There are several games that are truly influential, and among those was the original Devil May Cry. It inspired so many other action games when it released and would continue to be an influence for years to come. This is where El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron enters the picture, as it was a game inspired by Devil May Cry but released ten years later, and felt out of date. And now on the Nintendo Switch, it feels even more out of date when so many other games have surpassed it.
There is an interesting premise of taking on the role of Enoch, from the Book of Enoch, and fighting fallen Angels and stop the great flood, but the game never lives up to this potential. In 2011, there were so many great action games inspired by Devil May Cry that had pushed the genre forward, but this title was not one of them. It felt like a game from 2001 complete with a fixed camera setup that made the combat generic and awkward and gave you platforming sections that were more frustrating than anything else.
Combat is lazy and bland, and the weapons never feel like anything special. What you get is a game without any combat variety and way too much repetition to get any enjoyment out of. To be frank, it was a bad experience in 2011 and feels like a waste of time to re-release it without fixing any of the major issues, including the horrible 2D sections that seemed almost intentionally irritating and the stuff of nightmares. The lacklustre combat feels like it could have been pulled from any game released in the wake of Devil May Cry that did not try anything new, and the weapons feel superfluous. If there was any variety added to help mix things up, it would have been welcome, but what you are left with is just boring as a result.
Part of the problem is that the game’s focus is on its art and visuals, which were striking at the time, but have not aged as well as the director likely intended, even in this remaster. It must have been amazing back in 2011, but just seems disorienting now and with the game as frustrating to control as it is, the experience is just not fun. We are left with a game that is style over substance and lacks any meat on its bones to make the experience worth your while.
If there were some, or even any quality-of-life improvements to the game or perhaps a reworking of the camera and controls, this could have been much better and maybe worth a play. Even the Devil May Cry ports added on features on Switch, with the third game adding the style switching mechanic. But here? This is just a dated game that cannot even make it on the selling point of its art, and I cannot recommend it in any way. To put it simply, this is a mess and shows its age horribly with this Switch release, and it’s best left avoided.
A review key was provided for the game
