Review - Swords of Destiny is a relatively unknown playstation 2 fantasy hack'n'slash Devil May Cry style with over the top airborne combos and a free-roaming camera.

The forte of Marvelous' game is certainly its fighting engine. As you accumulate experience points and you increase your weapon's stats, you'll be able to perform unbelievable combos. As you make progress in the game you'll come across 4 main weapons and you'll also be able to pick up the weapons of the defeated enemies. Weapons have their own magic spells associated to them and their own special attack so make sure to experiment and see what is more effective against the different kinds of enemies you'll cross your blades with.

Interestingly, the main character has a very cool-looking sheath that opens up like a bat wing and that can accommodate the various weapons you collect.

Graphically, Swords of Destiny is very well done although the free camera angle somewhat limits the graphical detail of the backgrounds which sometimes look a bit samey and bare. But enemies are varied and beautifully drawn while animations are very smooth and look very convincing.

The cut-scenes look amazing and could be mistaken for Capcom's or even Square's best efforts because of great artistic direction and quality of the 3D graphics.

The music and sound effects are also well taken care of as the score is actually by a famous Japanese singer.

Gameplay feels satisfying because of the great aerial combos that can last for a surprising long amount of time and for the cool cinematic “Sword Time” feature in which the game's speed drops drastically and gives room to spectacular slow-mo effects. While in this mode, the players attacks become exponentially more powerful and one slash is often sufficient to get rid of the baddies.

Sadly, Swords of Destiny is a bit short but the replay value is guaranteed by the multiple path structure. So the players who want to see everything the game has to offer will have to go back and complete the game several times.

To conclude, Swords of Destiny is a fine action game with very high production values. If you are a fan of the genre, you should definitely give it a shot.

Bottom line: nice action-game with inspired visuals and gameplay. 7,5/10