Apr 25, 2012  Bloodforge for Xbox 360 game reviews & Metacritic score: Bloodforge is a dark and brutal action combat game set in an ancient Celtic world. The fate of the ruling gods will be decided at the hands of one man - our her.

There's almost something refreshing about the way Bloodforge proudly wears its lack of originality or ambition on its sleeve. Essentially an off-brand God of War, with Greek myth replaced by Celtic, it barely sets a toe outside of genre boundaries that have been in place for years.So you are, inevitably, a furious bundle of muscle and resentment, carving your way through waves of disposable foes.

Your name is Crom (the actual Celtic legend that inspired Conan's deity) and you've been tricked by the gods into killing your own wife. This is a tragedy, though as the game doesn't show you Crom's face, preferring to keep him glowering behind a deer skull mask, any emotional investment will have to be supplied by the player, unaided.So you plough through wave after wave of identical enemies in order to reach gigantic boss encounters, in which you dodge such familiar hazards as giant fists that pound the earth and eyes that blaze fire. Patience is rewarded with carelessly revealed openings which you can then exploit to inflict grisly damage, stabbing them repeatedly in the soft squishy bits with a spot of entry-level quick-time button matching.The game often looks stunning, at least when it's not moving.In normal combat you mash the X button to unleash fast attacks, while Y handles your slower, heavier swings and triggers grisly execution moves on stunned enemies. You can also combine them to form rudimentary combos, using a variety of weapons - sword, sledgehammer or bone claws. Each enemy downed contributes to filling a gauge that can be unleashed to send your character into a berserker rage.

There are magic attacks that can be upgraded by cashing in your points at special altars along your linear route.It's a veritable buffet of old ideas, but that's not a bad thing in itself. Originality is always welcome, but that doesn't mean that a game which follows the pack is inherently bad.

Uninspiring, yes, but even the choosiest gaming gourmand can glean fun from something without being inspired.No, what sinks Bloodforge, and makes it the first real disappointment of an Xbox Live Arcade season that has already served up some of the best games of the year, is how these weary old gameplay elements have been implemented so half-heartedly. It's a sloppy game. A sloppy, glitchy, frustrating game, and it's all due to basic technical failings that should have been hammered out long before the game saw release.The gore levels reach ridiculous heights, with limbs and heads flying off all over the place.The camera is by far the worst offender; a twitching, lurching thing that makes seasickness a more troublesome foe than any of the hulking grunts trying to cut you down. The camera's jerky movement is almost impossible to get used to, and it kills whatever grace and flow the crude combat system has to offer, wrenching your viewpoint from side to side and throwing your accuracy out of the window as it goes.The game's 300-inspired desaturated look makes for some compelling screenshots, but it conspires with the camera to bludgeon whatever life is left in the twitching corpse of Bloodforge's melee combat.

Characters blend into a monochrome splurge during fights and it's often impossible to tell where Crom is, let alone which enemy he's targeting or who is targeting him. There's no block, so your only defence is a sticky, erratic roll that leads you into harm's way as often as it gets you out of it.This blunt approach renders the combo system surplus to requirements, as hammering X gets you through pretty much everything. Each weapon has a list of moves, but you rarely need them and often can't even see if you've pulled them off correctly. Even the weapons themselves fail to shake the game out of its one-note snooze. The hammer is heavier, the claws slightly faster than the sword, but Crom wields them all with the same lumbering swings so the only incentive to switch is because you've grown tired of watching the same execution animations over and over.Crom can collect magical runes which can be used to make attacks more powerful or to unleash spells.Even more ridiculous, Crom comes equipped with a crossbow that can be used to whittle away at enemies without ever coming into melee range. Yes, this is a melee combat game where you're better off staying out of fights and picking enemies off at a distance.

It's hard to tell if this is a genuine exploit or a way of coping with the game's erratic difficulty. No single fight is particularly hard, but it's almost impossible not to keep taking damage in the muddled scrums and health refills are sparse. Checkpoints are poorly placed and restart you with the same health as when you first triggered them.

It's entirely possible to find yourself trapped in an impossible situation, facing a big fight with a sliver of health, and the only out is to quit and play the whole level again.Bloodforge doesn't even have anything else to offer beyond lumpen brawling. This is game shackled in repetitive corridors, with the occasional cul-de-sac for a power-up.

There's no real exploration, no puzzles or anything that might force your brain to switch gears. If the fighting had an ounce of Bayonetta's grace or God of War's energy then this wouldn't be a problem, but it doesn't, and it is. Price and Availability.: 1200 Microsoft Points (£10.20/€14.40/$15)One of the few glimmers of fresh thinking comes from an integrated leaderboard system which tracks your performance in each level against that of your friends.

The one who spills the most blood takes the top spot, but this is the sort of social idea that demands a large audience, not only of people playing the game but replaying its turgid levels to improve their ranking, and Bloodforge seems unlikely to attract that sort of devotion.Bloodforge is the worst kind of disappointment. It looks good. It's following in the well-trodden footprints of a dozen better games. There's no excuse to the get the basics this wrong and there's no reason why slicing your way through a wall of enemies shouldn't be fun. Yet there's nothing that's fun here, only a monotonous bloody grind that copies everything from its peers except their polish.3/10.

Story walkthroughStart a new game, luckily there are no difficulty levels here. You can, of course, start with the online first as well, but in my opinion I think it is better to do this when you've earned your first weapons and know your way around the game. Basically, we will grab everything we can during the story run and do another mop-up run afterwards.1. STORYLevel 1 - Spoils of WarAfter a lenghty cinematic, follow the path ahead and progress until you face your first set of enemies. Make sure to kill each of them with a finisher blow (Y when the green swirls show up above their heads). You'll know if you did one correctly if you dismember them.

Get inside the burning house where another lengthy cutscene will occur and you'll wake up with a demonic boar next to you. Kill it and follow the crow until you reach the shrine where you get the blood gloves. Kill the enemies after the cutscene (don't forget to do finisher moves!) and concentrate on getting an attack, disrupt with B, attack once more and disrupt with B again. This should keep the combo up and will unlock the following (don't worry, you should get it during other battles if you don't get it here).

1 guideYou will also receive a rune to heal you; these items can be found at similiar shrines, so keep your eyes peeled for them since you will need to use a total of 25 of these runes in order to get an achievement. You will most likely get it before the end of the game.Keep going on the path, kill the fat guy attacking you and shortly after you will meet another one. Here you are told to use rage and a special rage attack to finish him off. Follow the button prompt and fill the meter completely to perform a perfect kill and you will unlock two achievements in one go. 1 guideContinue on the path ahead (make sure to look for item shrines), get the blood from the shrine and upgrade the snake skill with 1 point. Use it whenever you can with RB on enemies and either hit them before or after using it.

If the enemy is weak, he will get consumed by a huge snake and you will need to net a total of 10 of these consumations for an achievement. Move forward now until you find your first new weapon on an shrine: the Bonecrusher (1/10). This is an awesome weapon for inflicting destruction among your enemies, but it is rather slow so only use it if you have to. If you were thorough with your execution kills you will unlock the following achievement before, or shortly after, you get the hammer. If not, you will certainly get it before the end of the level. 1 guideKeep killing and going until you reach the huge guy again and you will start a boss fight.

Evade his attacks as best as you can and learn his attack patterns. Occasionaly, you can shoot his open eye in the beginning which I recommend to wear his health down a little. As soon as he smashes his left hand down and it stays there, get close, use the A button and follow the button prompt to deal massive damage. Before you beat him, wear his health down to around 1/4 and he will start spawning enemies. Let him kill a total of 15 to unlock the following achievement. The Demons ForgeHead to the big shrine and after a lenghty set of cinematics, head for the new portal leading to the land of the dead.Level 2 - The land of the DeadHead straight forward and you will come to an area where there are 5 enemies at once.

Weaken them, but dont kill them yet. When you've weakened them enough, equip your hammer and activate rage. Now quickly kill them all in one rage period to unlock the following. You can, of course, do this in other parts as well, but I think this one is pretty good since it is at the beginning of a level and the enemies are weak! 2 guidesGet through, cutscene, and after some more killing and cutscenes you will finally face Wodan. This is, in my opinion, the hardest boss in the whole game, so there are 2 ways to beat him: legitimately or cheaply.For the legitimate player, good luck since that means you are way better than me in this game. Basically, he has 2 close-range attacks.

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A 3-hit sword attack which is easy to dodge and a 3-hit energy ball attack with splash damage which is almost impossible to dodge. If you have enough health packs, go ahead, although be warned that this tends to be insanely frustrating.If you have, like, 1/10 health, no health packs or no urge to die an infinite times or start the game over again, here is a little cheap trick.

In the area where you fight him you will find a small stone that nearly covers your whole body if you stand behind it. Although it protects you from his hits, you can still shoot with your crossbow and inflict some damage on him. However, during his second attack, the third hit will hit you (basically his 7th attack), so you need to dodge that one. After a few hits he will spawn enemies and you need to kill them in order to make him spawn again.

After around 3 rounds of this, he will be down and after a cutscene you will end the level and unlock the following. BloodforgeBack in the forge, there is a new path opened for you which will lead you to the next level.

Careful of the enemies scattered in this area, they are rather tough and can kill you pretty easily in your current state.The MireHead forwards after the cutscene and fight the giant snake-like enemy; your best bet will be your crossbow against it. After that, you'll find a weapon upgrade in the middle of a crossing, the Plaguebringer Sword (3/10). Kill everything in your path and after a short battle against a few swamp people, you will find the Marsh Stalker, a crossbow upgrade (4/10). Move forward for some more battles ahead, interrupted by a small cutscene.

In the area after the cutscene, to your right you'll find the next weapon, the Tainted Hammer (5/10). From where you came in, head to the left and you can see a fence you can shatter, which in turn will reveal a path to your first mana upgrade shrine (1/3). Continue on the path, kill oncoming enemies and encounter your next new enemy in a neat little cutscene. Don't forget the bloodshrine here and head to the sidetracks. Your target will be to destroy 2 pillars, one on either side, in order to open the gate in this area. It's up to you which side you choose first, you will need to go both ways anyways.

As soon as you open the door, get through and you will find the next weapon, Pestilence, which is your claw upgrade (6/10). Head outside the cave to find the next health upgrade floating above a stone slab (2/3). This is the last upgrade you get in this level.There isn't much more fighting until you face the boss in this area, so fight your way through the remaining areas and you will find yourself in a cutscene which leads right to the next boss battle, Cailleach. Dodge her attacks as best you can, stay away from the edge so that you don't get hit by her rush attack and attack her hands when she tries to hit you with them.

She will lose her hands in a cutscene and reveal her true beauty. For this part you need to attack her face when she gets close to throwing up on you, and need to evade her hew sets of attacks which are, luckily, rather predictable. When she is down to 1/4, you will enter the last stage of this battle.Attack her open heart, but be careful since it still will attack you from up close and from distance as well.

After a few attacks she will die and will grant you the following achievement. BloodforgeHead straight for the next area and, of course, be careful of the enemies scattered around.The Forsaken LandsHead forward and fight the first set of enemies. After that you can find the next weapon to your right which is the Forsaken Blade (7/10). Get to the 2nd fight and you will find, upon leaving to your left, the next weapon, the Abyss Hammer (8/10). As soon as you find the moving platforms, you'll find the next weapon in a rather big area, which is the Void Hunter Bow (9/10). Continue until you face 2 fat shield enemies at the same time.

Head to the left and follow that path until you find a mana shrine (2/3). Get back to the area where you fought the fat guys and this time take the path to the right. At the end you will find the last weapon, the Demons Gauntlet (10/10) and will unlock an achievement. 1 guideNow, head for the big shrine in the distance and move along the path for a cutscene.

After the cutscene, head to the left and you will find the last health shrine (3/3). Continue across these platforms until you reach the big staircase, head upstairs and go on until you find your final enemy. You can guess it, this is where a boss battle starts.Basically he only has 3 attacks, which is a multiple sword strike attack (easy to dodge), a ground-pound (just roll far away when he charges it up) and a crystal trap followed by a ground-pound (extremely hard to evade, impossible to break free). Attack him in between and he should be done in no time, awarding you the following achievement. 1 guideGet through the gate now and return to the bloodforge.The BloodforgeAfter a pretty lenghty cutscene it is about time you face your final opponent, so fight your way to the gate and kill the spawning enemies in front of it.Arena of FateHead all the way forward to get a cutscene which will trigger the fight. Her attacks are pretty predictable so a good rule is that you can get in around 2-3 Y-attacks before you need to dodge.

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However, for now we simply beat her down and wait for her to be revived until the following achievement unlocks. Now it is time to beat her for real. Wear her health down to zero and after that, attack the huge machine in the center of the room. Do this until you enter the next stage of the battle.Another cutscene and you will face a 2-headed spider-like creature. This one is rather annoying since he will dodge the majority of your attacks. A good way of hurting him is to lure him in with your crossbow shots and hit him when he loads attacks or gets closer. Dodge his ground pounds, and his melee attacks, and he will be down in no time.We face Fate again, but this time she won't stand up again.

Simply follow the same strategy as you did before, and after a few hits, she will die and reward you with a nice cutscene and an achievement. MOP UPWe've now completing the campaign, so it is time for the mop up since there are a few achievements left.First, we will play the level 'The Chase' and fight our way past the shadow spider and the first set of ghoul-like creatures.

Now we have, in the area to the left and to the right, a fight with no more than 4 enemies (3 normal, 1 witch). Beat them on a S rank 3 times in a row to unlock the following achievement. To get an S rank you need to kill all enemies with a finisher move AND you are not allowed to get hit once. The combo counter is unimportant, so you can also use your crossbow inbetween (I recommend the charged shot).Here is what and how I did it: after the alien-like creeps that come from the hole, I moved to the left and fought the 3 enemies with some claws. I continued down to the right and killed those with my claws and finally headed to the right to face the 4 enemies with my claws.

Whenever I got hit, I quit the game and replayed from the last checkpoint. To make sure to get an S rank, only use 1 loaded arrow shot per battle and also try to get at least a 10 multiplier. Now it is time to attempt a rather bugged achievement and this will take a lot of patience. Basically you need to do a total of 5 different attacks in one battle, which sounds easy since each weapon comes with 5 different attacks, but the games doesn't seem to register it right, so you will need to alternate between weapons frequently. I recommend one of the later levels where you often fight more than one enemy at a time. Simply perform 5 different attacks (crossbow and jump attacks do count!) in one battle and if the achievement doesn't unlock, swap to another weapon.

This can get really frustrating, so don't lose hope.