El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

I can easily see this game will have a very narrow appeal.

The obvious and most attractive part of this game is the acid-trip visuals; along with appropriately epic music. For me, that's part of the experience, but if you are a trigger happy type of gamer that needs to "do" something you won't like this game. There are lots of moments where you are just walking as the voices of the Archangels/Lucifel advance the story or describe characters and you take in the visuals. Sometimes, you're just walking. Sometimes you're doing some mild platforming. Or attacking some easy enemies, but you don't have to.

And on that point, the entirely of the gameplay is like God of War / Devil May Cry; fighting the same 3 enemy types over and over, boss sections, and all this action is broken up with some easy to hard platforming (i.e. Mario, etc.). Sometimes, the perspective changes from 3rd person to side-scrolling to change things up. Typically in these sections it emphasizes the platforming more.

Fighting the same 3 enemies can get repetitive in long sessions as these enemies don't die easily. But the real fun comes from the boss battles and there is quite a few of them. There are some battles with the Watchers that don't seem to have any point to them. You lose, you move on. You win (can you win?), you still move on. Most of the time the Watchers will KO you in 1-2 hits, basically interrupting the game for no reason. But I guess it's to help foreshadow these bosses and give you a chance to feel out their weaknesses before you fight them "for reals."

Besides that, I disagree with others that the story is hard to follow. The story is pretty much summed up in the info box on this page. The details during the game aren't hard to glean either.

Overall, I find the game's visuals and atmosphere very appealing and the gameplay, especially boss battles, satisfying even if not the greatest ever. You really just have to see this game for yourself.

El Shaddai is a competent action game, an unforgettable visual journey, a complete mess of a story... it's so many things. It's just a shame not all of it is good.

Lets get the bad out of the way; this game has absolutely no problem being completely crazy. The story is a complete mess, with a host of weird characters, random voices (is it God? Whose this girl telling me to jump?), and seemingly unconnected areas. It also literally handicaps you to force storytelling - there's a moment that near spoils the entire game where you're forced to WALK through a dark void towards a light as voices tell you whats going on. Again. And Again. And Again. It's all about your personal journey to shed "vileness" and "darkness" from your body, which has been corrupted. And it's awful.

The visuals too contain some badness, even though - by and large - they're a positive for the game. There's just moments (mostly when playing as Armaros) where the scratchy, scribble-y, strokey filter just makes everything hard to see. The levels are also very, very linear.

And the combat is patronizing, in that you'll fail, but not really. And there are many boss fights where losing doesn't stop the story. So really, those bosses are just jerks destroying the flow of the game.

But if you can get past ALL THAT, the game is pretty great. Visually, it's completely stunning. With loads of variety thanks to all the madness. The combat is solid, even though there's only one attack button. It would be great were it not for the super-tough enemies and "locked into an arena" battles. As it is, it's still entertaining. The music is generally excellent and appropriately epic. And Lucifer is a genuinely cool character and narrator - a rare bright spot in an ocean of mess.

In short, this is the perfect Gamefly game. I really don't know if I'd recommend buying it, as I have some regrets myself. But I'm sure glad I played it just to see all the cool parts. A great rental. Just don't expect to love everything.