To get straight to the point, SPOnG doesn't like this game. There'll probably be quite a few readers out there who'll have some degree of fun with it - and on the face of it, it should work. A Hack 'n Slash 'em up with upgradeable combat moves and involved magic technicalities - what's not to like? Well, plenty.
The first thing to baffle is that there's no camera control. Yes, a third-person action game with no direction over the camera. As it turns out, the automated camera is OK during combat - it pans out, and you get a good view of the enemies. The rub lies during the exploration of the wilderness, or towns, whereby you end up relying on the on-screen mini-map to give you an accurate lay of the land.
This could perhaps be forgiven, if it wasn't for the shortcomings in the combat control itself. The restriction of one button for attack and one button for magic is pretty basic in itself, but it's when you discover there's no block button when the dread sets in. That's not to say there are no defensive measures; you're given a "parry" manoeuvre, allocated to the same button as attack, which is activated by holding attack down. After a few flesh lacerations, you'll eventually parry the attack and leap out of the way. Which is the main problem - you can't proactively defend yourself. Even the use of the same button isn't the real problem - a "parry/counter" feature (ala Virtua Fighter's Akira) would have been a more rewarding and fair mechanism. So you're forced to resort to a "run away - use magic - attack - repeat" cycle, which soon becomes tiresome.
Then there's the load/save debacle. As far as SPOnG can tell, there is no Auto-Save feature. That is, when you die it doesn't take into account progress since the last save - you go back to the last time you manually saved. You'd hope developers would want players to be totally oblivious to the goings on in the real world - completely immersed in the virtual one before their unblinking eyes. But, no, you have to remember to pause the game every few minutes, and access the "save" feature. As it turns out, you're never engrossed enough to forget anyway.
The few plus-points seem trivial, but should be mentioned. The graphics are above average - textures are rich, and the combat animation is fluid. The voice acting isn't too bad either, although it appears the timing wasn't adjusted from that of the Japanese soundtrack, so there are some bizarre awkward silences
(shades of Sonic Adventure - Ed). However, none of this can save Key of Heaven from being a tedious experience.
SPOnG Score: D-
On hearing the game was developed by Climax (makers of classic RPGs, such as Landstalker and the 'Shining' series) we were eager to experience some more of their magic. After several hours of play, we can only presume most of the original team from the 90s have moved on. The scroll/magic element was a potential killer feature - unfortunately, it's been undermined by loose and frustrating combat mechanics.
