Akuji the Heartless (Playstation)

 I remember this game getting quite a bit of hype in UK magazines, including a demo on the Official Playstation Magazine's coverdisc that included the whole second stage (it was an exciting bit of nostalgia seeing that place again, playing the full game for this review). Presumably because it was an original new series from Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive, and Tomb Raider was insanely popular in the UK in those days. Akuji wasn't so lucky, though, as once it came out, I never heard mention of it ever again. Not from other people, not from magazines, not even online. It seems like no-one bought or played it.

 

Which, having played it for a few hours this past week, seems a little unfair! It's actually a pretty fun game. I don't have an excuse for myself, either: I remember enjoying the aforementioned magazine demo, and the game's aesthetic definitely appealed to me then and it's nostalgic now. I wonder why I never followed up on it until now? Anyway, the game's a 3D platformer in which you play as Akuji, a guy who is literally, physically heartless, the organ having been removed in a "voodoo" ritual to allow him to go to the afterlife to find the lost souls of his ancestors for some reason. 

 

Of course, this game is from 1998, so the "voodoo" isn't an accurate and sensitive portrayal of African/Carribean folk religion, but a bunch of imagery incorporating skulls, snakes, blood, and fire at random. In fact, with all that imagery, the constant use of coloured lights and soundtrack of ambiet, distant drumming, I actually thought the stages felt like a mix between an edgy horror/superhero comic (as was the style earlier in the nineties: Spawn, Perg, Hellstorm, and stuff in that vein) and a voodoo-themed family restaurant at a particularly high budget theme park. It might be culturally insensitive, but I can't deny that it makes for a fun atmosphere.

 

The game itself isn't anything mind-blowing or super original, but it is a decent, well-constructed 3D platformer. You run around, fighting badguys, climbing up stuff, finding keys, solving simple switch puzzles, and all the typical 3D platformer stuff. There's a little bit of collectathon in there, too, as you've got to find your ancestors' souls hidden throughout each stage. It's definitely not a Rare-level encumberence, though, as there's only four in each stage, they're pretty easy to find and get to, and you don't actually need to find every last one to progress, only about half-to-three-quarters of them. I was also pleasantly surprised by the bossfights: I was expecting the kind of boss fight where a large portion of the time is spent avoiding attacks until the boss reveals its big red weakpoint, but the bosses in this are essentially just big enemies on which you can wail. You can even shoot them when they run away to a far away platform!

 

Akuji the Heartless is a pretty good game, and it's definitely worth a look, especially if you've got a bit of nostalgia for turn-of-the-century spooky mallgoth aesthetics. It's got some flaws, like moderately terrible camera, and times where you can fall down to a lower area and have to climb your way back up (exacerbated, of course, by the camera), but I've mostly had a good time with it.