Devil Kings PS2 Review

Let’s cut to the chase, Devil Kings was never likely to be a game that received a score from the higher end of the spectrum, instead being fated to attain nothing more than a goodish score from yours truly. It’s just a simple fact that games that stick so rigidly to the Dynasty Warriors template – which in case you’re wondering consists of beating up lots of people and obtaining ever stronger weapons and items- are never going to be amazing games. They’re just too monotonous, too mindless and after so long the constant tapping of the button begins to hurt our fingers.

On the other hand, titles like Kingdom Under Fire bring some welcome tactical elements, a much needed respite from repeatedly battering the buttons (and are significantly more praiseworthy because of this) allowing you to meticulously place your troops as you would do in a full blown strategy game and then proceeding to beat down a whole army’s worth of enemies, whilst laughing manically, or is that just us?

Devil Kings is more like, no exactly like Dynasty Warriors meaning no satisfying concoction of fighting and thinking here, just fast and furious fighting with some very light RPG elements that the developers have thrown in to the mix possibly just to make sure that your brain doesn’t completely rot away due to inactivity.

To be fair, the game does have some minor gameplay contrasts to Koei’s Dynasty Warriors. For starters, pressing the triangle button performs a stun attack, which primes the enemy and fills up your fury gauge ( which is basically like the Musou gauge in Dynasty Warriors) Then there’s the beat count meter, which rewards you with additional experience, for instance obtaining double the amount of experience for scoring 100 consecutive hits and triple the amount for a more than ample 200, this we like.

Elsewhere, the game copies Dynasty Warriors to an almost disturbing degree and on occasion even improves up on Koei‘s incessant series, which means if you like that, you’re going to like this, possibly even more so. A real oversight by the developer however is the lack of any form of multiplayer and in this aspect Koei’s game of course wins hands down.

Devil Kings is one of the finest hack-and-slash titles available, but after playing so many similar games, it’s easy to become a bit tired with a genre that at times feels like a single game, which keeps on becoming more refined. Still a worthy play though.

7/10