4 years in development can't even get this game a 4 out of 10. The first review of a game that came out 5 years ago.
User Rating: 2.5 | John Romero's Daikatana PC
I think it's funny that even after 5 years, Daikatana has not recieved a single review. One of the most hyped games in history, being developed by the legendary John Romero, the creator of Wolfenstein, Doom, Hexen, Heretic, and quake. Gamespot has made an entire feature on the story of Daikatana, but i'll sum up the whole thing right now for you. Daikatana started out when John Romero left Id software (the company he himself had started) and started (or joined, i can't remember) Ion Storm. Ion storm seperated into 2 divisions. One part made the incredible Deus Ex, a game that some consider the best FPS they ever played while the other part went to go make Daikatana, which some consider to be an embarrasement to FPS games everywhere. Daikatana was in Development for 4 years and was delayed at least a dozen times before finally landing on story shelves in the year 2000. People had HUGE expectations for this FPS. John Romero said it would have fantastic weapons, huge open-ended levels, very balanced RPG leveling up system, fantastic graphics, state of the art physics and the greatest A.I. to ever grace a game. And you know what? John Romero lied. First, I'd like to say that i still hold respect for John Romero. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have Quake, Duke Nukem, Doom, System Shock, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Half-life, Halo... and so forth but i'm also here to warn you about this game. Do not buy it. If you see it on store shelves, steer clear of it or advise the manager to burn every copy they have of this game. It's a pile of trash copied onto a cd. Let me explain why. The Story in Daikatana is actually pretty good. A guy named Hiro Miyamoto (no reference to the Nintendo guy) is training in his dojo when an old man knocks at his door. He says he is of the Ebihara family that defeated the Mishima and his empire years ago with the help of the Daikatana (a powerful sword) made by Hiro's ancestor. But uh oh, Mishima somehow acquired the Daikatana where he ressurected his empire and now it's your job to get the Daikatana back and destroy Mishima for good. Daikatana was supposed to have frantic battles against several enemies that use duck and cover, manuevers, and special tactics. First off, the battles are not frantic. They are point and click. Second, your enemies do not duck and cover, they do not manuever and they do not use special tactics. They run in a straight line, right away making an EXTREMELY annoying noise (i think its supposed to be a battlecry) until they get right up to you and make a different noise as they attack you. Your enemy will stay right in front of you and will not stop attacking. If you get stuck in a corner, you will be mauled to death. There is no stealth in this game. Also, another flaw in the gameplay is the level design. To be blunt, it's outright awful. Some of the worst in any game ever made. I don't know what the developers were thinking. I could've made a better level than any in the game when i was 9 years old with some legos. All you have to do is shoot some enemies and turn around by mistake. The levels are sometimes so symetrical that you'll turn around and go the same way you came in without noticing. It's truly pathetic. It can take hours and hours to beat a level. The only reason i even SLIGHTLY enjoyed the gameplay was the Daikatana. When it's fully leveled up, it is a gigantic weapon that almost takes up the whole screen and it can be fun at points to swing it around and decimate anything it hits but for the most part, the gameplay in Daikatana is probably what ruined the entire game. The other major flaw (yes, there's more) was the A.I. of your allies. Mikibo Ebihara and Superfly Johnson (who would name their son superfly?) and it is your duty to take care of them. That's right. If they die, it's game over. The problem is that they have extremely poor A.I. and will most likely die for the silliest reasons. Occasionally, one of them will just run off into another direction with no clear objective. Sometimes they will start shooting you and sometimes they will fire off into the blue and even get stuck in the wall or in the air. It's a very shameful that a game would be released like this... but we can't forget what happens during bossfights. Sometimes, your allies will not do what you order them too and kamikaze right at the boss or just stand in one spot and shoot at him, getting decimated in the process. It just makes the game a chore to play and i don't think i've ever played something this tedious. Sometimes, Daikatana's true potential is visible. Thought the game looks terrible and sounds very annoying at times, it's probably the games strongest points. Some ares show good production values. For a 2000 game, the gun models are pretty good and they make a nice boom effect. The game has some nice effects as well and the frame never bogs down. The music (though very little) is actually quite good. But that's about as good as it gets for Daikatana. Daikatana has the worst battlecries in any game in history. It also has some pretty terrible voice acting. Mikibo and Superfly sound AWFUL. Some of the worst voice acting ever. Hiro Miyamoto is suprisingly good but one good doesn't make up for several bads. Overall, the graphics and sound are probably the strongest aspect of Daikatana but are still seriously dissapointing. Daikatana is not a fun single player game. It's not a game that will keep you coming back to it. It does however have a multiplayer component which is actually pretty enjoyable at times. However, due to the fact that Daikatana was so bad, there are no servers up and running. No one plays it. This was probably the most fun part of Daikatana and now that it's impossible to play it (unless you have some friends that like playing bad games). Daikatana was like a current day Quake with terrible balance but A LOT of blood. I actually had fun with the Multiplayer when people still played it. Well, those days are gone. Seriously, who would want to play a wannabe quake when we have games like Counter Strike, Halo, Unreal Tourney 2004, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and so forth? Daikatana is just obselete now. Even back then, Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament were far superior. Overall, Daikatana looks like a game put togethor in 4 months, not 4 years. It's extremely dissapointing and hopefully, a game won't ever again be made like it. It's like this. A world filled with Half-lifes and halos is better than a world filled with Daikatanas and Sniper: Path of... vengeances? Err-- Right then. Nevermind that. Just listen to these words. When it comes down to it, Daikatana is a collosal failure as a game and should've never been made. DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME! 
