{"id":175,"date":"2014-04-05T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T00:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/stories\/?p=175"},"modified":"2022-07-17T18:34:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T22:34:43","slug":"kagero-tecmos-deception-ii-2q2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2014\/04\/05\/kagero-tecmos-deception-ii-2q2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Kagero: Tecmo\u2019s Deception II<\/span> \u2014 2Q2014<\/span> issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pho\u00adtos cour\u00adtesy of Gamefaqs.com and GameSpot.com<\/p><\/div>\n

At death\u2019s door<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some\u00adtimes, games require dif\u00adfi\u00adcult moral choic\u00ades that we aren\u2019t pre\u00adpared to han\u00addle. Tec\u00admo\u2019s Decep\u00adtion II<\/span> wheels and deals in this dilem\u00adma, and it does\u00adn\u2019t shy away from ask\u00ading you, the play\u00ader, to make some grue\u00adsome deci\u00adsions that may just scar you for life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tec\u00admo\u2019s Decep\u00adtion series, as a whole, is a unique beast that requires care\u00adful con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion about whether you even want to start play\u00ading it. Most of the games in the series, Kagero includ\u00aded, work on the premise that you are a per\u00adson giv\u00aden the abil\u00adi\u00adty to set traps to defend a cer\u00adtain area from invaders. Your moti\u00adva\u00adtions for <\/span>defend\u00ading the area vary, but you\u2019re tasked with this objec\u00adtive alone. In Kagero, you\u2019re a young girl who was kid\u00adnapped by a group of aliens who train you to fight in their stead. To prove your worth, you\u2019re sent to a few places in the king\u00addom to defend the premis\u00ades with traps. Traps, which are pro\u00adgres\u00adsive\u00adly learned through\u00adout the game, are your tick\u00adets to death. Your goal is to keep folks out of the castle\/mansion\/wherever. You accom\u00adplish this by cre\u00adat\u00ading com\u00adbos of death with the traps. If there\u2019s one thing about Kagero that\u2019s awe\u00adsome and fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading, it\u2019s the com\u00adbo and trap sce\u00adnar\u00adios. I\u2019ve man\u00adaged to kill my way through the game with some seri\u00adous\u00adly <\/span>devi\u00adous com\u00adbos that have to be seen to be understood.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Kagero is tech\u00adni\u00adcal inter\u00adest\u00ading, the back\u00adground isn\u2019t exact\u00adly going to set the world on fire. The graph\u00adics are your typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly ear\u00adly PlaySta\u00adtion blocky polyg\u00ado\u00adnal night\u00admares until you\u2019re actu\u00adal\u00adly in game and set\u00adting traps. That\u2019s when the game real\u00adly shines, in terms of its look. The same thing goes for the sound\u00adtrack; it\u2019s not great but there\u2019s a few inter\u00adest\u00ading tracks that you might hum for a lit\u00adtle while (edi\u00adtor\u2019s note: The track for nam\u00ading a char\u00adac\u00adter is one of my ring\u00adtones), and there\u2019s a few that will imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly make you won\u00adder if some\u00adone was watch\u00ading soft\u00adcore pornog\u00adra\u00adphy late at night while cre\u00adat\u00ading the game\u2019s soundtrack.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moral\u00adi\u00adty comes into play from the begin\u00adning. Those hard deci\u00adsions we men\u00adtioned before? Those are going to come in the form of who you let live and you let die. It takes a lot to kill off an entire fam\u00adi\u00adly that\u2019s man\u00adaged to stum\u00adble into the cas\u00adtle you\u2019re guard\u00ading, and it takes a lot to let them escape. Full dis\u00adclo\u00adsure: In the 14 years that I\u2019ve been play\u00ading var\u00adi\u00adous runs through the game, I have nev\u00ader killed the entire fam\u00adi\u00adly, and thus, I can\u2019t get the end\u00ading that involves per\u00adfect kills. I could\u00adn\u2019t do it because that ques\u00adtion being asked of me, I could\u00adn\u2019t answer. It\u2019s a per\u00adson\u00adal choice that can\u2019t sim\u00adply be solved. For some, it\u2019s a no-brain\u00ader; for me, it\u2019s a deal-break\u00ader. By the point that I\u2019d got\u00adten to that choice of deaths, I was ful\u00adly involved in the game and thus I con\u00adtin\u00adued play\u00ading. But, maybe if I\u2019d known that was a fac\u00adtor in play\u00ading, maybe I would\u00adn\u2019t have picked it up or maybe I would\u00adn\u2019t have tak\u00aden the time to under\u00adstand the depth in the game that comes from this choice. The depth is what will draw you in and keep you com\u00ading back, long after you\u2019ve com\u00adplet\u00aded your final mis\u00adsion and the cred\u00adits roll.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that moral\u00adi\u00adty clause some\u00adtimes trig\u00adgers anger with\u00adin me. Hav\u00ading played numer\u00adous times through to the lat\u00ader mis\u00adsions of the game and the even\u00adtu\u00adal final mis\u00adsion, I\u2019ve had the chance to learn the nuances of the game. My anger stems from the fran\u00adtic pace at which you must act and some\u00adtimes make that moral choice. Maybe I don\u2019t want to rush and kill a per\u00adson (or fam\u00adi\u00adly) because I need time to think about the con\u00adse\u00adquences of my actions. This phan\u00adtom dead\u00adline \u2014 usu\u00adal\u00adly trig\u00adgered by some\u00adone\u2019s health get\u00adting low \u2014 adds an unnec\u00ades\u00adsary time ele\u00adment to the pro\u00adceed\u00adings. Some\u00adtimes, it caus\u00ades pan\u00adic to set in and makes things worse. And your con\u00adtrols may or may not be of help then. A num\u00adber of things are pos\u00adsi\u00adble: Traps may miss, area effects will hurt you or the cooldown of a trap is too long. All of these are built into the game sys\u00adtem, and they\u2019re all equal\u00adly annoy\u00ading. I\u2019ve lost count of the num\u00adber of times that I man\u00adaged to die by elec\u00adtro\u00adcut\u00ading myself and my foe. Or, the num\u00adber of times I died because I could\u00adn\u2019t run fast enough in Chap\u00adter 23 to get away from the robots that are eas\u00adi\u00adly twice as fast as I am.<\/span><\/p>\n

And my biggest gripe comes in the lat\u00ader chap\u00adters of the game. Once you\u2019re com\u00admit\u00adted to a trap com\u00adbo that works, you\u2019re not real\u00adly encour\u00adaged to exper\u00adi\u00adment. Why exper\u00adi\u00adment when it\u2019s prob\u00ada\u00adbly going to get you killed? Because, make no mis\u00adtake, you\u2019re going to die. A lot. In the lat\u00ader chap\u00adters, the dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty is so high that if you weren\u2019t cor\u00adrect\u00adly set\u00adting your\u00adself up con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly toward the bet\u00adter traps, you\u2019re going to be stuck until you can build up enough mon\u00adey to pur\u00adchase the good stuff and move for\u00adward. The rep\u00ade\u00adti\u00adtion and stag\u00adnan\u00adcy becomes glar\u00ading\u00adly obvi\u00adous deep into the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over\u00adall, there\u2019s loads of replay fac\u00adtor in Kagero. There\u2019s dif\u00adfer\u00adent trap routes to unlock, mul\u00adti\u00adple end\u00adings depend\u00ading on who you let live and a decent sound\u00adtrack and sto\u00adry\u00adline that explains the method to the mad\u00adness of death and destruc\u00adtion. Be fore\u00adwarned, how\u00adev\u00ader: You need to be ready to play judge, jury and exe\u00adcu\u00adtion\u00ader if you want to sur\u00advive the emo\u00adtion\u00adal onslaught of Kagero.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At death\u2019s door Some\u00adtimes, games require dif\u00adfi\u00adcult moral choic\u00ades that we aren\u2019t pre\u00adpared to han\u00addle. Tec\u00admo\u2019s Decep\u00adtion II<\/span> wheels and deals in this dilem\u00adma, and it does\u00adn\u2019t shy away from ask\u00ading you, the play\u00ader, to make some grue\u00adsome deci\u00adsions that \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,33,54,58,102,103,127],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retrograde","tag-2q2014","tag-deception","tag-kagero","tag-lyndsey-hicks","tag-retrograde","tag-review","tag-tecmo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}