REVIEW : Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards (PS5)
Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards is based on the short-lived comic book Aluna Superhero. This built on her story from the comic. The gameplay, on the other hand, was incredibly safe. That is the main disadvantage of Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards.
Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards is dispatched in the 1500s with the Incas and the Spanish Conquests in the Andes Mountains. Aluna is the daughter of a Spanish conquistador and the Earth Goddess Pachamama. Pachamama no longer exists in her actual form, but rather in green crystals scattered around the country after she saved Aluna from a meteor. Fortunately, Aluna has one of these crystals that hangs around her neck, bestowing her with superpowers. However, the evil priest Nagaric wishes to process the shard and use its powers to rule over the Tairona peoples, who are beloved by Pachamama and have accepted Aluna as one of their own as well as their best warrior.
Aluna must now fight back against Nagaric to regain the Pacamamama shards and protect her tribe.
Following this fantastic start to the game, as well as some good history and world-building, the game quickly becomes by the numbers, with a little surprise. Not to add that it did not completely introduce the supporting cast in the game, even though Aluna is already familiar with them from the comics. Because most of the characters Aluna knows have no link to the game’s players, you won’t give them another thought.
The gameplay is simplistic, featuring hack-and-slash style gameplay that pushes no bounds and mixes in random loot drops, making for an ok gaming experience but not much else. The combat was divided into three skill trees: melee, ranged, and magic. Melee and ranged skills are restricted to weapon classes, while magic is utilised as needed. It is as simple as this: gameplay Melee focuses on gathering groups of foes around Aluna and doing damage as a group, whilst Ranged focuses on single target strikes with debuffs such as poison.
Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards will have you running through very large areas killing a slew of foes who get in your way. The developers have nailed the button layout; the basic attack is X, with all special attacks being up to six separate buttons displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Then there’s the AI, which is quite stupid in that it will only chase you for a given distance before returning to their starting position and without recovering health, so it’s a case of whittling them down by running and killing them as they retreat to the start. There were a lot of adversaries remaining static when being slain, especially when the range was used.
The treasure in Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards is a complete jumble, with all drops being random. You might go from melee fighter to ranged fighter to overpowered magic user in only one region. Weapons will boost a single stat according to its kind, melee, ranged, or magic.
Whereas amour can increase many stats, changing your entire set-up to get the most out of an equipping item is required. For a gold payment, at least skill points can be reassigned at any time. The randomness of the equipment is mental. I used the same bow for the greater part of seven levels because I couldn’t find anything better. When I did, I had to switch to the magic user because the item’s stats were incredible.
There is a vendor who can be utilised to sell stuff, buy reasonably nice items in general, or produce specialised items if your treasure drops are poor.
I do not recommend this unless necessary, as the goods you receive appear to be as random as the ones dropped, only that it costs you money and most likely results in nothing nice (I never)
The short comic book style cut sequences that were hands down magnificent and needed to be used significantly more than they were were by far the best and least used section of Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards.
The remainder of the aesthetics are adequate, but nothing will push any boundaries like the gameplay. They are usable as long as you don’t examine them too carefully.
Overall, Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards is a cookie-cutter Hack-and-Slash RPG. There is nothing here that will take your breath away. It’s entertaining, but there’s better out there.
REVIEW : Hell Pie (XBOX Series X)
