Review for Do Extella. Game for PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 10/11/2016 The version for PC came out on 25/07/2017 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 20/07/2017
The Fate brand saw the light in 2004 with Fate / stay night, an adult visual novel released for both PC and Playstation 2 and PSP consoles. Its success led in the following years to the release of many other products, very different from each other and spread across multiple media: from anime, to manga, to cabinet games, complete with sequel titles, spin-offs and / or alternative realities. .
Fate / Extella: The Umbral Star is set after the events of the PSP video game Fate / Extra, although the story is enjoyable and understandable even without having played the predecessor. The most loyal to the Fate saga will find many of the characters known to them, albeit in unique outfits, contextualized to the cyber-digital setting in which the events take place. As a hack 'n slash, a lot of the time will be devoted to fighting to mow hundreds of enemies on screen, but they will not fail dozens and dozens of minutes of dialogue during which the player is given the right to select different responses to induce different reactions in the various Servants, which will modify their of affection towards the (or the) protagonist and their efficiency in battle.
Masters and Servants in war
The dating game nature of the original Fate is present on a very bland level, albeit there will be "romance" situations, accompanied by curtains full of fanservice and slightly spicy. The real focus of Fate / Extella: The Umbral Star, however, is the enhancement of the Servants and their use in battle: by advancing with the plot events, it will be possible to control 16 characters, divided into 8 classes, each of which will have their own secondary missions to deepen their character and background.
The narrative structure of Fate / Extella: The Umbral Star is deep and layered, interesting for a neophyte of the brand, certainly satisfying for a fan, thanks to a setting that does not shine for originality, but which is certainly used with wisdom and some pleasant twists. Unfortunately, this is the only truly successful aspect of the title, since observing the aesthetic and character characterization of the individual characters one perceives the lack of will to make them something more than single stereotyped specks and refractory to any type of psychological evolution in the course of events.
Not all tie-ins succeed with the hole
If then the game script can be summarized with a "good, but not very good", any other element gasps to reach sufficiency, victim of the widespread "tie-in syndrome". Despite the dedication shown in equipping the breasts of the protagonists with bouncing, the models of both sexes of Servant and enemies are gaunt and just as poorly animated, especially in the case of the opponents. The same goes for the settings, which, however large and blessed by a framerate almost always stable, they are desolate, empty and all too similar in appearance and structure.
The key to success in Fate / Extella: The Umbral Star is the conquest of the various areas in which the map is divided, by defeating a large number of enemies and their commanders. Once you have gained control of a sufficient number of areas, it will be possible to enter the final confrontation, which will determine the success or failure of the expedition.
The game mechanics are simple, intuitive and fun, but except for a couple of story missions that will require the completion of specific actions, the player will be forced to repeat the same actions over and over for dozens of hours, with light, special and heavy attack combos that will change depending on the Servant controlled, but condemned to crash against aEmbarrassing AI of mid-bosses and end-of-stage bosses, able to flatten any type of strategy to a lobotomizing button smash. The commands are fortunately responsive and well mapped, making the clashes a bit chaotic in the vicinity of perimeters or large environmental objects, when the camera is noticed to have been placed slightly too close to the action.
For those wishing to aim for completeness, Fate / Extella: The Umbral Star guarantees at least 40 hours of play and lots of dialogues and curtains between the various protagonists, all well dubbed in Japanese. The Marvelous house title is though available in English only, which could hold back the less experienced in foreign languages due to the amount of text on the screen to pay attention to.
Fate / Extella: The Umbral Star is a video game impossible to recommend except to fans of the brand, certainly more understanding in the face of the lack of originality of the gameplay and unacceptable graphics from such a recent title. Without bothering the sacred monsters of the Warriors saga, the modern videogame landscape offers dozens of "musou" undoubtedly the best from every point of view, which makes the presence of their favorites the only, concrete and plausible discriminating factor for the purchase. of a product clearly designed for Fate fans and which has not even attempted to increase its audience.
► Fate Extella is a game for PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 10/11/2016 The version for PC came out on 25/07/2017 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 20/07/2017
