines. While the smaller Oni in the game can be taken down through button mashing and minimal strategy, giant Oni take preparation and strategy. Each Oni has its own unique set of quirks and fighting style, meaning you’ll have to adjust accordingly to efficiently take it down. Slaying Oni can prove itself to be a big time commitment if you’re ill-prepared, but it ultimately makes bringing down the beast much more satisfying. While there is a nice level of variety to the types of Oni you’ll slay on your journey, it is a bit disappointing how many are repeatedly fought again for later missions. 

Toukiden: The Age of Demons was originally a Vita game (as well as PSP over in Japan), but the visuals of Kiwami on PS4 do not reveal its handheld origins. While it’s a far cry from what we’ve seen from big AAA releases this year, everything looks crisp and clean, and Kiwami features a great art style that produces unique and memorable character and monster designs. Toukiden: Kiwami is not merely a port of The Age of Demons, however, but also an expansion that brings with it new missions, monsters, and weapons. Among these new weapons is the rifle, which itself has a myriad of different ammo types, its range bringing a nice variety to combat as well as being able to hit Oni weakpoints that would be harder to reach with other weapons. 

Of course, there are minor issues that, while edible in a portable setting, do not translate quite as well to home consoles. Mission maps are fragmented into a myriad of mini-areas, which provide a good deal of visual variety but are separated by loading screens during each transition. The loading screens aren’t unbearably long, but they are frequent enough to sometimes muck up the flow of any given mission. Another complaint I have - though this is probably intentional - is the lack of being able to roll out and cancel combat animations. Some of the heavier, more damage-inducing weapons lock you into lengthy attack animations, leaving you exposed. Of course this all part of learning the strategies and viabilities of each weapon, but it was quite frustrating to get locked into animations that could last up to a few seconds.

Toukiden: Kiwami scratches an itch I didn’t even know I had, and has convinced me of the validity of an entire genre. While it’s not necessarily game-changing in its own right, that alone is still worth praise. My only other complaint is the lack of cross-buy for the PS4 version, since from a design standpoint this really does seem like a game that is truly at home on the Vita (though Kiwami is available for Vita separately, and cross-save is available between the two versions). Whether you’re already a Toukiden fan wanting to slay monsters on your big screen, or are like me and want to see what this genre is all about, Toukiden: Kiwami is worth your time. 


VGChartz Verdict


7.5
Good

This review is based on a digital copy of Toukiden: Kiwami for the PS4, provided by the publisher.

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