Mystery surrounds Edward and James who both join Koudelka on her quest to find answers. Each character has his own motivation for doing so, with James operating on instructions from the Catholic Church. Unlike James, Edward has actually chosen to be at Nemeton but his reasons seem to be shrouded in mystery, as he seeks to deal with his own personal demons. This unusual trio will have various debates on the sights they see and their relevance to religion and beliefs during the course of the game.
Released in 2000, Koudelka is very much of its period with fixed camera angles used to highlight the decrepit and dangerous environments. Resident Evil made such an approach fashionable and here it is put to good effect, although on the PS3 it can be difficult at times to locate the next-door or opening to progress. Environments are well detailed and loading is miniscule, with plenty of items hidden, so you must scour rooms to stock up.
The adventure is spread across four discs with Sacnoth showing their storytelling skill with plot developments and interesting characters. Scenes are either in CGI which today looks laughable or segments using the in-game engine that are more effective. The voice acting is particularly good for a game of this age and soon enough the story becomes the main reason for playing through each of the discs. There is some emphasis on backtracking for items if you so wish, but you can also just steam ahead taking on bosses and reaching the end of each disc after a couple of hours. Most reasons to double back involve unique items and added details to give depth to the storyline.
Koudelka relies on turn-based encounters played across a grid a typical system for any RPG of the era. Random battles are the order of the day and these do become a little tiresome as you pursue items and experience points to level up. Each character has a variety of attributes that you can allocate points against and help boost their own potential skills. The battles themselves are bland as are the monster designs. Gamestyle found it difficult not to go into autopilot on numerous occasions during combat, as the opponent AI is very predictable and the stable of monsters very limited. As the random battles appear on a frequently annoying basis (not to the same level as Skies of Arcadia), the storyline is the only respite from the slog of war.
Progression is very linear and this is not unexpected in such a game as Koudelka. The pacing is pedestrian, Gamestyle supposes that this was to inject some fear and atmosphere into the experience but as the confrontations do not take place in real-time, Koudelka lacks punch. On a positive note the music is very good, we just wish there was more of it!
In Koudelka you can see the promise that Shadow Hearts was set to bring. This Playstation release is an interesting oddity from the period and rewarding for those that see the events through to their conclusion. However there is no denying that the game itself has not aged very well, and we’re not just talking about graphically as time has not been kind to Nemeton Abbey and those that enter.
Gamestyle Score 6
