Death by Degrees Review

Oh dear... spin-offâ??s and side-stories donâ??t exactly have a history of success excluding a choice select few, and sadly Death by Degrees starring Tekkenâ??s Nina Williams does nothing to dispel this belief.

Utilising a dual analogue control set-up similar to that of Blade II and Rise to Honor, Death by Degrees comes across as an ill-fated combination of hard-hitting combat, obscure Resident Evil puzzles and an inexcusable stab at stealth mechanics.

As we stated in our previous look at the title, problems with camera control and angles creates issues almost bordering on insurmountable at times within the game and throw up some odd decisions taken during the design stage. In fact there are so many ludicrous elements to the game that you canâ??t help but chuckle throughout the entire game; Nina has access to critical damage attacks that present limbs breaking and organs crippling with an X-Ray effect. Fair enough, but later in the game opponents actually survive through these despite being led to believe that he hasnâ??t got a skull to protect his brain â?“ we probably could find an explanation to this, something to do with brain-dead opponents, but weâ??ll leave it at that.

Visually itâ??s uninspired and does little beyond presenting Nina Williams in all her glory, while atrocious voice acting and an equally unimpressive soundtrack fails to grab the players imagination.

The game is linear to the point of offering little challenge beyond heading in a straight route through the entire game at an extremely sluggish pace, occasionally demanding you to pick up objects to solve frustratingly cryptic puzzles; bash the right thumbstick... and well thatâ??s about it really â?“ even if youâ??re a Tekken fan, do yourself a favour and stay way from this.