For a long while, AeternoBlade has always remained a Japan-only Nintendo 3DS game, that is until it recently made it to North America. With this 2D action platformer from Corecell Technology being available within the Nintendo eShop, will this final arrival be welcomed?
The story behind AeternoBlade centers around a heroine named Freyja as she battles against a devilish creature called Beladim. Considering that it just destroyed her village, she has justification. Unfortunately, Freyja dies during this attempt to slay the creature, but gets sent back in time, specifically one week before this incident, thanks to her time-warping sword. You are then given a second chance to take on Beladim.
Note, the gameplay involves an orb system where the red represents health, the blue represents magic, yellow being the amount of experience points gained, and finally green indicating your special power bar. Upon first glance, the gameplay can appear to be quite simplistic. The enemies are plentiful but can be somewhat easy and too straight-foward at first. But later on, the mechanics get a little bit more involved with the introduction of a combo system, which also includes landing attacks while you’re standing, crouching and in the air.
AeternoBlade’s gameplay does increase in excitement the more skills you acquire. In fact, when your characters learns more time-bending abilities, things start to get more exhilarating. Specifically, Freyja can harness the power of her sword which in turn can rewind time granted that she has enough mana. You’ll also be able to separately send either enemies or objects back in time thus giving you some puzzle-solving sessions. Couple that with the appearance of more diversity in enemies and you end up with a pretty good game. For instance, you’ll have the Time Guardians appear and give you added difficulty during your gameplay within certain areas.
Considering how AeternoBlade can take you about five hours to complete along with a huge number of upgrades to acquire, this specific Nintendo 3DS title has quite some longevity and replay value. The issue though lies with how the variety is lacking when you look at the level designs and backgrounds. And even the boss fights may give you a sense of deja-vous because of some recycling of enemies.
Visually speaking, the overall presentation for AeternoBlade is pretty decent. The 3D effects may not necessarily blast you away, but it’s used effectively enough to give some depth, especially during action scenes. Audio-wise, the game does deliver in keeping things interesting as well as properly give an engrossing atmosphere.
For $14.99, AeternoBlade is a fair price to pay for an action game with a deep and involving combat system. It does have quite a bit of content, but it may fall slightly short in differentiating itself from other games within the similar genre. Still, at the end of the day, it’s worth checking out. Best you get your hands on a demo version first so as to get a better idea of whether or not this game is right for you.
