Shinigami Messiah review: a good looking anime disguised as a game

Shinigami are just cool. Take Bleach for example. The Shinigami in Bleach get to fight off demons with big swords, move so fast that they are essentially just a blur, and pull off some of the most exciting battles you can imagine. Those are the Shinigami I like, but they are unfortunately are nowhere to be found in CyberConnect2’s Shinigami Messiah for iOS.

After choosing one of the six main characters to play as, Shinigami Messiah throws you straight into one of the most unoriginal stories imaginable. Your character has just died and has no idea what is going on. An omniscient character then guides you through your new position as Shinigami and teaches you how to fight off demons with your cards, or Tarots. You then take on quests and try to help world of the living fight off their inner demons.

As mentioned earlier, you fight with Tarots, cards that contain spirits that aid you in your attacks. As you take on quests, you will pick up crystals that transform into more cards. Like any card collection game, these cards can be added to your deck or used to strengthen your current favorites. In Shinigami Messiah, you want to build your deck with Tarots that have special skills, a strong attack power, a good amount of HP, and varying elements. It is a very typical card game scheme.

The problem? Other than setting up your deck, you don’t really do anything. You tap the screen to start the battle, watch as your character attacks, and tap the screen again once the battle is over. You also tap the screen to progress through the map and conversation, but for the most part, it feels like you are watching a game rather than playing it.

Not that watching Shinigami Messiah is a bad thing. This is one of the most beautiful iOS games I’ve ever seen. The world and its characters have a 3D anime look to them and contain an impressive amount of color and detail. Not to mention the wonderful soundtrack, voice acting, and sound effects. I was so continually impressed with the production value that it almost didn’t matter that I wasn’t having fun. I was just being entertained.

One thing that Shinigami Messiah does incredibly well is its stamina system. For each step you take in your quest, you will lose two stamina points. This may seem like a big cost but you have over 50 stamina points to start off with, and they get replenished each time you level up. I never once had to wait to play in my first few hours with the game.

Shinigami Messiah also has a special arena called the Abyss, where you can fight stronger demons in order to obtain some special items. You have to use tickets earned in the quest mode to fight in the Abyss, but those are not that difficult to acquire. The Abyss is interesting because it introduces two new fighting techniques that are actually almost fun to use. In the Abyss, you can block and repel the demon’s special attacks by tapping the screen right before you are hit. If successful, you will send the demon’s attack right back at him, which will eat away much of his HP.

Pulling this off helps to boost the other Abyss exclusive fighting feature: your Burst Mode. Burst Mode is activated by filling up a Boost Gauge via attacks. Once it is full, you can unleash a string of attacks which requires you to swipe your finger back and forth on the screen like a madman. The more you swipe, the stronger the attack.

These are not necessarily new or even interesting features, but the additional swipping and timed tapping add a decent bit of action to an otherwise actionless game. It is just a shame that these moves are restricted to the Abyss rather than in the main part of the game.

Shinigami Messiah is an incredibly good looking game that just isn’t much fun. CyberConnect2 has put a lot of work into making this game look and sound great, but they seemed to have forgotten to add in actual gameplay. So if you like collecting cards and watching the game play out for you, check out Shinigami Messiah at the Japanese App Store.