Partway into the game you also get to pilot an RC helicopter (called Stingray) to sneak into small air ducts and infiltrate otherwise inaccessible areas, but this is more or less the extent of the high-tech gadgetry. To add a layer of stealth to the proceedings Nina can also creep up behind guards, grab them and prevent an otherwise tedious brawl with a bunch of respawning cretins that arrive as back up. This works in exactly the same way, however, so you're still forced to scour every room for sparkly objects to pick up - the only difference here is some of the might have fingerprints (or a part of a fingerprint) on them. Rather than go for the clichéd keycard system favoured by almost every action-adventure down the years Death By Degrees goes for a fingerprint-scanning system. Death By BoredomĪfter some initial fisticuffs, the game suddenly descends into a survival-horror style information/object/key-finding slog, broken up by pointless face-offs with respawning drone AI and the odd mini-boss encounter to occasionally up the ante. Very quickly you'll despair at just how pointlessly badly implemented the combat really is, with shades of early '90s brawlers springing to mind. Walk into another room or pick up an object and they'll obligingly let you carry on with your business, so you soon learn not to bother even engaging with these idiots.
Pure comedy.Īs noted in our first impressions, the respawning of clusters of enemies the second you walk back into a previously cleared room produces the even more hilarious sight of a Benny Hill-esque chase as six or more beefy guards run and lunge haplessly after Nina like lovestruck puppies. While well intentioned, causing near mortal damage to your enemy in this way doesn't affect their fighting capabilities at all, and they continue to fight on as if nothing's happened. Hitting R2 near an opponent brings up a stylish-looking close-up X-Ray of them the general idea being to shift a cursor onto the area you want to target before landing a crushing blow. The same goes for the 'focus' manoeuvre which allows Nina to smash her aggressors with a specifically targeted blow that may, for example, shatter their ribcage or even their skull and take off the majority of their health. They sure look impressive in the attract sequence, but the 'mash the stick' tactic still prevails to the extent that you never feel fully in command of what you're seeing on screen. This system of upgrading your moves would be all well and good if they really made a significant difference, but they don't count for all that much. Occasionally you might be forced to resort to grabbing shielded opponents with R1 and performing some kind of vicious bone-breaking combo manoeuvre, but for the most part the AI is pretty dense and seemingly only there to stop the game feeling empty and to give you a means to gain experience and buy new moves with all the points you earn. Holding L1 and pushing up on the right stick lets you try out the various projectile and melee weapons at your disposal, but mostly you can get by mashing the stick moronically while unarmed.
Much like last year's overlooked Rise To Honor, the bulk of the combat takes place using the right stick, with Ms Williams able to attack enemies from any angle with a mere stab of the stick in whichever direction you wish to attack. And to rub salt in the wounds, the 360-degree combat is so weak that it will insult the intelligence of any vaguely proficient gamer, never mind those of you looking to further your beat-'em-up skills within the context of a more expansive affair. But when her real mission to help out the CIA and MI6 in some undercover work is exposed, Namco evidently reckoned this was a good enough reason to turn on its infinite respawning guard machine and press the scantily clad heroine into some high kicking action.īut rather than just concentrate on its undoubted fighting pedigree and give gamers a story-lead beat-'em-up adventure, this ill-advised project tries to inject elements of stealth, puzzle and even adventure into the mix without getting one single component even remotely right. Nina Williams' (of Tekken fame, in case you were in any doubt) initial intention is to show she hasn't lost her martial arts skills and scoop first prize in a fighting tournament on board a cruise ship. In a game that seems to make it its business to obscure what's going on, it's probably only fair to be just as oblique in describing the premise of DBD.
Death by degrees emulation settings full#
Sadly, they might just as well have added "especially Namco!" as Death By Degrees quickly reveals itself to be a depressingly underwhelming action-adventure so full of niggling flaws that you'll probably be seeking some form of counselling after a few hours in its irritating company. "Trust no one!" screams the tagline for this undercooked Tekken spin-off.
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