Thirteen1

The Cursed Crusade launches you back to the time of the Fourth Crusade during the early 13^th Century.

It all revolves around co-operative combat, putting an Army of Two style focus on you and your partner battling your way through various stages together while using all manner of weapons, from swords and maces, to axes and spears. The combat is bloody, gory and the finishing moves can be extremely gruesome. Beheadings and impalings, anyone!?

You play Denz de Bayle, a knight and son of Jean de Bayle. While Jean was away fighting in the 3^rd Crusade, his brother took over his land and mistreated Jean’s family, leading to Denz’s mother and sister being killed. Denz must now search for his father in order to reclaim his land; leading to Denz joining the Crusader army as it heads for Egypt. On the way, Denz picks up a companion, a stereotypical Spaniard by the name of Esteban Noviembre, and it is around these two that the game’s co-operative mechanics revolve.

However, Denz and Esteban’s quest is complicated by the fact that through their veins flow with “The Curse.” This essentially means that Death is after them, and several of the missions involve you avoiding the Grim Reaper himself. On the upside, when you press L1 you can enter a Cursed State, which makes you faster and stronger.

Each weapon can be held in combination with various others, and each combination has its own set of attack combinations. You unlock more attacks with Victory Points earned at the end of each level, so by the end of the game you’ll know hundreds of attacks over a dozen or so weapon combinations.

However, combat is too easy. You can use one button to get through most of the first chapter. While there are a few counter moves and stuns to be used, they aren’t incredibly useful especially when combined with the frequency at which they fail. World objects like barrels, wells and fire can be used in combat too, and provide a little animation such as kicking an enemy down a well. But these too are occasionally glitchy and you’ll often find yourself pressing X in vain as nobody is kicked down a well, leaving you in your living room shouting “THIS IS SPARTA!” looking quite the fool.

One of the few things that serve to make combat challenging is the unpredictability of the AI, but not in a good way. Your partner in single player is woeful; in the early missions he is constantly getting in trouble, which forces you to save him, and he often leaves you to do the majority of the killing. This problem, thankfully, is not an issue in the multiplayer, unless your mate wanders off mid-game.

The Cursed state’s strength and speed makes combat even easier, though you are only allowed to use it for a certain amount of time before it begins to corrupt you and drain health. However, when not in use the meter regenerates very quickly, so you almost never suffer the health drain. When in Cursed state, the game enters a demonic and hellish visual state, with fires burning everywhere and demon horns on you and your companion. While very gothic, it can actually get in the way of the gameplay, especially if you are trying to counter an enemy and are unable to see the coloured outline on him, which indicates how they are going to attack.

The game, for the most part, stays true to the recognised history, assuming you ignore the sub-plot of Cursed blood, of course. Any part of the story that involves fighting is put into a mission, while the rest is cutscenes. This leads to there being a lot of cutscenes to explain the details of the Crusade. Too many cutscenes, in fact. It all gets pretty frustrating when you consider us gamers tend to enjoy, well, gaming, rather than watching endless videos. They can be skipped, but most missions are bookended by two, sometimes three videos, and you have to skip each one individually.

You’ll soon find yourself watching all the cutscenes though, as some of the dialogue is witty, especially the banter between Denz and Esteban. Moreover, they are a welcome break from the dull, repetitive and occasionally buggy gameplay.

Graphically, the gore of combat and some little subtleties such as the spark of one sword striking another are great. There has clearly been an effort made in some aspects of the visuals. The cutscenes are cinematic and some of the distance visuals are great, for example when fighting on ramparts and seeing the sea in the distance. The sound design also helps make the combat more engaging. The effects of metal clanging against metal, or the scream of a vanquished foe add realism to the battles.

However, as with everything else, there are bugs and not enough attention to detail. The lip-sync is extremely poor and often gives the impression of watching a poorly dubbed Chinese B-movie. There are numerous visual glitches, from barrels flying around for no reason, to interactive objects not correctly interacting. Cursed State only enhances this, as often simple tasks such as finding the way to go are suddenly complicated by the overuse of fire and brimstone. In short, the annoyances far outweigh the positives.

So in conclusion, The Cursed Crusade has a decent enough storyline, and some dialogue is entertaining. But there are simply too many cutscenes and the gameplay itself is repetitive and glitchy. The Fourth Crusade is a dark stain on both history and Christianity. The Cursed Crusade may not be a crime against humanity, but it is certainly a crime against gaming.

5/13