I'm the guy who writes the Beatdown column here at Sharky Extreme so you probably think I wouldn't be the right person to review Daikatana. Basically I've spent the past eight months making fun of the game primarily because during its troubled development it gave me so much ammo to use. The game and Ion Storm have had an amazing run of bad judgement and bad luck recently. What most people don't realize is that I truly wanted Daikatana to be a great game. I wouldn't have asked for the review otherwise. Bad games are not something I enjoy spending time with and you have to admit, a surprise ending where it turns out the Ion Storm debacle had a happy ending is just too priceless to pass up. That being said I just spent a full week with Daikatana and here's how it went.
It is 2455CE in Japan when the game begins and it starts with a harbinger of things to come. Namely an extremely long game engine rendered cutscene featuring Hiro Myamoto in his sword training dojo. A mysterious and scabby visitor comes to his door during a rainstorm and begins telling our hero the entire game backstory. He speaks like a rather offensive Japanese stereotype ('r' sound instead of the 'l' sound - you know, that sort of thing). Presuming you don't skip it entirely the story unfolds with the grace of a badly beaten yak and you are thrust into those fascinating swamp levels from the demo. It's downhill from there too sadly enough, which is too bad because....