Koudelka (PS)

I've got to start by saying that I love RPGs. I even love uninvolving, linear-pathed Japanese RPGs. But, despite this, I despised 'Koudelka'. The reasons for this are multiple – from the frustrating and exceptionally tedious combat system, to the dreadful voice acting, from the poor game design to the poor realisation of the graphics. There are a few redeeming features, such as the system for improving your characters when they increase in levels, and the Gothic horror setting, but the negative features of the game heavily outweigh these. The game is set in Aberystwyth, Wales in 1898 (or, if several online American game guides are to be ...

Koudelka is a roll playing game for the Playstation 1 which was developed by Sacnoth and released in 2000. This is a single player game with four disks, rated a 15+ and has the compatibility of the vibration function. This game is a mix of Resident Evil mixed with Final fantasy, the scenery and fear factor of Resident evil and the battle and stat levelling up of the final fantasy series. Plot: "Wales, Great Briton, 1898. A group of three characters, including the beautiful medium Koudelka are drawn to the mysterious Nemeton monastery. The dark, deserted and foreboding place keeps within its walls a secret mystery of witch craft and sorcery" quoted ...

It's 2000 and the selective hype-machine that is the video game media are getting excited about this dark, tricky-to-pronounce project (Infogrammes were also said to have mis-spelt it on a press release!) from the now defunct SNK. Koudelka is the cross-breed of what are probably the two least likely to meet genres on the PlayStation - survival horror and RPG. So it's sort like a cross between Resident Evil and Final Fantasy then? Well, no. It's...just Koudelka really. The game is set in late-19th century Wales (points for originality already!) where you take control of Welsh born femme fatale Koudelka Iasant (having lived in Wales for ten ...