X-Blades invites players into a fantastic universe where the enchanting heroine Ayumi fends off innumerable monsters and imposing bosses with her power, spells, fighting tactics and her deadly Pistol Blades. The anime-style level and character designs are what give X-Blades its special flair. Nearly 40 indoor and outdoor worlds dazzle players in an enthralling rhapsody of color and detail. Non-stop action and vivid magical effects are impressively incorporated in gameplay through the use of cinema stylizing such as bullet time or motion blurring. X-Blades will prove to be a hack ‘n’ slash spectacle for fans of entertaining action games and anime.  Meet our heroine, Ayumi. View larger. |  Hack 'n slash to your hearts content. View larger. |  Explore spectacular environments. View larger. |  Unleash hidden abilities and spells. View larger. |  Enjoy beautiful anime cutscenes. View larger. | Story In the distant past the universe of X-Blades was ruled by two powerful beings, the Enlightened on the side of good, helping his people how and when he could and the Dark One who was quite the opposite. Both were revered by all peoples and a balanced, but never-ending battle between the two persisted for centuries. Humans suffered terribly in the constant combat between the two, combat which shook the universe to its very core. In order to ease this suffering, the Enlightened banished the divine power of the Dark One, imprisoning it in a stone, known as an Artifact, but at a price. Inseparably linked, where one of the divine beings went the other was bound to follow and so the power of the Enlightened was captured in a matching Artifact. Together the two were hidden away and peace, as well as balance was restored to the universe. But peace is a fragile thing. It is said that any human who comes in contact with the Artifacts will be cursed and the power of darkness will once again be awakened.Enter the game's heroine Ayumi. As the game begins a map which has been lost for countless years suddenly turns up and it shows the location of the artifacts. Unaware of the curse, the adventurer Ayumi searches for and finds the immensely valuable stones, releasing powerful forces in her body. Her goal and the player's is to discover what the secret of the curse is, free herself from it and at last defeat the darkness. Characters  | Ayumi Ayumi is a charismatic heroine and fearless treasure hunter. Now that the map with the Divine Artifacts has been found, she's going on the most thrilling and dangerous adventure of her life. As always, she prefers to work alone - partners just get in the way. |  | Jay Jay is an adventurer like Ayumi. He rescues her from a deadly trap and attempts to support her in her fight against the Powers of Darkness. Jay is skillful in combat. He uses powerful explosions of light and his punches have to be seen to be believed. |  | The Enlightened A powerful being who guards the Artifact of Darkness, as a Master of Magic, he uses spells to hurl opponents to the ground and metes out massive damage, but avoids close combat. The only way to defeat him is to use black magic and/or fire magic. |  | The Dark One The Dark One is the guardian of the island - he conceals the Artifact of Light. Even the most powerful spells hardly affect him and only a strong blow with a blade can break through his defenses and affect him in any way. | Gameplay X-Blades offers action-packed enjoyment in fantastic Hack-and-Slash style. Using various weapons, spells and tactics, the player must fight his/her way through many indoor and outdoor levels, killing hordes of monsters on the way. The story, exciting and rich in variety with numerous cutscenes not only motivates the player, it also cleverly interlinks the individual levels. Besides the ‘normal’ monsters, there are also "Monster Generators," which ceaselessly create new creatures (and of course powerful Boss opponents) for the game world. Hidden powerups and coins ensure that the player is rewarded for exploring a level. Some locations can only be reached by bold and daring leap/jump combinations. Player achieve ultimate success in the game through use of the extensive character development system for the heroine Ayumi. For example, experience points earned, must be converted to Skills. Powerups, such as combat techniques, magic, weapon enhancement and teleportation are available as well and the right mix will lead to success. Apart from that, the use of skills on the "good or bad side" also affects the finale. Depending on player actions, two different game endings await the heroine Ayumi. Key Game Features: - Gripping fantasy story with spectacular landscapes and characters.
- Attractive anime-style heroine.
- Special Alternate “Demonic Power” mode.
- Innovative "Pistol Blades" for shooting projectiles and close-quarter fights.
- Over 40 indoor and outdoor level environments.
- Over 30 different types of enemies.
- Over 20 different types of magic in different classes.
- Strong Boss opponents in fantastic detail and designs.
- Hidden powerups animate players to explore the levels.
- Alternate endings depending upon the player’s behavior throughout the game.
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Good for about 3 or 4 hours then dull...
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| Review Date: February 20, 2010 |
| Reviewer: PG, San Diego, CA |
I was actually enjoying this game until I realized that I had seen all there was to see in this game after about 4 or 5 hours. Even the arena start being recycled and battles involving ball of energy that you have to throw countering balls of energy just isn't any fun. If they would have just stuck with the hack and slash and gun play with magic element, this game could have been a winner. I guess it is an okay value at about $20 new. Just don't expect any kind of depth.
Story: There really is no story to speak of. Just a ditzy annoying blonde with her butt hanging out saying things like "oh my god" and "no way."
Graphics: Pretty nice until everything ends up looking the same but just different times of day
Gameplay: Okay but the swords feel pretty weak. How did this game get an M rating? SUrely, her wearing a thong is not enough is it? There is no gore and you really feel like you are hitting the monsters with uncooked spaghetti with the effect your blows have on the creatures.
Overall: Can't recommend at $60 but for $20 there is enough here for a few hours of fun and you check out her butt... |
Falls Short
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| Review Date: February 1, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Ron, Jersey |
| I have played many games like this over the years, both good and bad. Unfortunately this one falls into the bad category. If you want a good run around action adventure game get Uncharted. X-Blades has a bad story, bad acting and a wonky camera. The controls are mostly just button mashing. The anime styles graphics are fair to poor. I would certainly rent this one before thinking about purchasing. |
PASS!
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| Review Date: January 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jeremy A Hunt, |
| BEWARE! This game is horrible! The story line is non existant, The Voice acting is worse than hentai and the battle system is a flawed button masher that leaves no room for any skill and it doesn't even have any satisfying combos. Stay away and for the love of god do not give as a gift. |
warning do not buy
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| Review Date: September 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Miller Rodriguez De Peña, dominican. rep |
| this game is chezzey,lame,stay away from this one ......the people that first 5 who rated this game work for the video company who made this game..........i hade to turn the game off after 7 min...into the game going to sell it right away..... |
Flawed Control Scheme Brings Down Otherwise Mediocore Title
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| Review Date: March 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: B. D. Tooley, Anchorage, AK USA |
I remember when X-Blades was getting close to release and the preliminary reviews did not tilt favorly towards this title. At the time I was interested with the idea of an anime hack and slash game and thought that while it had problems, they would not be so major that the game would become unplayable. My faith in the game was only partially rewarded. The game looks decent enough, but seems like its technology is visually dated. However normally graphics don't make or break a game for me because I prefer a good story over awesome graphics. The plot is a little weak and really jumps into the story without explaining really anything more indepth than we have a treasure hunter who finds a map to these ruins which I will now move around in.
And that finally brings me to the controls and battle which is the main focus of the game. I realize that this game is trying to shoehorn quite a few different actions on limited buttons, but there must have been a better way to layout the controls (all controls are for the PS3 version). Movement is on the thumbstick, jump assigned to X, attack to Square, and firing the Guns is R1 (top right shoulder button). That leaves Triangle, Cirlce, R2, and L2 to assign to the various magic in the game. Using all those buttons for magic makes it that much more difficult to do the battle combo system. The game character can do a double jump but it isn't fluid and I can't seem to be able to do it when I want to because it needs to be at just the right moment when you press the button. Also the fact that I have no real control in the air makes it difficult to move in the air with a double jump. A forward roll should have been easier than a precise forward, forward and X button combo especially when trying to dodge enemies or level hazards. You are supposed to be able to dodge attacks and a double directional move but it never seems to work right. After playing games like God of War and its ilk where battle is key to the entire game, having a game where battle is key to the entire thing and to be hindered by the control system, it is incredibly annoying when trying to do anything more basic than button smashing. Also the combo system that exists at the point of the game I am at, consists of two moves that are difficult to pull off at will (let alone when you do it by accident) and it ultimately makes me resort to button smashing and magic smashing to try and survive.
A few control tweaks and perhaps a training arena for trying out new magic, attacks, and combos would have made this game much more enjoyable and would not make me want to throw my controller across the room when I can't perform the really basic combos. My recommendation would be to rent this game or get it used because I just can't justify paying full price for a game when there are much better and much easier to control games available.
(this recommendation is only based on playing the game up to the point when you unlock the first set of combos and not at the end game where a review of this nature should have been done) |
Raid with Blades
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| Review Date: March 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: AMP, Somewhere on Earth |
Premise
*You play a young treasure hunter who discovers a special artifact that appears to consume her.
The Good Things
*With the exception of the cutscenes, which were made to look like cell-animated anime clips, the game has great graphics. Sound quality seems good.
*Gameplay is like a combination between "Tomb Raider" and "Conan." You spend your time exploring ruins and chopping up evil creatures with swords, guns, and magic. On top of all that, I love the way the character runs really fast.
*Controls are easy to use, and some of the buttons are customizeable.
*Level design is good. Each environment is split into levels that you can move back and forth through.
*The story is good.
*Characters are alright. The main character has quite an attitude that you will either love or hate. She looks great though, and much like "BloodRayne," she is...uhh...quite jiggly.
*Awesome music.
*Has trophies.
The Bad Things
*No multiplayer.
*Not for kids; rated M for bloody violence (although you can turn the blood off in the options).
*Even though it is easy enough to kill the hoards of monsters that come out at you, it can be a bit annoying when they gain up on you while you're trying to attack the boss monster.
*I think the cutscenes look kind-of gaudy. I am glad that the rest of the game is not rendered the same way.
I was initially worried about the wierd cell-animated cutscenes and the main character's attitude, but the gameplay itself turned out to be quite fun, and the graphics are good. If you're looking for a fantasy adventure with lots of intesne fighting, this should satisfy you. |
pretty good but not god of war good!!!!
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| Review Date: February 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Susan Stade-Bergstrom, Alaska |
| x-blades was not even on my radar when i made up my list of games to get in '09, but i clicked on it on another website to check it out and it looked ok so i decided id give it a go when i had some money to spare. So i got the killzone pre-order for valintine's day and now i had some money burning a hole in my pocket. So ill set this up i love hack and slash games they are my fav until they bring back brawlers like streets of rage and double dragon or battletoads.....anyway this game came along so i gave it a whirl, and its pretty damn good with a emphasis on the pretty. The graphics are good on the environments and the anime cut scenes are pretty decent. You can custimize your controller layout so make it how you like and go to town also ive heard some gripes about ayumis attire... while she does have a nice butt that should not be the focus of so much rage and or praise (besides she does get different armour throughout the game) that should be givin to the gameplay while not innovative at all it is fun and after all what is playing games about? FUN!!!!!! this game is fun. So in conclusion i recommend this game to all hack and slash fans, go out there and enjoy ayumis adventure. |
X-Blades Delivers What Promised
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| Review Date: February 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Daniel Dearden, Bozeman, MT, USA |
What did X-Blades Promise? An action packed, fast paced, hack and slash style game, with a gorgeous main protagonist and the gorgeous scenery that surrounds her.
If you've been following/researching this game at all, you should know exactly what you're getting into when you buy it. I found this game to be everything I wanted and more. If you enjoy fast paced, hack and slash action with a little magic to mix things up, you'll really enjoy this game.
The story, well it's okay, it's definitely not bad, it could be better, but that's definitely not why I bought this game. The game provides plenty of action and customization. You earn Soul Points and spend them on new magic and upgrades (much like Devil May Cry). The levels are well thought out, and so are the enemies. The soundtrack is great, the game looks very pretty (including a very pretty main character if you haven't noticed already). And sure, I could compare it to DMC, GoW, Heavenly Sword and the bunch, but to be honest, this game has a very different and unique style, and although it draws a few parallels to the aforementioned games , it's definitely a game of its own. I definitely recommend picking this one up, it's not too short, not too difficult but still a challenge (especially pro, once you unlock it).
Make sure you give this game a couple hours before you judge it, it starts a little slow and the combat feels awkward, once you play for a few hours, get more magic, and really get a feel for how the game is played, you'll find yourself unable to put your controller down. |
X Blades a Hack and Slash Review
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| Review Date: February 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: GT, usa |
I just bought X Blades and played the game last night and here is my opinion of the game so far. It starts off a little slow you find out your a treasure hunter named Ayumi who works alone you find this cube puzzle and when your turning in this crystal skull to a merchant you see a matching puzzle. She notices another cube puzzle while the guy is looking for a price on the skull the cubs connect and make a dark portal and she fights the creatures taking the merchant with them. The cubes then turn into a map and you start off on level one. It teaches you the basics which every game does and when you can learn a new move it will also inform you of it.
The story could use some work to me but I do like how it just jumps into the game right away. Now I am the hack and slash kind of guy pretty much what each level looks like is a big area where you fight multiple of monsters or creatures. The boss fights also have a lot of enemies around them. The fact I like a lot about this game is that you can use spells and guns its nice because they only cost RAGE which you get from attacking enemies with swords or they attack you. To get your spells you need to kill the monsters and if you get multiple attacks on many enemies without being hit you then get a bonus and you receive more souls for the creatures you kill.
The Souls you receive are for the certain spells you can get as in ice arrow, transformations, coating your blades with fire or lightning. You can also use the souls for health or a full rage bar the higher the level the more souls you pay to use these. You also need to look for artifacts they are hidden in breakable items such as tombs, urns and so on. The artifacts come in pieces of 3, also there are 3 of each type. 1 to upgrade you weapons and weapon damage, 1 to upgrade you spell power, and 1 to upgrade your gun shooting and damage.
The Graphics to this game are amazing in my opinion again and I did like to see all the amazing scenery. I also like how you can set your skills to certain control buttons and customize the control how you mainly want it. I also liked all the music that played while the fighting took place as in techno and some rock and roll I really like that aspect of the game as well. There is some lag when fighting multiple enemies at once but its not that bad and well worth this game.
I would recommend this game to anyone who likes Devil may cry and God of war even though you don't run through the level the fighting is exactly the same and you just hack and slash things to bits or fry them with spells. |
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