Death by Degrees Preview

The first thing everyone should know is that this game isn’t a fighting game like Tekken.  This is an action/adventure game that will probably remind more gamers of the old 2D side scrolling beat-em ups, such as Double Dragon and Final Fight.  You move around the stage and beat people up.  Standard stuff but Namco has added a little bit more to the ingredients.

The controls are based on the two analog sticks on the PS2 controller.  The left stick moves Nina around the stage, while the right stick is for combat.  You have a full 360 degree control over your combat moves with the game.  To kick to the right, you tap the analog stick to the right.  To attack to the left, you tap the analog stick to the left.  Same way for hitting an enemy that is located above or below you.  The initial start to the game has a brief tutorial that explains how to use the controls.

Another interesting idea is a move called a Critical Strike.  The Critical Strike allows you to pinpoint a vital body part on the enemy to take them out.  But the game presents this in an X-Ray vision type mode.  When you perform a critical strike the game switches to the X-Ray vision mode and you then move the target to the vital organ, such as the heart.  Then you press the button that appears on screen to execute the move.  If successful the enemy will drop with just the one hit.

The combat will probably take a while for players to get adjusted.  Since you have to hit the analog stick in the direction that you want to strike, it could be confusing for some.  This isn’t a button masher but maybe now we have to call it an analog masher.  Nina also has some other incredible moves available in the game.  She can use weapons such as katanas and guns.  Once the developers showed off Nina firing in multiple directions at the same time.  There was even a wall jump move available in the game as well.

Death by Degrees is turning out to be an interesting game.  The graphics were impressive but still looked early and didn’t have the same polish and flare of previous Tekken games.  The combat system will probably be the biggest issue for most games since they might expect the similar Tekken controls.  Nina will execute most of her signature Tekken moves, but not in the same control system as before.  But Namco is always known for taking care of their games so look for improvements by the time of the release.