Daikatana

First off, before we start this review, Daiktana was never as bad as the press claimed Daikatana follows the story of Hiro Miyamoto, an heir to a certain Usagi Miyamoto from way back in the past. Throughout the course of the game, Hiro will be searching for a legendary artifact known as the Daikatana, a weapon crafted by his ancestor Usagi, and had in some way attained the ability to allow time travel. This Daikatana sets most of the plot for the entire game, as explained in the intro (Be warned, its quite lengthy) As a massive fan of Daikatana, I will still admit that it has some slight flaws, flaws we will go over shortly. But now time for the pros of the game. Daikatana offers four different episodes set in different time periods. Unlike most episodes in 90s FPS's, Daikatana has a new set of weapons and enemies for each episode, which helps make the theme of the episodes look even more epic. Couple this with a great and memorable soundtrack (That can be found in the game's data files) and you might just get some of the coolest episodes ever seen in an FPS game. Another neat addition for people who are really into video game stories (such as myself) is that Daikatana offers story relevant cutscenes throughout the entire game, a rarely seen thing in FPS games back when this came out (Far as my memory goes). The story is really great in my opinion, and introduces some interesting characters every here and there. The game also offers great visual effects and nice action packed combat! The cons about Daikatana are mainly focused around the friendly AI, which can mess up a great deal at times. I really recommend gettin' the fanmade 1.3 patch before playing the game, due to all the AI fixes (Both for side-kick and enemies) and massive side-kick health boost (Which makes it a lot harder for enemies to kill them, which is good) I also recommend having a walkthrough up in case you get stuck, some areas can be really cryptic on your first playthrough. 4.5/5

I still have this game on a working disk that I got from eBay for $0.01 (plus shipping of course). Some good ideas are there, and the game isn't entirely unplayable, but it doesn't stop it from feeling like a slog. All the weapons manage to be terrible in some way, and the A.I. of the sidekicks adds an unnecessary level of difficulty to the game. There will be times where you will venture through a level on your own, and then you'll have to backtrack from the end back to the start just to open a path for your "friends." Play it if you're that curious. Just don't expect to have fun.

Honestly, Daikatana is not as bad as a lot of reviews have led me to believe. There are a lot of moments and a few stages that I would call pure BS, but I still had a good bit of fun with the game despite all of that. I like that you can improve your stats. I ran into a pretty nasty (and infamous) crash partway through the game and had to download patch 1.3 to get through it, but I don't hate my time with the game. It has some really neat ideas and Superfly either clearing his throat or doing his best Ahnold impression always made me laugh, but man I can understand why it might not be someone's cup of tea. If you're going to pick it up, do yourself a favor and get the 1.3 patch. It'll save you a lot of headache and add a few quality of life improvements.

I never played Daikatana in its day, and had only heard stories about how awful it was. When I saw it here, I knew sheer morbid curiosity would eventually fish 6 dollars out of me. I didn't go in with my mind already made up. On the contrary, I expected it to be an earlier "Duke Nukem Forever"; mediocre, but by NO means as bad as people liked to pretend. Daikatana however, while entertaining in an ironic sort of way, is still legitimately frustrating. There is "difficulty" to speak of, but its difficult for all the wrong reasons. The weapons are the worst part for me. The Ion Blaster is fun to shoot, but will tend to ricochet back into your face for massive damage. The C4 launcher is a joke, and will tend to get stuck on a nearby texture, killing you more often than your foes. The shotgun unloads ALL SIX shells from one mouse click... I thought I was experiencing a glitch at first. Most importantly, all of them lack stopping power. Even if you shoot first, you will take damage. Quite a bit, even from the most basic soldiers. I could go on, but I'll just wrap it up by saying Daikatana is a less satisfying Quake. It has a few cool ideas, and I've even been enjoying working my way through it, but at the end of the day, it deserves most of its reputation. I'd try to recommend avoiding it, but you'll buy it anyway won't you? You sick bastard.

I don't recomment this game in it's base form to anyone. With patches tho? Why not, if you're curious.