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" Release Date: April 30 (North America), May 3 (Europe) Platforms available on: PlayStation Vita Publisher: Sony Genre: Action/Adventure Soul Sacrifice is the latest video game from former Capcom employee Keiji Inafune, whose diverse catalogue of work includes Mega Man, Onimusha and Dead Rising. Quite unlike anything we&amp;#039;ve seen before, Soul Sacrifice continues Inafune&amp;#039;s legacy of creating unique and memorable releases, this time for a Vita handheld that&amp;#039;s in dire need of some must-have material. The game begins with an unnamed prisoner witnessing the death of a fellow inmate by the hands of insane sorcerer Magusar. The prisoner had been in possession of a magical tome which contains the memories of Magusar&amp;#039;s former partner and fellow sorcerer. By reading the tome and participating in phantom quests, players are able to draw upon the memories contained within, rewrite history and potentially put an end to Magusar&amp;#039;s reign of terror.  Through a combination of ominous narration and slick animation, the pages of the book bring to life tales of madness, bloodlust and lost love, and by the end of the game you&amp;#039;ll have witnessed and carried out some pretty horrific deeds. It&amp;#039;s extremely dark and often very cryptic, but the high production values are strong enough to reel players in for the duration. Phantom quests, which make up the playable sections of the book, typically plonk players in the middle of an enclosed arena where the objective is to slay beasts, collect items or battle huge bosses. Were it not for the game&amp;#039;s strong narrative, Soul Sacrifice appears to have a lot in common with Monster Hunter - which is no bad thing.  Players must select the right gear, use powers to track beasts, and fight monsters in battles that last anywhere up to 45 minutes. Quite unlike anything we&amp;#039;ve seen before, Soul Sacrifice continues Inafune&amp;#039;s legacy of creating unique and memorable releases, this time for a Vita handheld that&amp;#039;s in dire need of some triple-A material. It can even be played with three other players, be it online or by using computer controlled partners. Soul Sacrifice is much more geared towards magic and sorcery, however, not to mention a unique sacrifice system, which enables players to save fallen foes for a health boost and defensive items, or sacrifice them for increased magic and attack-based spells. The whole save or sacrifice system creates an incredibly deep and hugely customisable combat system, which offers somewhere in the region of 300 spells, six of which can be assigned to the face buttons at any one time. With so many spells, it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out the perfect combination of sorcery, but along with cosmetic items and stat-based sigils, you really do have the opportunity to create a character who fits your style of play. It takes about an hour to get used to, but it&amp;#039;s actually a very simple system.  Some players will obviously favour melee spells and healing magic, while others will no doubt prefer traditional sorcery. However, with elemental factors and a hugely diverse selection of enemies, you will occasionally be forced to rethink strategies, which ensures that the game never grows stale. Players must also be wary of each spell&amp;#039;s limitations. Typically, spells last for short period of time and have a limited number of uses, although they can be upgraded if you have more than two in your possession, which means that while certain spells might seem useless at first, they can potentially become very powerful and extremely useful. If you use up your spells in battle, however, they&amp;#039;re gone for good, although you can save them by collecting a liquid substance from your tome. Alternatively, if you&amp;#039;re really stuck, you can use a highly powerful summon spell, but it leaves players incredibly weak until it&amp;#039;s restored.  It creates a nice balance where you always have a chance to turn battles in your favour, but will have to pay the price for taking any shortcuts or failing to plan ahead. At first glance, the number of spells and customisation options may seem slightly overwhelming, but a combination of pacing and a well designed menu system makes it easy to grasp what&amp;#039;s going on, which is important in a game with so much depth.  To a lesser extent, Soul Sacrifice also shares similarities with Dark Souls. The dark fantasy artwork, for example, is sublime. Environments pay homage to Ancient Greece, with statues and shrines decorating huge temples, while gorgeous rural areas are littered with gargantuan windmills and twisted vegetation.  It&amp;#039;s the monsters that are most memorable, however, ranging from hulking ogres with huge clubs, to grotesque balls of slime which spew venom. They really do complement the dark nature of the narrative.The music and sound effects are also superb, and really heighten the drama, especially when the orchestral music is punctuated by the screams of enemies and inner voices. The difficulty level is also comparable to Dark Souls. It starts out very simple, but within a couple of hours, you&amp;#039;ll need to think very carefully about strategy, or be prepared to attempt battles multiple times. It makes each hard fought victory feel all the more satisfying.  Unfortunately, while Soul Sacrifice gets more right than it does wrong, there are a few lingering issues that prevent it from having truly widespread appeal.  The environments, as beautiful as they are, are very small, and don&amp;#039;t allow for much in the way of exploration, save for a few hidden items here and there. The missions, meanwhile, stray very little from slaying one huge beast or a pack of smaller monsters, and while this is a lot of fun thanks to the game&amp;#039;s excellent combat system, a little variety wouldn&amp;#039;t go amiss, especially when you&amp;#039;re investing more than 20 hours into the experience. Soul Sacrifice is undoubtedly one of the deepest and most interesting games available for Sony&amp;#039;s handheld. The slightly erratic targeting system also causes a few problems in a crowded battle scene, which means that you&amp;#039;re susceptible to attack after accidentally targeting the wrong enemy.  It&amp;#039;s also a shame that you can&amp;#039;t better customise your partner&amp;#039;s behaviour, as they sometimes prove to be more hindrance than help, requiring too much of your aid and attention in battles against the more deadly monsters. It&amp;#039;s unfortunate, because when you&amp;#039;re fighting alone, or with human partners, it&amp;#039;s very rare that defeat will be down to anything other than bad planning.  Speaking of human partners, Soul Sacrifice&amp;#039;s many missions can be played with others online, while even more levels have been promised as free DLC. Including side quests in the main game, time spent playing Soul Sacrifice could easily extend into triple digits.  Considering the lack of must-have Vita exclusives, this could be useful as you wait for the next big release to come along. If nothing else, Soul Sacrifice is tremendous value for money. Soul Sacrifice is undoubtedly one of the deepest and most interesting games available for Sony&amp;#039;s handheld.  The dark fantasy style and slightly repetitive missions might put some people off, but if you&amp;#039;re looking to invest a lot of time into a game and don&amp;#039;t mind sacrificing your social life, Keiji Inafune&amp;#039;s latest is just the game for you.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/review/a476867/soul-sacrifice-review-ps-vita-deep-engaging-dark-fantasy/>