My blog is a friggin` time paradox.

Shadow of Destiny, also named Shadow of Memories, a proud representative of the very dead adventure genre. Chances are you`ve never heard of it and, truth to be told, neither had I. Well, at least some time ago. Maybe it`s just my fetish for old, obscure video games but this quite overlooked title has actually stood the test of time really well. And for a title that has been released back in 2001, it`s quite something.

At the beginning of the game, you die.

Since this is a Japanese game, you don`t go to hell. Instead, a voice offers you to change your destiny by traveling back in time and prevent your own sad demise. Sure, alright. So you do that. No big of a deal. But then you get killed, again. Back to the strange Limbo-esque place, some sarcastic commentary and there we go again. But this time it`s not going back five minutes in time. More like five hundred years back. What are you supposed to do here? What connection do these people have to your destiny? And who the f*ck is trying to kill you?

Wow, his hair is almost as long as mine!

Shadow of Destiny`s main focus is the story, obviously. If you`ve played that abomination of a sequel of an utterly brilliant adventure game legend Dreamfall: The Longest Journey than you may see that these games have nearly identical gameplay. It means that there isn`t one.

You`ll meet plenty of interesting characters on the way.

I mean it. While the storyline keeps you guessing, the gameplay does not. It`s so obvious what to do that the entire game turns into a flowing cinematic experience. Sure, I`m okay with this but for anyone who has ever complained about MGS4 being a movie, you`re now reading about a game that is 2/3 cutscenes. Plus it`s 3 and a half beers long (six-seven hours that is) but the eight endings which all are crucial to understand the plot completely isn`t something you see every day.

Expect to see this place often

As for tech stuff, Shadow of Destiny definitely does not reach the level of MGS2 (which was released the same year) but it still looks solid. If you`ve ever watched a dubbed anime, you`ll know how this is like. I mean, the voice acting is good, but it just feels wrong. It`s not a bad point, mind this, however it`s noticeable and I just wanted to point this out.

Hey, guess what, you are going to die in 6 seconds!

So! *claps hands together* Shadow of Destiny is an underwhelming "video game" but an intriguing cinematic experience. Whether you should play it or not is up to yourself.

[spoiler] Or you could just pirate the game like I did. [/spoiler]