14 DAY TRIAL // 
Bandai Namco is at it again with yet another game based on a popular-anime series. The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia is the first console game based on the manga and anime series with the same name.
The game is aimed at both fans of the anime and newcomers to the series since it tells the same story in the first two seasons of the anime series. The main problem with The Seven Deadly Sins is that it tries to be more complex than it really is and the fighting style concept adopted is far from being smooth and easy to understand.
Although the video game is based on a popular anime series, the story doesn't benefit from a high level of polish during cutscenes. You'll probably notice the lip-syncing is a bit off and there isn't much happening in these scenes except for some dialogs.
Clearly The Seven Deadly Sins is not the best Bandai Namco franchise, but it's a decent first game that hopefully will be improved in a future sequel.
Story
The Seven Deadly Sins: Knight of Britannia tells the story of a young, runaway princess who goes by the name of Elizabeth. After a coup d'etat ruthlessly executed by a group known as the Holy Knights, the princess of the Liones Kingdom embarks on a dangerous journey to find the Seven Deadly Sins, the group that could successfully oppose the Holy Knights.
The first member of the Seven Deadly Sins group that Elizabeth meets, Meliodas will come along throughout the whole journey since he's the only one that has an idea where his friends might be.
Even so, in order to find the Seven Deadly Sins and the Holy Knights, players must collect enough information and hearsay related to their movements and possible locations. In order to get that, you'll have to perform flashy combat moves during battles, which in return will reward you with so-called Gossip Points on the Appeal Counter.
Aside from the Story mode that you start with, players can also try out a Duel mode, which allows them to challenge one of their friends in one vs. one battles. As you progress into the story, you'll unlock more characters for the Duel mode.
Oh, and if you missed Hawk, the nice little pig is a prominent character in the game and provides a decent support role for your team during fights and quirky dialogs when he appears in cutscenes.
The narrative in the The Seven Deadly Sins doesn't just look simple and straightforward, it really is simple, so don't expect any plot twists or surprises throughout your journey. More so if you've already seen the anime series.
Gameplay
The Seven Deadly Sins developers have opted for a fighting style gameplay, so you'll be forced to smash your controller's buttons to go through the game. The Adventure mode will have you traveling around a map of Britannia, a world that's similar to the European Middle Ages, in search for the Holy Knights and the Seven Deadly Sins.
Aside from the main quests that you'll need to complete to advance the story, there are two other types of quests: side quests and field quests. The former are important since it can provide you with additional Gossip Points that allow you to discover the Holy Knights and Seven Deadly Sins whereabouts.
The Field Quests are only necessary to complete if you want to craft certain Magic Items since they net you the ingredients needed. You can find some of the ingredients after completing certain Side Quests as well, so you won't be missing a lot skipping Field Quests aside from some button smash training.
The team behind the game have decided to include some RPG elements as well, but the game could be better off without them. A very large and confusing upgrade tree is accessible from the game's main menu, which allows you to unlock various magic items for each of the characters available, if you have the necessary ingredients. What I did like is the fact that you can upgrade the Boar's Hat, Meliodas' cozy inn that travels with you throughout your adventures.
Each mission in the game requires players to fight a certain number of enemies or a single boss. The only difference between the two types of enemies is that bosses don't take too much normal damage, so you'll have to stagger them by attacking them repeatedly and then start pounding them for real damage.
Even though the combo moves aren't that hard to achieve, for some reason the normal attacks (light and heavy) do more damage and faster than these special moves or spells. The combat is where the game fails mostly, since moves aren't as fluid as I would expect from a fighting game.
The game got me frustrated dozens of times due to its clunky controls and lack of fluidity. Every time I try to switch to a new target, it takes a couple of seconds for my character to react, so I keep pounding the air until the game decides that it's time to move on to a new target.
Yes, the combos are easy to achieve, but Seven Deadly Sins allows your other teammate to enter the fray of battle and help you win faster whenever you fill a certain gauge. I've never been able to pull that move off, though I imagine it's actually possible to execute.
Graphics and audio
Unfortunately, visuals and sound are another aspect that the game fails to score above average. The soundtrack left me completely icy since it's as generic as it could be. I'm surprised the music in the game is so far behind the one in the anime series, but I guess that's something fans will have to do without.
As far as graphics go, I can't say it's more than adequate. The artwork is pretty much conservative and in respect to the anime, but animations and lip-syncing during cutscenes and fights leave to be desire.
The Good
- Lots of content split between Adventure and Duel modes
- Accessible for newcomers to fighting games
- Nice artwork
The Bad
- Clunky controls
- Uninteresting story with little depth
- Confusing combat system
- Graphics and soundtrack are subpar
Conclusion
It's clearly not the best game based on an anime/mange series outed by Bandai Namco and I don't see any potential for the franchise. The concept, gameplay and almost every other aspect of the game isn't interesting enough to justify a sequel.
Perhaps if the next games were to head to a completely different directions, I would try another Seven Deadly Sins game, but until then, I can't recommend it to anyone who's already seen the anime series.
