Tehra Dark Warrior: review

• Format : PSP (version reviewed), PS3, iPhone
• Unleashed : Out Now
• Publisher : StormBASIC
• Developer : StormBASIC
• Players : 1
• Site : http://www.stormbasic.com/

Sony’s answer to the iPhone/Touch has been a strange and twisted “yelp”, like a griffin getting his foot jammed in a doorway. Instead of releasing a new all-singing all-dancing PSP, they took the current one they had and ripped bits out of it. Then they flattened it with a steamroller (or maybe even a rolling pin, the jury’s still out on that) and sold it for even more than the one with its bits still attached! The PSPGo’s apparent saving grace and Sony’s answer to the games in the iTunes store is the minis series. It’s here that you will find Tehra Dark Warrior.

The opening story reads much like an old text adventure which seems rather strange, unless you’re under 25 and think a ‘text adventure’ is something you do with your latest lover. As the game opens up it becomes instantly reminiscent of the N64 era in its lighting, colours and shadow which (for a mini) is quite a pleasant surprise. What you get on-screen are fairly chunky and solid looking graphics; a tad too ugly for the big screen but rather pleasant on the PSP and let’s be fair, that’s where you’re going to be playing it. Less of a surprise is Tehra herself, a tattooed warrior-goddess type who thought the most suitable armour to fight hoards of Orcs in would be the string from her morning mail package delivery. The music, it must be said, is done with panache and sets the tone for the huge undertaking of Tehra’s job, to destroy the dark forces; you know the deal. Crescendos of orchestral magnitude conjure the feeling of battles that belong in Lord of the Rings, and when combined with some of the artwork within the storytelling text screens it really makes you want to kick some medieval fantasy ass. That, sadly, is where the promise ends because once you start playing there will be a shadow of darkness so big that no sheepskin-G-string can turn your attention away from it.

Tehra’s little trick throughout the game is being able to turn herself into a demon which means a nastier, meaner and more unpleasant version of herself (and also blue-er!). What this boils down to is a few seconds of unblockable attacks and almost invincibility by pressing the left shoulder button. Sounds good? Well, apart from those mentioned above there aren’t any other up-shots. No extra moves or magic, just the same basic slash, slash, slashing that you do as-per-normal and believe us; there’s a lot of slashing. There are a few set moves for her slashfest which are: up high slashing, down low slashing, and a general in-your-face slashing. There is magic to try and mix it up a bit and although the fire/electric magic moves are upgradeable, they still feel underwhelming and even unresponsive to use.

Unresponsive; that’s really the best word for the controls on the whole, as you’ll notice when trying to block incoming attacks. The timing window you have to deflect attacks is so minimal you’re best off putting your hope into your dodge button. If only that worked. The camera puts itself in such awkward places that when faced with multiple enemies, just seeing who’s attacking can be hard, let alone dodging projectile attacks at the same time as fighting. Tehra Dark Warrior has a lot of nice ideas, even if they are mostly found in every other fantasy RPG. Its biggest shortcomings though are in its fight mechanics. Clunky and slow controls combined with awkward camera moments really let this down, lord knows how this plays on the iPhone!

2/5