Categories: PS VitaReviews

Toukiden: The Age of Demons review for PS Vita

Platform: PS Vita
Publisher: Tecmo KOEI
Developer: Omega Force
Medium: Digital/Vita Card
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
ESRB: T

Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter Monster Hunter Monster Hunter.

I just thought I’d get that out of the way right off the bat rather than tap-dancing around it for a few paragraphs, because really, that’s the giant, elephantine beast in the room when it comes to Toukiden: The Age of Demons. It’s the obvious influence, the current occupant of the throne to which Toukiden aspires, the alpha and the omega of the monster-hunting genre — it’s pretty much impossible to look at Toukiden and not think of it in relation to Monster Hunter.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t at least a couple of differences. For one thing, Toukiden has a mythology all its own; it may not be overly complex (you’re protecting your village from a demon invasion), but it is there, and Omega Force deserve kudos for that — to say nothing of the way they’ve weaved in actual bits of character development and interpersonal relationships.

For another, from a technical standpoint, Toukiden stands well above the Monster Hunter games on both 3DS or PSP. It looks far, far nicer, while the advantages imbued by the presence of the Vita’s dual thumbsticks are apparent from the very first time you pan around your surroundings on the battlefield.

Beyond that, though? It’s pretty Monster Hunter-y. Plot notwithstanding, the core of the game is still kill monsters-upgrade gear-repeat. Toukiden may throw in some stuff about captured souls and Rituals of Purification and whatnot, but that’s all window-dressing. For the duration of your time with Toukiden, you’ll be running around battlefields — sorry, “Ages” — and hacking and slashing demons to death, and that’s pretty much all you’ll be doing. (Though, technically, I suppose that if you go with a different slayer, you could also be arrowing the demons to death, or range-killing them.)

That said, I don’t want to dissuade anyone from getting Toukiden. It’s obviously not the most original game the Vita has to offer, but it’s still done incredibly well — no small feat when you consider that even if the genre may be overdone, the two similar games that have come to the PS Vita in North America before it (Soul Sacrifice and Ragnarok Odyssey) both whiffed in their own unique ways. Add in the whole looks great/plays great factor, and even if you don’t have the recipe for a must-have game, you at least have the recipe for an enjoyably good one.

Grade: B+
Matthew Pollesel

Recent Posts

TAITO Milestones 3 secures a December 10th release on the Nintendo Switch

Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Cadash, Rastan Saga, Champion Wrestler, Dead Connection and more are coming…

34 mins ago

Virballs (Early Access) review for PC

Virballs promises Ratchet and Clank meets Kirby. But can it deliver that?

2 hours ago

Goddess of Victory: NIKKE celebrates 2 years of operation with new characters, events and features

Learn the sad tale of the second generation Grimm’s Nikke in the game’s 2nd anniversary…

3 hours ago

The next Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration DLC takes us to The First Console War

Atari takes on Mattel's Intellivision in the next drop of content heading to this unique…

3 days ago

Get a look at the first 7 minutes of Metro Awakening’s immersive, post-apocalyptic VR world

Get an extended, flat look at the Metro 2033 prequel before it launches next week.

3 days ago

MechWarrior 5: Clans review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

There's a lot to unpack and configure in the latest entry in the MechWarrior series.

3 days ago

This website uses cookies.