Demonic
The Imperial court had ruled the land for a thousand years, but after its magical seal was broken, the court's days of glory quickly drew to a close. The lands which the court once ruled were engulfed in perpetual darkness. Neither the light of star nor moon could pierce the endless night, and an eerie tempest rose from the blackness to level all that stood before it. When the winds had passed, all that remained was a court in ruins, and a lifeless city. A young male warrior known as Raikoh managed to survive the fall of the Great Seal, but has been held in a state between life and death by a Princess. Raikoh must fulfill the Princess' wishes and in doing so cleanse the impurity from his past.
Hack, Slash and Smash
As one could gather from the heading of this section, Otogi involves a lot of death and destruction. Raikoh is a tough young lad, possessing skills with both weapons and magic. He only starts off with his clan sword, but after several missions, you will have earned enough points to purchase different and more powerful weaponry. Each different weapon has its own unique attributes and combo styles. You only begin to realize the sort of power Raikoh has at his disposal when you merge these weapons with his other abilities, such as air attacks and special smash attacks. Raikoh's smash attacks allow him to destroy buildings and the environment around him, as well as send enemies flying through structures or into each other, causing significantly more damage in the process - quite a satisfying experience. A large amount of the environment is destructible in Otogi - it's not just for smashing your opponents into, as you are required to release a certain number of spirits in each level, most of which are trapped in the environment. You're also rated on how much destruction you cause in a level.
Magic is a very important factor in Otogi - it's a measure of Raikoh's power, and allows him to execute all sorts of spells. Magic functions as a timer of sorts - once you run out of magic, Raikoh's body will become frail and only be able to take one hit, not to mention the fact that his double jump, dash and air combo abilities will all be gone. Magic can be replenished by defeating enemies strewn throughout the levels. Spells are essentially the offensive side of magic - they consume some of your power, but produce devastating effects, depending on how much you charge the spell before unleashing it. As with weapons, spells can be bought and found throughout the game.
Otogi isn't perfect - we've got two main criticisms with the game. Firstly, Otogi is a little repetitive. If you find that you don't enjoy the beat ?em ups of old, Otogi may not be for you. It does feature a lot more variety than other games in the beat ?em up genre though, thanks to its variety of spells, weapons, and of course, the ability to smash your foes through the environment. Our other issue with Otogi is the difficulty - once you've completed a few stages, you'll notice that the difficulty gets cranked to 11, and progression in the game only ever comes as a result of blood, sweat and tears. Boss fights and other stages around the middle of the game become particularly fiendish, and the difficulty never lets up throughout the rest of the piece.
There are just fewer than 30 levels in Otogi, with each one lasting somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes. Each level has an objective, which ranges from defeating all of the enemies, to leveling a building, defeating a boss, or freeing spirits. Of course, with the fiendish difficulty, most players will find themselves playing stages through multiple times before they get things right. If you're a perfectionist, Otogi rates you on how many souls you rescue and how much destruction you cause on each level - getting perfect rankings on each stage will result in a nice little reward.
War zone
If there's one thing lacking about the graphics in many Xbox titles, it's a decent visual style - many games on the console do feature nice graphics - but there's just no sense of style to them at all. Otogi is visually stunning, and features truckloads of style. Some environments are filled with trees and plants, and feature a very gloomy colour scheme with a lot of eerie hues - this is a world occupied by demons, after all. Others are very bright, and some look just like the world outside your window. The architecture style of the buildings throughout the level mimics that of medieval Japan. Once you decide to level these structures, you'll find that all of the debris from your demolition efforts remains on the ground, which is quite impressive when considering just how much of the environment can be smashed to bits.
Otogi features some very likeable character designs. Raikoh is your typical medieval Japanese bad-ass, complete with pointy hat. The enemies in the game come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny wood spirits, to massive golems, with some posing much more of a threat than others. The animation on these characters, while relatively smooth, is somewhat hampered by a temperamental framerate - you won't notice this until you get a bit further into the game, though. Camera is probably the main problem with Otogi's presentation, as the camera's positioning often leaves you open to attacks by off-screen enemies, leading to frustration. Otogi features a 60 Hz mode for those intent on playing the game in full screen, full speed conditions.
Sega's localization of Otogi has resulted in a dub being added - it's not the best dub, but there are plenty worse ones out there. Otaku and other dub haters will be pleased to know that the Japanese voice tracks are still in the game. The soundtrack in Otogi is a thing of beauty, easily one of the best soundtracks on the Xbox, and a refreshing break from much of the diatribe we experience on the system. Finally, the sound effects are of a rather high quality, and help bring the other aural elements together into one solid sound package.
Demolished
Otogi: Myth of Demons is a game that delivers on many levels, but will never see the recognition it deserves. Once again, Atari Australia has only delivered a small shipment of the title, and not helped generate any interest in the slightest - only word of mouth will help games like Otogi succeed. If you're after a tough, solid and lengthy beat ?em up title, with excellent presentation and visual styling, give Otogi a go.
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