Earlier this month brought NISA The Witch and the Hundred Knight to Europe

Earlier this month brought NISA The Witch and the Hundred Knight to Europe. Unfortunately, that game was very disappointing, but fortunately the month of March more mischief in store for the sadistic Japanofielen among us. Almost ten years after the release of Trapt (PS2) Tecmo Koei has announced a new title in the Deception series. Unlike its two most recent predecessors, Deception IV: Blood Ties weather-and-in poorly - and that's a good thing.

The Deception series began in 1996 Invitation to Darkness for the original PlayStation. It made you a follower of the devil who had to protect a castle by (mostly innocent) to chase intruders away. That, however, did not you by your enemies ready to attack, but by having them walk into traps and monsters - made from the previous victims body parts - to send them off. In the four games that followed, became more and more zoomed in on the traps, where you can find many fall can get entangled. This made it all soon intended to eliminate your enemies in the most (unnecessarily) complex ways. The sicker the murder, the more points you score.
Deception IV continues this trend continues and certainly makes creating this kind of deadly Rube Goldberg Machine easier than ever. From a third-person perspective, you move your character away from her attackers. With the press of a button your magic then a grid appear that allows you a number of preselected can disable traps in peace. This screen displays not only the location of your traps again, but the effect they have on your enemies. For example, place a spring and you'll see exactly where the enemy will land. You can then lay a bear trap, then pop a missile towards a dangerous obstacle near the trapped hero. If all traps are placed, you only have to lure the enemy to the right place and then activate the traps one by one manually.
The whole system is more streamlined than its predecessors, and when it works, it works well. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Although the game the operation of traps communicates well, there are a lot of variables for which the planning screen does not mind. Thus, the direction in which the enemy is determined on after the trap site, or it may be that the hero temporarily lies on the ground after a fall, causing higher placed 'sling guillotine' just whizzes over his head. The exact effect of already covered present in the environment will not communicate with you, so you only after multiple experimenting know where your enemy will end.

Especially the new staircase mobiles "(a flying bomber or moving train, for example) are virtually impossible to handle in your decoy sequence. Because you can do precisely position your snare and activate it yourself, but then the opponent must also walk by at the right time. Besides planning require these combos therefore also a good dose of luck, especially if such a combo is necessary for a particular challenge this creates a lot of frustration.
Even more frustrating is when you simply have the wrong traps. Indeed, there are some heroes with certain armor or skills, making them immune attack against specific types. By exploiting their weak spot in an extended combo, you can ignore their skill or even destroy their armor. Unfortunately you will advance only be informed of the immunities and not weakness. This lets you go off your traps in order to find the right - which you should anyway mission have been. Instead of this feature so the necessary variation and challenge entails mainly produces boredom.
On this frustration after the gameplay however outstanding and unique in every way. Besides the Deception series, there are only few games in which you defeat enemies by running them off, enabling them as Wily E. Coyote to run on Roadrunner in the fall. Everything around what can be boring, but even during story mode after ten o'clock it continues to give satisfaction to create the most bizarre and gruesome combos.
It's a bit like putting together a marble run, only the marbles are innocent heroes and the job filled with all sorts of deadly machines. There are also plenty of deadly toys to try and although the enemy does not have the most ingenious AI, it is very nice to get to know their individual patterns and exploit.

This is done not only in the story mode, but also in a hundred challenging 'missions', each with its own profit and conditions that you need to achieve in time. Outside there is a free battle mode 'site, where you can test if you fall in a controlled environment. If you want more content, you can select their challenges and share them with other players. Are you particularly proud of the way you have overcome a particular challenge? Lettuce than just the replay. With the PS3 version of the game allows you to replay even upload directly to YouTube. Very cool.
Much cooler than ever that the dark atmosphere and sadistic humor from the first two games are back again. Both Deception III as Trapt you that happens to an innocent girl and it did not feel quite right. If you like the chuckling have slaughtered one after another enemy in the most bizarre ways, it is indeed very difficult to get around the lovely girl for the same acts is to weep.
The new protagonist Laegrinna contrast, total does not suffer from guilt. This is not surprising, because she is the daughter of Lucifer himself. Accompanied by the patron demon of the extensive death, sadistic torture and degrading downturn, kill them (often corrupt) saints, in order to liberate loving father of his imprisonment.

The story itself, you do not expect much and also supply the scantily clad protagonists little more than fan service. Instead, the story completely in the service of the gameplay. It simply gives a cruel but comical context for the clumsy but calculated killings that you'll commit. In addition, the three demonic helpers are a nice excuse for points of Deception IV.
By making greater use of humiliating fall demon Lilia will give you new new ways to offend them heroes. Put your other hand most horrific fall and sadistic Veruza will reward you with even sharper knives, saws and spearheads. But the best course continues to create one long combo which you can please your helpers.
THE JUDGEMENT

Ultimately, that is what counts in this game: endless combos lay out, which will not only finish your enemies, but also humiliates to the bone. The story and even minute-to-minute gameplay are hereby just nice extras. The game has some frustrating bugs, but if you as a child have been fascinated by Rube Roldbergmachines, then Deception IV Ask your glove. If you now also have further developed a somewhat twisted mind that is certainly perfect.