"Oh death, where is thy sting?" reads the oft-quoted cry from
Corinthians."Right here, in this swordfish the size of a BMW 4 Series
Coupé," replies
Obslashin's hero, swinging his fishy
weapon like a steroidal New Yorker at the slew of monsters that roam the
expansive dungeons of this free to play frenzy.
Now if
gladiatorial marine life seems like an odd choice of weaponry, prepare
your eyebrows for a rapid ascent into your hairline at the news that
this militantly aggressive hero is, in fact, a ginger cat.
That's right. In
Obslashin'
you are a proverbial Puss in Boots armed with a beleaguered swordfish –
yet somehow enemies fall before you like a thousand Jennifer Lawrence's
tackling carpeted stairs.
It's this prodigal dose of personality that makes
Obslashin' so brilliant. This is a game that makes no apologies for its lack of storyline and has no explanation for its set up.
But
that doesn't matter. The almost non-existent start menu plunges you
straight into the action, so you'd better start swinging.
Hake and slash
Each
level works by releasing an increasing number of powerful enemies into
the confined space you're trapped in. Once you fight your way through,
you have exactly three seconds to heal, level up and grab any fallen
collectibles before the cat warrior zips through a door into the next
chamber of monsters.
It means the true difficulty of
Obslashin' isn't
just basic combat, but careful timing. Each felled baddie drops XP that
can be used in a basic stat-based leveller menu to upgrade your speed,
health, strength, and armour, but you have a very small window to do so.
With literally no cool-down time between battles,
Obslashin'
is a game that keeps you on your toes despite its simple controls.
Attacking requires a quick tap on the screen in the direction you want
your character to go, sending him barrelling into enemies like a furry
ginger cannonball.
An action bar on the left spices things up by
giving you access to bombs, poison, and health potions - all of which
come very useful in boss battles. Still, if the rapid gameplay gets a
bit much you can turn on auto-battle for some breathing space to choose
your stats and preferable potions carefully.
Need more time to mullet over?
A great thing about
Obslashin'
though is that it doesn't encourage this. The game's AI can't play
anywhere near as quickly as you can, meaning if you keep the auto-battle
mode active for too long you'll almost certainly die. This is a tool
for tactical levelling, not a combat cop out.
Visually,
Obslashin'
is stunnin'. Honestly its fanged, dungeon dwelling enemies are so
pretty it's a wonder they don't have their own perfume line. The styling
is cartoonish, but delightfully so, bursting with character and slick
animation.
