Release Date: 17/07/2017
Played On: Win
Available On: Mac / Win
Time Played: 2h 16m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Restory Studio
Publisher: Restory Studio
I'll be the first to admit that mechanics aren't the first thing I look for in a game, and many games I love have very light gameplay systems and mechanics at the end of the day. However, I'm not all about the stories and I still enjoy a fun challenge from a game that doesn't really care about story all that much, opting for fast and frantic combat as the main selling point from start to finish.
We've known for a long time that graphics and presentation aren't everything in the gaming world, as there are many excellent little games waiting to amaze us, despite their ugly or primitive style. Gameplay itself seems to always be more important than many other systems at play in any game, as we're able to overlook many shortfalls when we're gripped in a loop of challenging enemies and purposeful button presses. While I may not put quite as much stock in pure gameplay experiences on a whole, I will happily admit that a game with excellent mechanics and visceral action will definitely be able to make up for a missing story, or lacklustre presentation.
The Initial is a third-person action game that has little to no interest in anything beyond enjoyable combat and challenging enemies. However, unlike the big names that may come to mind from studios like Platinum Games, this one is a much smaller endeavour that makes up for its limitations with sheer ambition. Where the big games like Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising excel in their over-the-top set pieces and creative boss battles, it's clear that this game was made on a much smaller budget, despite its eventual comparability with many other action games in its class.
I'm not going to pretend that I remember the story very well at all. At least, not beyond the fact that we play as an elite soldier girl who has been tasked with defeating an eclectic array of interesting enemies that are attempting to take over the city… or something like that. The truth is that story doesn't matter very much at all in this game, so I ended up ignoring it and skipping a lot of cut scenes. Not only because it was generic and boring, but mostly because it was actually painful to sit through a bunch of anime girls speaking in earnest about their mission through squeaky "cute" voices and short skirts. It's just not my thing, but I'm sure there are many who would get into it on some level.
In fact the "narrative" elements in The Initial reminded me a little of how the Onechanbara games are presented, as they also follow a nonsensical story through a series of third-person encounters, which is essentially what the game ends up being. After all, it's a simple and predictable loop where we move through a series of arenas, fighting waves of diverse enemies in one location, before being allowed to move on to the next. Every now and then, a boss enemy will show up and we will have to figure out it's weakness, then exploit it to take them down in spectacular fashion.
Now, you could argue that the stories in some of those larger games I mentioned, are actually pretty good, and at the very least: entertaining. For the most part I would agree with you, but only because I'm not expecting much from those stories in the first place. When I hear the words "new Platinum action game", I don't think "oh goody, a new story to play through", I think "hell yeah, let's do some crazy moves and take out the bad guys". To that end, The Initial actually does a decent enough job when it comes to delivering on its action-focused third-person gameplay, even though it has many moments of terrible writing and performance.
Thankfully, there's a fairly decent combat system baked in to The Initial, which is actually required learning if you want to dispatch certain enemies quickly. As you fight through each arena's waves of enemies, you level up and unlock new moves, which will then become essential when fighting the new enemies waiting just around the corner in the next room. The progression is satisfying and I felt like I was levelling up at a steady pace and able to stay one step ahead of the competition. Although, I didn't spent a lot of time mastering some of the more intricate moves, as I quickly discovered what I needed to do to defeat each enemy, then stuck to whatever combo worked best.
I suppose if I'm being realistic, the move set in The Initial and its corresponding mechanics for general combat, pales in comparison to its larger brothers and sisters. What's more, the game feel is a bit off in parts and executing moves often lacked any kind of satisfying visual or tactile feedback when doing something cool. Thankfully the controls require a little more thought than straight button mashing, but most of the time I found myself repeating easy combos that got the job done, rather than trying to remember some of the more complex sequences that looked cool, but didn't seem to give me much advantage.
Not to say that I didn't enjoy myself, as the whole "looking cool" aspect of the game is actually done pretty well. Yes, everything is a bit cartoonish and there aren't intense details and polygons on every character model. Even the arenas themselves all end up being variations on similar sized rooms, with very little to differentiate them beyond a palette or theme that signified each main area of the map. However, even within these limitations, I had a lot of fun fighting off enemies and seeing my girl do a bunch of cool spins and moves as she sliced everything up. There are even some stylish special moves to unleash when a meter fills up, and I'm pleased to say that they're a lot of fun to initiate and watch.
The same can be said about the handful of boss fights that round out each act of the game. The bosses are quite varied in their move sets and styles, which is a blessing after ploughing through all those waves of grunts. Most of the bosses put up enough of a challenge that I had to actually think about what I was doing and come up with a plan of action. They each had their weakness, but it took a few tries to figure out just what that was and a couple more to put it into practice and take them down. They might not have been the toughest bosses in the world, but they each challenged me enough to make me think, which is really saying something these days in a world where players get their hand held all the way through.
It's actually this boss and enemy variety that carried me all the way to end of The Initial. There were times when I started to feel like I was going through the motions, but before too long there was a new enemy type or boss to fight, which kept my interest just long enough to watch the end credits roll. Turns out that this is yet another game that benefits from decent gameplay mechanics in spite of everything else that would otherwise let it down. Instead it's fairly easy to see how this game's shortcomings are nothing more than a result of having a smaller scope and fewer resources.
Ultimately I had a great time playing through The Initial, even if it's never going to blow anyone's mind or stand out in any meaningful way. As much as I always like to say that a good narrative will hold any game together, it turns out that competent and fun gameplay mechanics will go a long way to keep me hooked and able to persevere.
To that end, The Initial has its place as a legitimately fun little action game that tries to emulate it's older siblings without completely screwing it up. Are games like Metal Gear Rising and Bayonetta much better? Of course they are, but those games are significantly more expensive. For a relatively small indie release, you could do a lot worse than a game that is ultimately enjoyable and fun to play.