Rengoku 2
Well over a year ago Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory was blasted by critics for its lack of depth in terms of gameplay, empty presentation and overall tedious adventure. For its time it was one of the early action titles for the PSP but that was no real excuse for a shoddy experience. Now that a sequel has come out does it repent the sins of its father? Or is it time that this franchise gets put out of its (our?) misery?
In Rengoku II: The Stairway to H.E.A.V.E.N. you once again step into the metallic shoes of an Autonomous Dueling Armed Machine codenamed A.D.A.M. (original, huh?). Poor A.D.A.M. is stuck in utter hell it would seem since he is trying to get out of a tower built of war and suffering. In many ways A.D.A.M. should be trying to get out of this game rather than just from the tower, but one dream at a time. Yes, just like the original Rengoku, this game has its fair share of flaws. The ironic part is that many of these grievances are the same as the ones found in the first game. So much for learning from your mistakes!
Gameplay:
Like I already mentioned the basic premise of Rengoku is that you're trapped in a tower and you have to fight your way out. In other words it's not very creative, diverse or fun. You start out naked, basically, with nothing but your fist to tackle the onslaught of other A.D.A.M.s coming your way. You have a few punch and headbutt combos that you can unleash but for the most part the pickings are slim early on.
As you progress through the tower and kill more opponents you'll find pieces of their body to add to your own. Armor becomes much more impressive and some key upgrades come in handy. More importantly there are many weapons to unearth so you won't exactly have to punch your way around town for the rest of your life. Finding items is a good goal to have but in the end the customization that you get out of this game doesn't save the boorish experience. You could give me a nuclear arm cannon for all I care; if the game isn't fun in its most basic form then I'm not going to enjoy it.
As you progress from one floor to the next you do so by going from one room to the next. Each room is littered with a designated amount of enemies that you have to kill before the doors unlock and you can leave. Rinse, wash and repeat this a hundred times over and you can see why the game gets old fast. I thought this style of action gameplay had died out in the 90s but perhaps I was wrong.
Either way the combat proves to be simplistic and only mildly functional when you get right down to it. You are given four buttons to attack and are encouraged to use those to make combos but no matter what weapons you have selected there is a slight pause when you go from one button to the next. Attack combos are supposed to be a sequential flow of attacks but when the game adds a hiccup in between it kind of kills the point.
In terms of control the D-Pad (or analog stick) moves A.D.A.M. around while the buttons attack. Each button is designated to a certain section of your body so as you equip more items you can do different things. The Square and Circle buttons are your left and right arms while the triangle represents your head and X is your torso. The shoulder buttons act as strafe and as a lock-on feature that only works some of the time. Oh, you can also do a little leap by pressing a direction twice.
Saving is also problematic in the game because you have to make your way to a Terminal in order to do so. Granted these little pitstops are also a great opportunity to beef up your character, but the simple fact that this is a handheld and you can't save whenever you want leads to some headaches. I'm all for putting the PSP on standby but that still eats up battery time and you're without a charger then you better hope that you make it home in time before you lose your progress.
Apart from gameplay quirks and saving woes, Rengoku II: The Stairway to H.E.A.V.E.N.'s biggest flaw is the fact that it's just not fun to play. Crawling your way from one room to the next taking out the same bad guy time after time is just not good design. Add to this the fact that each stage is practically identical to the one before it and you have a game that washes together in just about every way. Several facets of this game are virtually ported over from the original. That means if for some reason you enjoyed the first game then you'll like this one. It also means that if you hated Tower of Purgatory you should stay far, far away.
Graphics:
If you were to look bland up in the dictionary you'd probably see a picture of Rengoku because frankly, this game is about as saltine (IE: Boring) as you can get. Every environment here looks like its predecessor with only a few exceptions to be found. Character designs are clunky and the implementation of those designs is even more so. This is proven by the silly way some of the items and upgrades attach themselves to A.D.A.M.'s body. In game character animations don't get a whole lot better either thanks to awkward movements.
Audio:
The same underwhelming presentation values continue with the audio in this game. From the sound effects to the soundtrack things really get old fast. I found myself turning the PSP's volume down to the lowest setting possible just so that I didn't have to hear the game but wouldn't be sitting there in complete silence. The techno beats just get repetitive and hearing the same noises over and over again will get on your nerves.
Conclusion:
In every way possible Rengoku II: The Stairway to H.E.A.V.E.N. is a worthy successor of the original game. That is to say that it matches the faults perfectly and does little to elevate the franchise to anything beyond mediocre. The gameplay is clunky by design and there are questionable features included that make the experience a tad frustrating. Bland graphics and repetitive sounds don't do the aesthetics any favor either. At this point in the PSP's life there are far better action games out there and really no reason to suffer through this one. Unless Hudson Soft and Konami completely rethink the franchise let's hope that there isn't a Rengoku III.