Sword of Rapier (X360) (2010)
Developer: vDog
Review by Faididi and Co.
We guess that makes this a "document of review"
Story: Average
A young woman wakes up in the middle of a forest with no memory of who she is. The blood-smeared rapier found next to her doesn't look good for her when a bunch of imperial soldiers arrive, but luckily for our heroine, her innate fencing prowess helps her snatch up the sword and beat off the bad guys. Katharine, as her name is soon revealed, embarks on a fun-filled quest to recover her memory and figure out why she is a wanted fugitive.
The story has an interesting opening, but it pulls back into the usual tale of simple conspiracies and revenge motives. That may be expected for a game like this, but it's weird when Katharine has absolutely no reason to kill half of the bosses she meets.
Gameplay: Average
vDog's Sword of Rapier is an action RPG that's easy to pick up and play. With things seen from an overhead perspective, Katharine explores areas and jabs at bad guys. As she gains in experience level, her offensive and defensive strength grows. Her progress can be saved anywhere at any time, and free stamina-recovery spots are conveniently located before the boss scenes. Small and simple in design, this game offers about 5 to 6 hours of gameplay (most of it spent on gaining experience points), with five unique bosses, no big mazes to worry about, zero treasure chests to find, and just a single shopkeeper who sells potions.
One thing that makes Katharine stand out is her so-called soaring aerial combo ability. After the first boss, she can acquire and upgrade 8 different magic attacks, like homing fireballs and lightning bolts. The majority of these magic attacks can be chained together with her basic rapier attacks to knock enemies upward, leaving them vulnerable to additional hits. These soaring attacks aren't necessary to finishing the game, but they can help Katharine take down multiple foes much more quickly.
Unfortunately, Sword of Rapier suffers from terrible balancing and pacing. A span of three experience levels can mean the difference between dealing 1 wimpy point of pinprick damage or 20 mighty points of bone-crushing death against bad guys, making the bipolar difficulty seesaw between impossible and ludicrously easy. If they are encountered at the wrong experience levels, cuddly bunnies and bouncing mushrooms will be far deadlier than sword-swinging guards. Katharine can either exhaust all of her recovery items only to put a dent in a boss, or, after gaining two or three experience levels, knee-walk straight through the same bastard within seconds. Such gross imbalance makes the more elaborate rapier-and-magic attacks pointless to master.
Controls: Average
Moving and fighting are easy to do, although the downward-slamming thrust is nearly useless due to its lengthy delay. Four of the eight magic attacks can be equipped at a time, but there's no reason why more buttons can't be used to access every magic attack at once.
Graphics: Average
Except for the cute, full-screen image of Katharine on the subscreen, the visuals here are all rendered in a super-deformed anime style reminiscent of PS-era graphics. That's not to say this game looks bad, but having something more detailed wouldn't hurt.
Audio: Average
The swishing and slashing sound effects are decent, and the same can be said for the agreeable if not highly memorable music.
Overall: Average
Sword of Rapier would be more impressive as a short, simple action RPG if not for its extremely imbalanced difficulty. If you don't mind that gaining three experience levels can turn the most fearsome bosses into flimsy pushovers, then you might have some fun with the fancy-looking rapier-and-magic attack combos.