Directly taken from Samir Rebib's manga, Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom takes us into a rather well-crafted scenario that begins with a stupid accident. As Chado and his mechanic Poky travel aboard their dirigible balloon, strange phenomena destabilize the aircraft, sending it crashing. If the tutorial consists of bringing the two characters together, know that the story will make them meet a young lady named Rosalya with whom they will find a common objective. As the adventure progresses, the two Wakis will go from unappreciated characters to real heroes, in a very classic but pleasant plot. Without any spoilers, the story is really well cut with a lot of characters and a rather interesting sequence that motivates the player to progress in the game. Moreover, from the first moments, we realize that the studio has clearly aimed very high for its game with a 3D environment, with a nice artistic direction, phases of action, infiltration, platform, combat, full of RPG aspects, and even some puzzles. A real catch-all which also denotes a little uncertainty as to the direction to be given to the game, so much ambition seeming almost impossible for a studio of the size of Enigami.
RADIO NOSTALGIE
The first moments in Shiness are rather pleasant, in particular thanks to the Unreal Engine 4 engine which offers us a very pleasant and colorful environment, a perfect tribute to the action games of the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s from which everything comes. right the modeled polygons, contrasting with the current productions. A bit like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Shiness allows us to walk through a set of areas and corridors that make up an implicit framework that must be followed in order to progress in the game. the capacities of our two Wakis to be able to open doors. Chado can summon menhirs which he can drop or throw at switches (or at enemies before attacking), while Poky the mechanic has a magic twelve key, capable of manipulating the forces generated by certain artifacts, in order to activate many mechanisms. Not enough to fry your brains, however, most of the puzzles are extremely simple, and you end up spending more time locating the switches than wondering how to activate them. This also allows you to explore the environments, but unfortunately, if the approach of an Ocarina of Time was revolutionary on Nintendo 64, time has flown, and now the level-design and the environment in general do not have much. -something to contribute beyond the artistic direction. Generally very simple, the different areas do not really offer a point of interest that catches the eye, or that marks the mind.
Yes, because of the million round trips we make, Shiness becomes boring to play, only the most motivated continuing their adventure after a few hours of play.
A lack of spice that turns out to be very off-putting in the long run, especially when you understand that most quests require you to go back and forth across the map very (too) many times. No question of fast-travel here, you will have to peel everything by sprinting, and praying that the mobs that litter the road (and which you have already burst 50 times) do not throw themselves on you, which makes you lose even more of time. Unfortunately, these incessant back and forths represent a very important part of the game, the quests always having more or less the same structure. We therefore spend 90% of our time running to cross areas already surveyed dozens of times, which very quickly causes a feeling of weariness, which fades to give way to real disappointment, seriously undermining the player's motivation. Yes, because of the million round trips we make, Shiness becomes boring to play, only the most motivated continuing their adventure after a few hours of play. That's not all, because if the quests are a real bored, the game is full of bugs. It can be unsightly collision bugs, or more pesky problems, like your character getting stuck between two roots, or just not getting through the map. Unfortunately for you, no automatic save, you will have to start over from your last manual save point in the event of death or a problem. As a result, we play fear in the stomach, saving whenever possible, and being careful not to approach the walls or the joints of the textures which can cause bugs.
FIGHT CLUB
Fortunately, Shiness offers a rather well-thought-out combat system that more or less takes up the concepts of the Naruto series. As soon as an enemy spots you, the fight begins directly, with a kind of force field which defines a fairly small arena in which you will have to fight. Everything is based on a system of punch combos mixing fists and feet in which timing is crucial. Requiring a real skill, the sequences are quite difficult to perform and the parries and other counters will have to be placed at the millisecond to work. You will also have to be very careful with the different gauges: the Shi will allow you to perform certain attacks related to your powers, but also to return the projectiles. To never run out of Shi, you will have to land classic blows, which requires finding a good balance between powers and simple attacks. Elemental attacks are also available, with each element having its own mana quota. To be able to recover elemental magic, this time it will be necessary to pay attention to the color of the force field which surrounds the arena, this one changing on a regular basis. Each color allowing to recharge the mana of the corresponding element, it will be necessary to keep an eye on the enemy and one on the decoration in order to take advantage of the most powerful attacks, especially that certain colors do not appear. We thus found ourselves in a bad position with a character equipped with water abilities without the arena turning blue.
On paper, the system is excellent and demanding, but unfortunately, we will spend more time complaining than having fun. The fault mainly with a disastrous camera and decorations which never become transparent.
To overcome this pitfall, we can also dynamically change characters, between the two Wakis, but also by opting for the sidekick of the moment which also has its own fighting style. The art of war will go through a homogeneous team, with different characters to whom we will scientifically assign abilities and powers to maximize its chances. On paper, the system is excellent and demanding, but unfortunately, we will spend more time complaining than having fun. The fault mainly with a disastrous camera and decorations which never become transparent. You guessed it, we will often find ourselves being mistreated by an enemy that we cannot see, the camera being blocked behind a tree trunk or a rock. Similarly, the camera can never leave the arena, as soon as the fights take place elsewhere than in the center of the arena, we have quite disturbing angles of view. It could have been passable with a less timing-based combat system, but as it stands, these vision problems will soon cause you to lose a lot of life, giving rise to a very present feeling of frustration. Some fights become extremely difficult because faced with stronger and faster enemies, we simply do not have the tools to be able to conduct a proper confrontation.
