Victor Vran

The Good
At first glance Victor Vran is a typical Action RPG game, you roam the world killing monsters, looting their bodies, earning XP to level your character etc.

However it manage to add some innovating concepts, one is that the game has eight types of weapons and all of them functions differently and each have two alternate fire modes. This add more depth to the combat as each weapons is effective against different types of monsters and as their behavior and the damage they inflict isn't merely a function of their stats.

Another gameplay mechanic we don't see often in ARPG is the ability to dodge roll and jump, not only does it sometime make navigating the level easier it also add a new dynamic to the combat as you will need those abilities to survive in battle and I find that they add much to the combat and make it more fun than other ARPG games.

Each area in the game world has its own five challenges, usually involve killing monsters in a certain way, this add much to the replayability of the levels and after you complete the game story you will unlock additional five elite challenges for each area.

The existence of a narrator also add to break the routine of the game, he will occasionally make sarcastic and insulting remarks toward Victor Vran and sometime just try to mislead him as to what direction he need to go.

The Bad
The abilities to customize your character is extremely limited, there is only one class of character that you could play (monster hunter) and when you level your character you have no choice as to how it will developed (usually you will get extra HP or more destiny points). The only way for you to determine the abilities of your character is by choosing what outfit he will wear and what destiny cards you want to equip.

While I can understand the motive to this decision, the developers try to create a more focused on combat than character development, I do think they make a mistake to dispense altogether with the whole development tree system.

The Bottom Line
Victor Vran is a ARPG game that try to break the mold of the genre and instead of focusing on character development and looting and more focusing on combat.

It will appeal to people, like me, we find ARPG games become boring and repetitive after awhile, the various level challenges will make sure to keep you interested and that you need to you the various weapons and their special abilities in order to achieve them.