I was watching this particular video a little while ago about the long awaited video game that was John Romero's Daikatana. It was designed by the co-creator of everyone's beloved Doom and Wolfenstein series and it was in development for a long time. I remember reading about it in a magazine sometime in the 90's and it got me excited about the game even though I was not aware of its hype. Later on I had forgotten about it and moved on to other games. But after watching this video I thought to myself, "hey this game seems pretty cool" but little did I realize that Daikatana turned out to be a huge flop.

Curious, I started reading its reviewsand I was surprised that everybody hated the game saying that the graphics looked ugly, it had bad controls and overall was below expectation. It's hard to believe; how can a game created by a guy who brought FPS on the map would suck so bad? Maybe it's because of this infamous advertisement that reads "John Romero's About To Make You His b***h and tells everyone to suck it down. What a way to promote your game.

Thinking I would need to see it for myself, I decided to purchase a copy from Amazon and give it a try. And guess what? I like it. Yeah, I'm literally playing Daikatana right now and it's not bad. The controls are responsive and natural, the graphics are appropriately good for its time and the level designs are pretty good. So why nobody like this game when it came out?

After finishing a few levels I can now see why it wasn't a big hit. First of all, the enemies you fight are nothing what you expect. From a creator of Doom you'd think you fight some zombies, mutants or any kind of abominations from Hell but no, all you fight in the first few levels are killer frogs and bats. Couldn't they come up with something better? Is that the best they got? Sure, you'll meet other mean adversaries along the way but what a perfect first impression. Killing frogs and bats. What a great idea.

The second problem is the overall layout of the game. Like I said before, the graphics are appropriate for its time but I find the game to be quite messy and dark at times. I'm sure that's what they were going for but in execution it doesn't turn out quite well. The last complain I have is the lack of introduction. The moment the game starts, it doesn't tell you how to interact with objects, how to open locked doors and how to take out the turrets. I died so many times in the first stage because I didn't know what to do and there were so many bats, frogs and crocodiles attacking me everywhere. It was a disaster. Shouldn't the first stage be the easiest stage in the game with some basic instructions? I know it explains everything on the manual but still, the lack of introduction sucks.

Those are my only complains so far and I still have a long way to go before coming up with the final conclusion. But after playing for a good 30 minutes, I can safely say that Daikatana is one of the most unappreciated games out there. It's got a decent storyline and interesting characters for the most part. If you happen to come across a copy of Daikatana, consider giving it a try and don't judge the game from other people's opinions.