Daikatana

Published by Sold Out
Designed by ION STORM
Platform: PC CD/ROM
Price £4.99
Released: Out Now

Great things were expected from Daikatana. Designed by a legend to FPS fans, John Romero, co-creator of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake etc. However upon it's arrival it bombed, massively. The game looked old fashioned, used save gems, and played like it should have arrived 3 years earlier. It may have been a serious disappointment at £30 but at this knock down price of £4.99 it suddenly becomes far better value for money.

Featuring 24 levels and 25 weapons the game is a test for even the best players. The levels aren't too bad but one criticism that remains is that it is awkward to see some enemies because they are similar in texture to the surroundings. Like in most FPS games, sounds warn you of oncoming enemies and in this respect Daikatana is no different. Nor does it provide captions for deaf gamers so that they too know that an enemy is approaching. Since the original release of the game several of the problems have been ironed out and you can now switch on unlimited saves in the options menu before you start a game and this will enable you to save anywhere. This makes the game far more enjoyable.

The game uses an enhanced Quake II engine and although the game doesn't compare to modern FPS games it still looks OK. The problems with the enemies, such as the killer frogs in the first level, looking almost identical to their surroundings, only occur in the first few levels.

Daikatana is fully subtitled, by default, which is great to see. The game could have done with captions (textual presentation of environmental sounds) but this is a feature seldom seen in games. The subtitles are very easy to see and remain on screen for quite a while.

Daikatana may not be the best FPS of all time but at the price of this release it certainly is worth a look for fans of the genre. The levels actually get a whole lot better as you progress through the game and with the ability to save anywhere it certainly is far more bearable now. The game even comes with a patch (found on the CD) that makes the game compatible with Windows XP so if you have upgraded or own XP, you'll still be able to play the game.

Recommendation: Recommended. At this price it's worth giving a look.
Suitability for deaf gamers: Suitable. The game is fully subtitled although you will be at a disadvantage compared to hearing gamers as environmental sounds are not captioned.

Overall Game Rating: 3.5/5