Graphics

The First Circle of Pain

Wow, it must have taken a lot of effort to get those box-cover screenshots! If judged solely by what is offered on the box, Daikatana doesn't look all that bad. Even screenshots in previews somehow didn't disappoint too much. To realize how bad looking the game is, you must play it. The texturing, especially on characters, is downright awful. They look freakin' weird, with shadows where they don't belong and too many dark, grayish shades. After seeing Mikiko for the first time I was ready to renounce heterosexuality. Is this the best that the Daikatana skin artists could come up with? A pale, deathly hag clad in weird armor on a somewhat alluring figure? Your character - Hiro Miyamoto - doesn't look much better. The only halfway decent look is on Superfly Johnson, but that's probably because the shadows blend in with his dark skin.

GIBBED!

Open Sesame!

Monster art is even less impressive. The Strogg in Quake II looked better. They moved smoother and colored lighting somehow had a beneficial instead of harmful effect. They had less texture-based details but looked a lot cleaner and less cluttered. It's almost impossible to understand how a game based on the Quake II engine, released two and a half years after Quake II actually manages to look worse than the original. It's mind-boggling. The first episode, which is undoubtedly the worst looking one of all, is also dark as the deepest pits of hell - instead of covering up how shoddy the graphics are, it seems to exacerbate them by making you strain to see in the first place.

Phew, 1 down, 24 to go

That ghost is Hiro's ancestor

The one good point about Daikatana's graphics are the weapons and their special effects. The ion blaster is pretty cool and the daikatana itself isn't too shabby - at least when powered up. There is a 'metallic' coating on just about every weapon, which is impressive though it can wear thin.

Terrain

Level design is a combination of the horrendously unspeakable and the good. Mod authors, expansion makers and aspiring level designers everywhere - suffer the pain and play through Episode 1 to see how to never, ever in your entire lives build a level. Aside from the ice research station, there was not a single map I could play through in a single sitting without at least pausing the game, if not leaving altogether to get some fresh air.

A sludge throwing thingy

He's reloading poop

Not only do they play bad, but they look very bad. The outdoor scenes and the ice research station are actually bearable, but the rest is puke. The texturing is awful and the levels are way too dark. They're this annoying brown-red tint to everything that looks worse than any browns in Quake II ever did. Original Quake levels in 320x200 software mode were better looking.

In Episode 2 and 3 matters pick up drastically. The levels are interesting and look really cool (especially the Plague Village in Norway.) Maybe it was just the fact that I played through Episode 1 right before, but Greece and Norway looked really cool. The village is almost realistic in design, while Greece is just full of giant palaces and clear, bright colors. Episode 4 returns to a gloomier palette but at least the levels don't give people migraines.