Aztaka Review
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The combat is a combination of jumping around and clicking as fast as you can to do a bunch of spear attacks. Each opponents warrants a slightly different approach, and some of them have an interesting set of attacks that you have to take into account. However, the range of enemies is very narrow; there's a dozen different enemy types at the most, and the fact that they become tougher later on does not help alleviate how boring it becomes to fight them over and over again. In fact, one of the later enemies, the Brute, isn't difficult at all, but he does take a long time to kill. For some reason the developers decided it'd be a good idea to have the player face half a dozen of them one after the other in one level, probably the most boring sequence in the entire game. The game also features boss fights, with varying level of novelty and frustration. Most of them are really easy, and follow the classic platform boss model of the player just repeating a certain set action over and over until the boss is dead. Not exciting, but fitting in the game overall.
Another problematic old-school element is the save system. Aztaka uses a checkpoint-based save system, the checkpoint always being the world map. If you're on the world map, the game is saved, if you're in a really long level consisting of multiple parts, it won't save anywhere during the map. This system can be very frustrating. If you just slugged through a boring level, and die at the hands of the boss, you'll have to slug through the entire boring level again to get at the boss. The occasional (rare) bug becomes even more annoying as it can force you to replay half a level. A bit into the game you will get the skill (Divine Favour), which resurrects the hero (once per skill level) between checkpoints. That is a bit of a solution, but doesn't completely resolve the frustration caused by this oddly designed save system. One positive note is that the game is never really hard, and that helps keep frustration down. Then again, with a better save system the game could have been made significantly more challenging while not becoming any more frustrating.
With 21 levels, Aztaka offers up to 10 hours of gameplay on a single playthrough, though I think most people can finish it in about 8, and one should realize the gameplay includes a lot of running back and forth through the same area. There is not a lot of replay value, and I suspect a few people will get bored or frustrated and drop it before finishing.
Story & Quests
The story is simple and, well, uninteresting, of the normal Chosen One kills Evil One mold. Dialogue is delivered in the usual hack 'n slash monologue way, with no dialogue options offered, and none of it is exceedingly interested. The oddest thing is when you reach the ending, it seems to set up for a pretty awesome sequel, and then suddenly resolves everything you could potentially do in the sequel in the ending credits, and then opens up for another significantly less awesome-sounding sequel.
Story progression occurs through the main quest, though most of that is (find the seven phonograms) and (kill the big bad). It is a typical hack 'n slash sequences of big bosses and unlocking new areas, though as mentioned it also bounces you to and fro in confusing ways.
The game also offers a number of side-quests, basically consisting of the two RPG standards (kill the floozles) and (collect the thingamajigs). None of them are interestingly set up, nor do they add a lot to the game in execution, as you'll often resolve them simply as you follow the main quest, without having to do anything special or going out of your way much.
Setting & Graphics
Aztaka offers a fairly original, Aztec-based setting with absolutely beautiful, hand-painted scenery. I don't know nearly enough of Aztec culture to judge how consistently they apply it (the centaurs and harpies seem a little weird to me), but it is easy to fall in love with the backgrounds, hauntingly beautiful and endlessly atmospheric.
The look and animation of the player character and his enemies are a bit too scaled down to be impressive, but they are generally pleasing to the eye, and the animations are fluid as a rule. The color schemes are a bit dodgy at times, making me wonder why I'm suddenly fighting men in pink tights, and the effects (such as spells) come off as a bit simple, but those are two small footnotes on a visually gorgeous game.
