Daikatana

If you want to play this, GET THE FAN-MADE PATCH! The game has a lot of inspired ideas for its time, mixing old school FPS action with RPG elements such as leveling-up system which enables you to make certain builds, each episode (time-period) has 6 unique weapons with a total of 25 different weapons (including the Daikatana), the weapons are creative although they're not always useful, some backfire often. The music is mostly good and puts you in the right mood for fast-paced shooting action. The problems ... oh boy, the problems are hard to miss, the first episode of the game is hands down the worst, slow pacing, small annoying enemies (robot frogs and mosquitoes) some irritating sound design with those enemies and cramped stages that don't always allow you to make good use of the weapons. When you get your sidekicks, in the original version you had to babysit them and if they die, it's game over, not to mention their path-finding is quite bad, they'll often get stuck and you need them close to progress. Luckily the fan-patch remedies by making them immortal or letting you remove the sidekicks. Some areas have weird puzzles that feel like a chore. Once you get to Episode 2, the game has a much better flow, the areas present fun combat situations and becomes much more enjoyable, nothing amazing but not a horrid disaster-piece of a game as some might lead you to believe. There'll be some annoyances and backtracking but it's an improvement over the 1st chapter. Basically if the development of the game hadn't been so troublesome and had the game released in a better state with some areas receiving some much needed improvements, this could have easily become a classic, if another company were to try to visit this concept and make a spiritual successor, they could strike gold. tl;dr: GET THE 1.3 PATCH! Pros: Good ideas in the arsenal, good music, 2nd chapter onward the game is medium to good. Cons: Annoying sound design, terrible 1st chapter, worse companion AI.

[played with 1.3 and sidekicks] i pretty much can't argue with any of the criticisms aimed at this game. i have nothing new to add as far as that goes. however, understanding these complaints helped me lower my expectations. this game is janky as h*ck and i love it for that. it tries so many weird different things, and i value that much much more than consistency. bouncing lasers, throwing discs, lightning spears, lol. plus the colours are out of this world! the story is absurd but that adds to it! seems like thin excuses to explore different themes but i don't mind at all, variety is fun! just not a fan of killing stereotypical prisoners, though. there were some poor decisions made, but i had such an amazing time with it!

This game got a lot of negative press at the time, some of it quite deservedly so: -Annoying bugs (both gameplay and literal robot mosquitoes), -Companion characters that bounced unpredictably between pretty good and brain-dead, -The script was so cheesy that vegans couldn't play this game without catching fire, Some aspects that were criticised have either since been improved or simply aren't relevant any more: -The graphics were intended to be cutting edge for 1998, but by the time it released, games looked better. Nowadays, a consistent retro-looking aesthetic isn't a problem, and viewed through a modern lens, the game looks pretty damn nice, -The limited saves and some of the companion AI issues have been improved by patches, -In a world of games that take themselves incredibly seriously, a cheesy B-movie jaunt through time is quite refreshing, The game is still not great by any means, but it's fun. -It strikes a good balance between action, exploration and puzzles, -The weapons are satisfying to use and there's loads of neat little touches to some of the gameplay mechanics, -The huge levels are structured really well and the paths through them flow impressively well. It's a solid 3.5 Star game, easily. Since I'm feeling generous, I'll round up to 4.

Is horrible, but i love it!

The game, when played with 1.3 patch installed, sidekicks disabled and unlimited saves enabled, is actually quite playable. It is by far not the greatest game you will play, but it does provide a fairly interesting experience nonetheless. As other reviews have pointed out, the game is not without its flaws, even with the patch installed: the boring first few levels; the overly cheesy dialogue (could be a good thing if you like that!); some fairly boring and some extremely annoying enemies; environments that seem very empty and sparse, or without meaning. At the same time, the game is quite varied. It is divided into four chapters, each having a unique style of levels and weapons. Some of the levels are actually quite nice, though they are fairly linear and sprinkled with lever "puzzles". It also features light RPG elements, but it is difficult to gauge exactly how they affect the gameplay. Don't expect a miracle from this game, but don't outright dismiss it either.