Sudeki (Xbox):
I played and finished it before, but its been a while ago.
Sudeki is a very colorful game in the JRPG style (though it is by a British developer) without some of the length present in some of the Japanese games I played - but this also means it's rather short, especially when you played it before and know when to go where.
The story is... decent, though not really breathtaking: the world Sudeki was given to god Tetsu who, after a while, started to feel lonely, and made another god in his image. Heigou, however, was eveil. The two started to squabble over who owned Sudeki, and in the end the Heigou was banned, but the world split in two. 1000 years later, Heigou will return, and just the chosen ones can fight him...
Visuals are sweet, especially when you wander between the two halves of Sudeki later in the game: the bright, fruity-colored state Haskilia and its dark, gloomy counterpart Cyantia make for a nice contrast.
Character development is handled in the same old manner: you fight and solve questst, get XP, and can invest them on level-up. There are a handful attributes and several magical skills to spend your points on. Mismanagement IS an option: by spending points on magical attributes, for example, on a character you usually don't use for magical attacks or defenses, you can render your group unusable... but then you'll notice that quickly...
You always start with the same character and expand your group in the same manner because it's a plot-driven affair. Once you have all four basic characters together, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to use them all in your party: sometimes one or two of them are needed elsewhere, the group is split, and you'll always be left alone to fight bosses (though with different bosses, you'll have different characters to fight them - none of your choice).
Each character (or better: type of character, because you'll have to adventure with some of your shadows from the 'other' world later on) has a special ability: the tank can move crates, the mage can make invisible things visible, the artillery can fly short distances, and the acrobat can climb certain walls. Some puzzles need the abilities of several characters to be solved - this reminded me a lot of Lost Vikings
.
Real-time combat can be rather chaotic: sometimes you'll have to switch characters in mid-combat (to heal the group, for example), so re-adjustment to your new position can be a bit confusing. Apart from that, it's extremely bloody: enemies tend to gib, and that violently.
Okay, now the rest in shorthand:
I liked:
-the Lost Vikings like gameplay
-the colors! and the rest of the visuals
-the boss fights (sometimes strategic even for a single character)
-the plot twist
I didn't like:
-the length (too short)
-story on rails after reaching Cyantia (decent exploration wasn't possible anymore after this point)
-unresolved story element (Tal and his father, Tal and Ailish... etc.)
-some of the voice actors were terribly uninspired (at least in the localized version)
Summary:
More an action adventure w/RPG elements; grand visuals for its time. Highly entertaining while it lasts, despite a few shortcomings - a solid game:
8/10.