Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory (PSP) Review

Rengoku: The Tower of Purgatory reminds me of a game that came out on PlayStation 2 last year from Sega, Blood Will Tell. In that game, you fight as the samurai Hyakkimaru in his quest to (stay with me here) collect his father's 48 body parts, with each part giving you an additional feature to use on your quest. Now while Rengoku has similarly engaging gameplay elements like those, it's missing the personality and character that made a game like Blood Will Tell so good. At the end of the day, despite an overall solid package, Rengoku comes up just a bit short, with your disappointment more aligned with what the game could have been than what it is.

Rengoku tells the story of A.D.A.M., a funky looking android with the ability to fuse different kinds of weapons to himself. A.D.A.M. is on a quest to reach the top of a mysterious tower loaded with baddies who have the same kinds of abilities. What will he find once he reaches the top of the tower? Well... frankly, we don't know, and eventually we don't care to know.

See, the problem with Rengoku is that it's fairly soulless. Unlike a game like Blood Will Tell, where the character is also evolving with you, Rengoku tells its story in broad, almost incoherent strokes that don't entice you to complete the next level. Instead, you may find yourself bored after a few levels because A.D.A.M. just isn't an engaging character, and his mission is fairly lackluster.

But let's not hate on Rengoku too much... yet. The game does some very interesting things, especially with your ability to equip different weapons to your head, arms, legs, and torso. Did you just get a magnum? Why not fuse it to that noggin' and take some people out from long range. How about using a hammer on your left arm for the heavy hits, while equipping a claw on your right? The combinations are endless, and they do provide the most fun you'll find in the game.

Once you're all equipped and ready to take on the tower, you'll make your way through randomly generated levels with one or more enemies in each room. The random level layouts are a good attempt at mixing things up, but you'll quickly find out it's not the best way to vary gameplay. The levels look very identical to each other, each bathed with drab colors that, while they go with illustrator Jun Suemi's style, aren't very appealing to the eye.

The enemies themselves are very much like A.D.A.M. in that they too are equipped with a variety of different weapons on their bodies. You'll see things like rocket launchers, flame throwers, grenades and more, and depending on how well you do in confronting your enemies, those weapons could be yours next.

The weapons game you and your enemies play is a great part of the game, and you'll experiment with quite a few combinations before you settle in on a couple that can take you through the game. The control also makes the fights exciting, as there are emergency escape maneuvers and dedicated buttons for each arm and your head. The left shoulder button locks on to enemies while the right strafes, and it works relatively well. One complaint is the lack of analog movement; instead, the stick is used for limited camera movement while the digital pad is made for walking. It works, but it could have been better the other way around.

Once you clear the floor you're on of all enemies, a warp point will appear taking you to a floor boss who you must defeat to move on to the next floor. The bosses can be tough, but liberal use of the emergency escape as well as some close range attacks will make quick work of them. Unfortunately, the boss battles are also where we see glaring weaknesses with the game's story.

A.D.A.M.: No, I'm just full of doubts and questions. What should I do? Why should I fight?

BOSS: Because it's in your programming. Your circuits ache for it. All you can hear is fight, fight, fight, fight... You have to obey. So come on, let's get to it!

YOU: ::slumps to ground, fast asleep::

The dialogues before these boss matches are meant to move the story forward, but they instead make you quite sleepy. I'm not saying you need to have a great story in an action game... but it's 2005, a bit more time in the writing department probably would have helped.

To its credit, the game has a multiplayer mode for up to four players where you can face off other customized characters on a floor. There is also a nifty item trading feature that can come in handy, and each level you complete also unlocks a batch of concept art and illustrations by Suemi which are wonderful to look at.

It's not that Rengoku is a bad game; it's merely a disappointing one. The drab look of the levels and the pedantic storyline make the game more boring than it should be, and while the controls and fights make this a solid game, it could have been so much more. With that said, if you're looking for a slightly above-average action game with a gameplay twist, Rengoku could be the kind of game you're looking for. Just don't expect anything too engaging.