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Ugly. Just... ugly.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 58 / 60
Date: June 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

John Romero is a nice guy. John Romero is a GAMER, loves games, has good ideas, and should not be crucified over this failure. He apparently is NOT a leader/producer and should stick to game design, and should let others manage production. But he deserves a second chance.

I say a second chance because this first effort, Daikatana, is a total failure.

The ideas are great: sidekicks, lots of weapons, a bad-ass melee weapon, a cheezy-but-fun plot. But the game itself... sucks. I installed it, played for 1 hour--repeatedly *trying* to like it--and then uninstalled it in disgust. Poor level design, dated graphics (though the weapon effects were cool), absolutely terrible monsters (yes, you fight FROGS and MOSQUITOS). Remember Doom? How you'd just get repeatedly swarmed by monsters? Remember how you fell into the pattern of 1) open door. 2) dash into room, then quickly backpeddle 3) shoot the monsters you "triggered" 4) repeat? Well, that same design philosophy continues in Daikatana. And it just doesn't work. After Half-Life, I just can't stand happening upon a bunch of ion-blaster ammo stashed IN A BUSH IN A SWAMP. Who would put ammo there? Ridiculous. Insulting. NOT FUN.

So, some might say, "Hey, you only played it for an hour. It gets much better later. Your review isn't fair!". To that I say "Feh." The *point* is that I could only stand to play it an hour. I honestly, truly, tried to like it. But I couldn't. From what I've read elsewhere, the game starts off with the worst level and supposedly does get marginally better. But I can't respect a game that purposefully puts its worst foot forward, that intentionally gives a bad first impression. And, despite trying to like the game, that bad impression only got worse.

The Amazon reviewer was kind but accurate: if you are a die-hard fan of old-fashioned gameplay, if you can get over the dated graphics and can appreciate the sidekicks and such, then you may enjoy the game. It *is* playable, and I could understand how someone might actually enjoy the game. But not me. And not anyone else who has played and enjoys the fun levels, weapons, graphics, and gameplay of Half-Life, Q3, UT, and other modern games.

John Romero, what WAS this???

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: December 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Thinking that this would be an awesome game, I had purchased and then played and tried (emphasis on 'tried') to like this game, even before reading the really horrible reviews this game has been getting. Sad to say, the bad reviews this game had been getting were right on the mark.

The sidekicks and AI for this game were just horrible. The levels murky and convoluted and just a big mess. Random crashes, glitches and being attacked by your own comrades... Need I say more? Video games are supposed to be fun, not excruciatingly painful. And somewhere along the line, this concept seems to have been lost by it's maker. This game was NO fun at all! I'm really sorry to say that I acually paid money for this kind of garbage. After my friends found out that I actually owned a copy of this game, they actually laughed and had pity on me... Talk about one of life's most embarassing moments.

This game deserves no stars whatsoever. And I will never buy another one of Romero's games. The only star given this game is due to the fact that the game and the box makes a nice glass coaster for my coffee table.

If you had the mispleasure of owning this game, don't tell anyone unless you want to be ridiculed for having an abomination like this in your home! The only accolades this game will probably get is it's going to be known as one of the most dissapointing games in history. Just bloody awful...

Installed the Game then Uninstalled the Game...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 20
Date: June 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Dont ever, ever buy this game! I knew it was going to be bad. So far this game beat the record for the shortest stay in my hard drive, even beating Trespasser by 2 days. A game that took 4 years to develop, well, you know something's not right. Lets start with the graphics. Really very dated OpenGL graphics. If this game came out 2 years ago, it would've been awesome. Interface: No In-Game save. Only way to say your progress is by picking up Save Gems. No Gems, no save. Control: Ok, so it's like any other first person shooter which is why I gave this game it's one and only star. AI: very very bad. Talk about having your AI teammates to back you up. You'll be saving them most of the time instead of them helping you. Also, there is a tendency that your artifical teammates to hit you by mistake. Story: just watch the old TV series "Time Tunnel". Overall: spend your money on another game.

Save your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 17
Date: June 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

After all the years and all the hype I expected that this game would have *something* to recommend it. Sure, I realized it wasn't going to be the GAME TO END ALL GAMES. I always make sure to discount 25% for hype. But, my gods, what a poor showing this is!

There is next to no innovation. The graphics look like they were salvaged from Quake, the puzzles are of the annoying "find the panel that opens the door way the hell over there and backtrack, etc" style. The sense of immersion is zero. The sounds are poorly choosen. The enemies are, for the most part, utterly uninspired. The load times between segments (which uses the Half-Life formula) are ridiculously long. It's also utterly unstable and prone to crashing at any given moment.

Well, you get the point. If this were just another generic first person shooter that was being sold from $20 on the discount rack, maybe I wouldn't feel so annoyed. As it was, I went back and exchanged it for "Soldier of Fortune" which, well also not ground breaking, is solidly entertaining and, at least, mildly innovative.

Please, folks, don't get sucked in by the hype. Save your money for something better. In the meanwhile, I'll be hoping that Ion Storms next big product, Deus Ex, does a better job of living up to its reputation.

What a terrible mess

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: October 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

"I am only left asking, "how long until Daikaitaina 2? "" - Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!

I really tried to like this game.

I felt like screaming "Turn the lights on!" during the first level. What a murky morass. I installed this game twice and I still can't stand it.

What angers alot of gamers is this: We wonder what games didn't get made because "Daikajokea" sucked up so much cash?

Buggy and Bad Game Play

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: July 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought this gaming expecting a Quake-like experience...but its been nothing but a crash happy game. I'm running a GeForce-powered 800mhz 128 RDRAM pc from Dell, and this thing freezes constantly. Even worse is the game play. Not EVERY weapon should kill every creature with one hit. It's just plain lame and lacks any sense of balance. Spend your money on Quake3 or Unreal Tournament, this this hunk of junk.

Where did all the money go?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Where to begin? How about...not fun. Bad graphics+bad gameplay+bad sound+no replay value=bad game. The saddest part is that Eidos put so much money into this game that good studios (i.e. Looking Glass) ended up shutting down. Quake II is still more fun than this! They should have pulled the plug on Ion Storm a long time ago.

Computer gaming has sunk to a new low.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 12, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Well, after several years of promises and many delays, Daikatana is finally here. This will probably go down as one of the worst games in history. Why do I say this? The game's graphics look ten years old, there are so many bugs in the game that gameplay is almost impossible, and the game crashes at random times. However, the worst part is the customer service. It looks as though Eidos Interactive has already given up on the game. They keep promising to fix the various problems throughout the game, but it looks like these promises, just like the original release date, will be taken care of in about five years. However, there is an upside for having this game in your home. The box makes a great coaster for your soda.

Garbage, pure garbage

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is what we waited for? This is what was going to revolutionize first person shooters? I don't think so. If this game came out a few years ago(like it was suposed to)it would have been an average to good game, but it didn't. In the year 2000 this game belongs in the bargin bin. If you want a first person shooter that actually revolutionized gaming the way John Romero wishes his game would have done, go purchase half-life. AVOID THIS GAME AT ALL COSTS! At best it makes a great coaster

I've Got to Warn You...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I wouldn't be a responsible person if I didn't warn you about this piece of trash. The game industry has obviously passed John Romero by and left him in the dust.

The graphics are primitive, though not awful. Water looks squarish and unrealistic. The color palette of most levels focuses too heavily on the monochromatic. There is a lot of variety in monsters and weapons, none of which are memorable or impressive.

But who cares what it looks like as long as the gameplay is fun? Unfortunately, this is the game's weakest point, as the developers at Ion Storm obviously mistook pointless frustration for fun.

Let's start with the save game system. Gone are the days of being able to save your game where you want. In Daikatana you must find "save crystals" to save your game. No crystal, no save. What this adds up to is tediously replaying the same boring parts of the game, or simply losing your progress when you need to leave the game and attend to other matters.

The inability to save anywhere might not have been so bad, but in Daikatana you'll find yourself dying frequently and pointlessly. Sidekicks walk right into danger, getting squished by closing doors, falling off cliffs, wandering into your line of fire, refusing to pick up health... If one of these braindead sidekicks dies, the game's over.

Some people applaud John Romero's attempt to add some story to the game. This would be better deserved if the story were any good. What we're given is instead a meandering string of overused clichés acted out by stereotypical (and often racially demeaning) characters that make those B-movie flops look like Oscar material. That's not a story.

Luckily there are good action games out there that DO succeed in telling original and gripping stories. My recommendations would be Half-Life or, my personal favorite, System Shock 2.

I've been playing computer games religiously for the past 20 years. Daikatana is the purchase I have most regretted during all that time.

Please listen, and don't waste your money!

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