Soul Sacrifice
By Marc Saltzman,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Solid action RPG leaks blood at every turn.
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Soul Sacrifice
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What’s It About?
From renowned game designer Keiji Inafune -- of Mega Man, Dead Rising and Onimusha fame -- comes his latest project for the PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) portable gaming system: SOUL SACRIFICE. In the game, you're a prisoner zapped into a magical book, the Librom, who must take control over various avatars to fight demons and other enemies using weapons and magic attacks. The third-person combat makes up the bulk of the gameplay in this action-heavy role-playing game (RPG). You'll need to decide whether to save or sacrifice the souls of the fallen; these decisions will affect the adventure and shape your customized hero. Up to four players can hack-and-slash together, in the same room or online.
Is It Any Good?
For the most part, Soul Sacrifice is a very good RPG rooted heavily in melee combat and magic. While the missions and levels tend to get repetitive, the game looks and plays great on the PS Vita's 5-inch OLED screen; plus it sounds amazing thanks in part to the grand soundtrack recorded by Yasunori Mitsuda and Wataru Hokoyama, with full orchestras and choruses at Skywalker Sound.
The tight controls, interesting enemies (including big bosses), and emphasis on making decisions (each with consequences) all make this title more than just a mindless action romp -- plus the multiplayer works smoothly, too, which helps to add replayability and longevity to the game. Soul Sacrifice is worth playing you're a fan of the genre and/or Inafune-san's previous works.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the impact of media violence.
Were you surprised by the level of violence shown in this handheld game? Is there a misconception about handheld games being more family-friendly than their console or computer counterparts, instead of being "Mature"-rated as this one is?
Game Details
- Platform: PlayStation Vita
- Skills: Self-Direction: achieving goals, work to achieve goals, Thinking & Reasoning: applying information, decision-making, Collaboration: meeting challenges together, teamwork
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
- Release date: May 7, 2013
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- ESRB rating: M for Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Last updated: August 26, 2016
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