El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron Critic Reviews

It's an engaging, exciting, fearless and endlessly imaginative masterpiece with a clarity of vision that is so, so rare in traditional big-budget releases.

It's consistently fascinating story and ever-evolving world - along with its minimalist and elegant gameplay - make saving the world a magnificent endeavor.

A visually arresting experience I wholeheartedly loved...A rare treat of a game and a celebration of video games as an art form.

The experience of a game so elegantly, artfully designed in both mechanics and visuals is something that will stay with me, even if the plot wasn't totally coherent.

A visually stunning game with simply fun action and challenging platforming, El Shaddai is only slightly marred by the death system and unoriginal mechanics.

It's stratospherically mad. At the point where I emerged out of a narrow corridor into what turned out to be a vast stadium and a gyrating dance master exploded from the sea in an outfit that would make Lady Gaga proud, I almost collapsed with joy. If that sounds like you, this could the best thing you buy this year.

El Shaddai is so unique that it is hard to find something similar in the modern market. The incredible combination of a stunning style, a great combat system and a crazy storyline create a superb cocktail. This is not the typical million seller, but any hardcore player should buy it.

El Shaddai is the most visually interresting game I have seen so far. And beyond the visuals lies a game with great controls, balanced difficulty and an excellent mixture of fighting, 2D and 3D platforming. I love it when developers do something different and actually succeed.

While not a perfect game, the only real nitpick I have is the platforming sometimes became a little difficult due to the art style and camera angles, it's definitely an experience that shouldn't be missed.

An entertaining action - adventure with strong religious overtones and quite exquisite audiovisual effects.

Now here's a nice surprise. This may not have been the most hyped game out there, but it delivers in almost every way. A fresh and original style, interesting gameplay… El Shaddai does everything right, except for the way it tells its story.

When you do strip away the deep religious overtones, what you have is one of the best action adventure platformers this year, with pacing that is often reminiscent of 8- and 16-bit side scrollers.

I really enjoyed El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron as it provides gamers with something a little left out of centre with some gorgeous graphics, simplistic yet challenging gameplay and a world that is so different that you will be craving to come back.

El Shaddai is a unique game in its kind, thanks to a unique and artistic design, a fascinating plot and a decent gameplay. Visionary, fascinating, hypnotic, is a good title but not suitable for all players.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is a work of surprising confidence. Combat that favors leveling up the player's, not that avatar's, skill set is worthy of admiration, as is a wildly imaginative, frenzied art department that never allows their beautiful work to overstay its welcome.

El Shaddai isn't perfect, but it has more than enough breathtaking moments to make the journey worthwhile.

It paints so beautifully on its canvas that we feel anyone could enjoy that, though we wish the gameplay could always be as grand as the visual design. The combat never falters, but doesn't do enough new, and at times the platforming drags, though that shouldn't deter you from the overall experience.

Combines gorgeous artistic design with enticing combat to create a memorable adventure.

Aside from the bananas plot, what makes El Shaddai unique is its looks.

A beautifully crafted game that brings us to a magic world that doesn't take itself too seriously. With splendid artistic design, it lacks in gameplay, which is too classic in the hack 'n' slash genre and becomes repetitive quickly.