I said in my review of Garten of Banban VII that I would be saving the most recent release in the series; Garten of Banban VIII: Anti Devil until it went on sale. With my month long holiday to Australia pending (at the time of typing but certainly not at the time of editing!), I relented and brought the game, once again playing the whole thing in a single sitting. This latest game is the most polished and longest yet, but there was also a notable reduction in horror in lieu of more action set pieces. Being both a sequel to Garten of Banban 0 and VII, unavoidable spoilers to follow.
After discovering the existence of a mascot creature that had been intended to never have been found, the ruler of the Banban Kindergarten sixth basement floor city - Syringeon, has put you in prison, to prevent you from revealing this fact. Eventually you are broken out, and in your wild escape you end up in a familiar setting. It is here that you find a creature locked away in a cupboard; Flumbo. A severely injured Banban appears (last seen about to take on a small army of corrupted mascots at the end of Garten of Banban VI) denying all knowledge of having been the one who imprisoned Flumbo and telling him that he is needed at Syringeon's surgery urgently. Realising during the train journey to the surgery that the master of this floor has it out for the player, Banban drops him off at an abandoned medical facility and tells them to meet them later at a central tower the surgery is located at.
I didn't like the increase in characters in the previous game, nor the 1930s themed city area, but here, having you in a more dilapidated area of the city made the early prison section quite fun. After that, the game came to feel like a mix of Silent Hill and Garten of Banban, with the player exploring a long abandoned dark and dingy hospital. Here, there is plenty of lore revealed about various creatures, which I of course loved. This is the first game playing as the the human protagonist that you don't have access the dodgy drone. I was pleased that infernal contraption wasn't in use as it has been terrible to control right from the start and rarely fun. Instead, you are giving a handheld device that can be used to open doors by zapping them with electricity. Interestingly, this is also the first game where you are actually able to directly attack mascot creatures (by using this device). The game is again a mix of puzzles and chase sequences, but nothing too taxing either way. Thankfully, the vast frustration last time around with some of those chase sequences are gone here.
Anti Devil took me about three hours to complete, a mix of horror elements and more action/story based stuff. There were huge developments here, but I can't help that the grander story involving huge amounts of characters have reduced the unsettling isolation of earlier games. There are all the familiar characters, and it even seems the goal of finding your missing child may be getting closer, but the set pieces while exciting and fun, could not be said to be scary. The highlights for me where the more spooky parts. Investigating the hospital was an early highlight, a chase sequence in a storage unit building was also great, having the most unique enemy of this chapter feature. There were a handful of boss encounters, neither of which were particularly great, one was a bit dull, the second a bit annoying. There was yet another Stinger Flynn dream sequence, I always enjoy those. The mid game point took a surreal turn to a tribal village, I did not expect that, and it made for a more sedate change of pace, but again, those alien type creatures are often a bit too comedic for my liking (an early section with a demented doctor was quite freaky I will admit).
By having the story of the dictatorship of Syingeon take centre stage, the horror was diminished greatly. I do enjoy the story, but the horror is what I am really here for, not all out action, so I hope the next instalment (painfully not due until August this year!) will head back more into horror territory, and maybe have the player once again more isolated rather than surrounded by allies.
SCORE:
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