Devil's Third (Wii U) Review

The single-player campaign begins with the main protagonist in his prison cell, rocking out on his drumkit. Yes, that's right; Ivan has a number of luxuries in his cell. Even if it isn't explained how he got all that in there, it's still awesome!

After making a racket, the tattoo-heavy Russian receives a call from his boss, asking him to meet up with him, giving a warning that the other prisoners are running amuck due to the prison guards being dead. Pretty over the top start, huh? Well, the ridiculousness only continues, making it pan out like a cheesy 80s action movie.

Throughout his mission, Ivan meets up with some old associates - now souped up with some kind of virus - who he must eliminate one by one to make the world a better place. It's all a bit cliché, but that's what sets it apart from the serious plots found in most modern games.

There are nine stages in total, and once beaten, they can be replayed to obtain any missing collectibles. A Score Attack mode is also present, allowing players to share their best scores online as they play through a specific mission, earning points for taking down enemies in different ways. Clear time and number of deaths is also taken into account for the final score.

Overall, the campaign is filled with over-the-top action, cheesy one-liners, and is a blast to play through, with the Score Attack being a great addition for those who enjoy tackling records set by others. In fact, the only drawback in the solo portion of the game is that the frame rate tends to dip on occasion, which mainly happens when reaching a checkpoint. However, once the slowdown issues are looked past, there is definitely fun to be had.

Perhaps the most intuitive mechanic is the ability to seamlessly switch between melee and ranged combat by simply pressing the button the desired weapon is assigned to. Ivan can string together weak hits and strong hits, before eventually performing a cinematic execution on them. Ranged combat is a little less intuitive, but is a safer and more effective way of taking out a large group of hostiles; hip-firing can be done whilst still in third-person mode, whereas aiming down the gun's sights switches the perspective to first-person, allowing for precise shots.

Although the solo mode is an enjoyable distraction, the main meat of the package is found in its various different multiplayer modes; this is where Devil's Third truly stands out. Multiplayer has two main ways to play, with the simpler and direct one being the numerous types of "Drill Matches" that can be participated in.

Drills are where all the regular game types, such as team deathmatch and free-for-all, can be found, but there are also some unique modes on offer - some of which were added after launch. Carnival is a rule set where the objective is to pick up fruit from vendors scattered around the map, then toss them into a grinder, which will change its location after a short period of time. The fruit can also be used as grenades, if enemy players get in the way. Throwing fruit into the grinder will net points for the team, with each fruit worth a set amount of points.

Close Quarters pits two teams against each other in a variation of team deathmatch, featuring only physical combat. Whilst firearms and grenades aren't available in this mode, melee weapons can be thrown at rivals - perfect for quick takedowns from behind.

As well as these Drill Matches, members of the community can also form clans and purchase territories, taking down other clans to climb the ranks, also earning more money and turf. If players prefer being a lone wolf, they can choose to be a mercenary and enlist in the help of other mercenaries to destroy their opponent's territory, or defend their own. Clan members can also act as mercenaries by participating in the Free Entry option of Siege Matches to assist fellow factions in their wars.

Like Nintendo has been doing with Splatoon, Valhalla is also rolling out new Drill modes and territories on a weekly to fortnightly basis, keeping the fans interested and coming back for more.

There are two forms of currency available in the online section of the game, with the first being Dollen - an easily obtainable form of income, which can be used to purchase weapons and territories. Golden Eggs are a little harder to come by, and can be used to buy premium items, such as outfits, weapon attachments and special types of grenade. These can be either purchased using real world currency, or can be earnt by levelling up, logging in to the servers for a number of consecutive days and catching chickens in Score Attack mode.

Whilst a little disappointing that micro-transactions have made their way into this, it is possible to play without having to spend anything - although getting full outfits may be a grind.

The only other negative point about this area is that the user base is fairly small, due to the European and Japanese servers being separated. With that being said, members of the community are a friendly bunch who usually communicates through the in-game text chat feature. Hopefully, once the game is out in North America, the servers will be merged with the European ones to increase the number of users.