The idea of producing a stylish and simplified version of Desperados to introduce kids to real time tactics games is very intriguing, though one must wonder which kids would have the patience to deal with this game's many whims and annoyances.
In it you take control of a little boy on his quest to rejoin his mother after their farm is destroyed and she entrusts him to an abbey of monks so she can go mete justice on those responsible. Little does she know that the monks are a front for some kind of child-enslaving racket/religious cult, whose clutches the son will have to escape, armed only with a slingshot and a bag of tricks to distract and sneak past his enemies.
Regardless of how gorgeous the art style is (especially during the cutscenes) and how effective the wordless environmental storytelling, there is simply no looking past the fact that the controls just don't work the way they should: when a split second reaction is what separates success from failure, the game ignoring your button press to make the character crouch behind something or slide under a table is simply inexcusable, leading to many, many undeserved deaths.
There is also the fact that the slingshot targeting display does not play nice with the angle of the game's fixed camera, often making it fiddly and difficult to hit what you are gunning for, which, when speed if a factor, can result in a string of frustrating restarts.
It doesn't help that the game suffers from the staple of most low quality stealth games: being spotted pretty much equals a checkpoint restart, since evading the enemies is more or less impossible. It is techically doable, but it requires breaking line of sight for longer than their suprehuman speed and tracking abilities usually allow. At the very least checkpoints are generously placed and can be activated multiple times to save one's progress, mitigating the aggravation.
Levels always boil down to going from A to B, avoiding cones of visions and altering the scenery to clear the way. As an optional activity there also are children to rescue from their captors, although, in pure modern gaming style, they serve no purpose other than unlocking achievements, as well as some inconsequential concept art. Tying their rescue to upgrades for your character or the availablity of a secret level would have gone a long way towards making the mechanic worthwhile: as it stands, it's anything but.
A couple of the 29 stages that compose the game see you taking control of the mother, and ironically these is the most fun content on offer, since she is faster, more agile, and armed with better equipment, which is refreshing compared to the oimited ability of the small boy. One train level in particular is the high point of the game. Sadly, these moments are few and far between.
There is an interesting mystery surrounding the religious cult, one which I swas hoping would be unraveled as the game went on, but it is unfortunately never expanded upon in any satisfying manner.
There was potential in El Hijo, but unfortunately the game design just isn't up to snuff.
In it you take control of a little boy on his quest to rejoin his mother after their farm is destroyed and she entrusts him to an abbey of monks so she can go mete justice on those responsible. Little does she know that the monks are a front for some kind of child-enslaving racket/religious cult, whose clutches the son will have to escape, armed only with a slingshot and a bag of tricks to distract and sneak past his enemies.
Regardless of how gorgeous the art style is (especially during the cutscenes) and how effective the wordless environmental storytelling, there is simply no looking past the fact that the controls just don't work the way they should: when a split second reaction is what separates success from failure, the game ignoring your button press to make the character crouch behind something or slide under a table is simply inexcusable, leading to many, many undeserved deaths.
There is also the fact that the slingshot targeting display does not play nice with the angle of the game's fixed camera, often making it fiddly and difficult to hit what you are gunning for, which, when speed if a factor, can result in a string of frustrating restarts.
It doesn't help that the game suffers from the staple of most low quality stealth games: being spotted pretty much equals a checkpoint restart, since evading the enemies is more or less impossible. It is techically doable, but it requires breaking line of sight for longer than their suprehuman speed and tracking abilities usually allow. At the very least checkpoints are generously placed and can be activated multiple times to save one's progress, mitigating the aggravation.
Levels always boil down to going from A to B, avoiding cones of visions and altering the scenery to clear the way. As an optional activity there also are children to rescue from their captors, although, in pure modern gaming style, they serve no purpose other than unlocking achievements, as well as some inconsequential concept art. Tying their rescue to upgrades for your character or the availablity of a secret level would have gone a long way towards making the mechanic worthwhile: as it stands, it's anything but.
A couple of the 29 stages that compose the game see you taking control of the mother, and ironically these is the most fun content on offer, since she is faster, more agile, and armed with better equipment, which is refreshing compared to the oimited ability of the small boy. One train level in particular is the high point of the game. Sadly, these moments are few and far between.
There is an interesting mystery surrounding the religious cult, one which I swas hoping would be unraveled as the game went on, but it is unfortunately never expanded upon in any satisfying manner.
There was potential in El Hijo, but unfortunately the game design just isn't up to snuff.