A Heaven of Hell
Though it's genre is RPG, the first game from kev-san in a while is more of a cinema game. There are some RPG battle, 4 or 5 I think, which basically consists of each character having an attack that does 1 damage and always hits, or an attack that does 2 damage and sometimes misses. Other than that there is very little gameplay save from moving your characters through the world.
The majority of the game is in fact a spiritual catharsis your hipster heros undergo to escape from Hell. While it uses many religious and philosophical models for the world it creates, it uses them rather freely to both poke fun at and make a point about specifically Judeo-Christian religions. The several diatribes the game forces you to digest can range from funny, to poignant, to just plain dumb. The intellegensia that your heros seem to represent (man I can't stand most hipsters) is sometimes distasteful. I sort of hoped they'd all die in the end (past already being dead and in hell). The three characters you lead are all pretty irritating. The religious elements that were used to make a plot were good, but often the ones that were used to make a point were dull and preachy. It seems quite simply that kev-san had a lot on his plate and needed to get it all out in one game.
Graphically the game holds its own. There is a wide range of colours used appropriately, and some boards make the game look like it would fit well into the trippy genre. The battle scenes are a little bland and only lightly animated.
The music is quite good. It's used frequently and almost on every board. It doesn't get repetitive and actually helps make the game feel like a complete experience.
The story (what you can cull from below all the hubbub) is pretty good actually, and the writing, while pendantic in most places, it very well done. It some of it was not tongue in cheek, it might have become unbearable.
My only personal gripe is that there was the tree of life, the lance of longinus (which I don't remember obtaining) and angels, but no evangelion. (omg teh rei)
This game could have been a lot bigger I think, with more "game", had kev shortened up on the words.
Still, this is a fine release, and I don't think I would have typed as much as I did if it didn't do something for me. So...
