X-Blades

X-Blades is an action-adventure game developed by Gaijin Entertainment and published by SouthPeak Games. The game was originally released in November 2007 under the title Oniblade by 1C Company only in Russia.

Gameplay
You play as Ayumi, an adventurer who seeks for the Artifacts - the divine items that contain the power of good and evil.

The game introduced an unique experience points mechanism. Basically, experience points in the game, once earned can be converted into skills, which is essential because depending on what kind of skills you're using (light or dark, to be accurately), the skills may decide the ending.

There are various power-ups available to help the player as well, like combat techniques, magic, weapon enhancement and teleportation.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) Repetitive gameplay with very little strategy, especially with spells. Most of the battles are easily won by mashing the same buttons over and over and using the same spells.
 * 2) The game plays like a mediocre clone of Devil May Cry mixed with God of War, though it predated Bayonetta 2 years before its release.
 * 3) Inconsistent tone. The pre-rendered cutscenes imply that this game has cel-shaded graphics, especially how Ayumi is represented, but the graphics in the gameplay are realistic 3D.
 * 4) Boss battles are generic damage sponges and have little variety and strategy to take down.
 * 5) The game punishes you if you unlock any of the dark spells. If you unlock one of the dark spells, you get the bad ending where Ayumi kills Jay and mourns his death, forcing you to start the game over.
 * 6) The main character, Ayumi is very unlikable with her voice acting and personality, with the overuse of the line "I'm the best there is!". Even Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that she is, quote, "a typical sassy, scantily clad, smart-talking bad girl, who proves once and for all that a bikini-thong combination is suitable armor for taking on hordes of... just about anything." Plus, she acts way too cheerful when she fights, especially how she talks.
 * 7) They added level DLC to the 360 version when it was already on the PS3 version.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Decent soundtrack.

Reception
The game received mixed-to-negative reviews by many video game critics, most notably for Ayumi's personality, repetitive gameplay and bad controls. On Metacritic, the PC version received a 54/100, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions received a 50/100.

4.8/10 from GameTrailers, 26/40 from Famitsu, and a 6.5/10 from GameZone.