Average
Our gang
The game stars Tal, a young swordsman with a dark past. Cliché number one. His love interest is Ailish, a hot young princess that can shoot magic. Cliché number two. Supporting them are Elco, a quirky young scientist who's a bit on the frazzled side, and Buki, an also-hot cat girl with a short temper. I've stopped counting cliches, by the way. If it weren't for their unique roles in combat, I wouldn't even remember their names. Of course, they each have their own motivations, which tie into the game's story in a variety of ways, but due the fact that the story is largely forgettable, I won't go into it. That, and given how oddly-paced the story is, talking too much about those things would spoil a whole lot. Just suffice it to say that you're usually going to want to fast-forward to the combat sequences.
Killing you softly
When it comes to combat, Sudeki stands strong with the best of them. The excellently designed, and brilliantly executed battle system is strong enough to make up for the game's other shortcomings. In fact, had Sudeki toned down its weaker elements, and focused primarily on combat, it would have made for a much more satisfying experience.
The combat is in real-time. Not a sort of KoTOR-style, turn-based hybrid, though--what you have here is full-on, twitch-based gameplay. And depending on which of the four characters you're controlling, the experience is totally different. Two of them (Tal and Buki) are melee attackers, who are generally more robust physically, and whose primary modes of attack are timed button combos, with auxiliary blocks and rolls to round them out. The other two (Ailish and Elco) are ranged attackers. Naturally, they're a bit weaker, and tend to keep to the rear. When you're in direct control of them, the game actually shifts into a first-person perspective, and behaves, mechanically, identically to a console FPS. Odd as it may sound, it works wonderfully in the context of the battles, and although you might think it jarring to switch between such drastically different control styles several times within battles, it's actually quite smooth. I would go as far as to say that the variety that these two distinct styles lend combat are largely what makes Sudeki's battles so much fun.
As you'd expect, all four characters have spell-like abilities thrown in for good measure. They're called "Skill Strikes," and while they're mostly offensive in nature, most of the game's most powerful healing and support abilities fall into this category as well. Here's the lame thing about them: they cost "Skill Points" to execute, and apart from equipping certain enhancements on your weapons that allow them to automatically accrue, the only way to replenish them in combat is by drinking special potions. Granted, these potions are easy enough to find, but a more traditional attack-to-charge system would have made much more sense. The uber-powerful "Spirit Strikes," rather, work like this--they're basically screen-clearing finishers, complete with resplendent effects, and massive amounts of gibbing.
It's a minor gripe, no doubt, but one that could have tightened combat significantly. As it stands, though, Sudeki's high point is definitely its combat system, and it almost redeems the experience as a whole.
