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Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy (Nintendo DS)

There are plenty of television shows or films that love to rake in as much cash as they possibly can. Merchandise, toys, and video games are among some of ways to make some extra quid, but sadly the video game renditions rarely turn out as much quality or entertainment as the content it’s based on; there is absolutely no exception with the side-scrolling-beat-’em-up adaptation of the fantastic anime in Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) Dual Sympathy. This game really justifies the theory that you absolutely can’t make decent video games of licensed products, especially if your final product is something gamers would have seen in 1995.

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Hitman extraordinaire and goth-master Jackie Estacado is the unlucky recipient of a hereditary demonic power known as The Darkness after a failed assassination attempt made by his Uncle Paulie on his twenty-first birthday. This totally sucks for Jackie but makes for one bad ass gaming experience for you. Using multiple awesome powers along with a number of weapons and summons, Jackie seeks out revenge in this heavily story bound and visually stunning game that spins a pretty enthralling tale with an ending that leaves you feeling ripped off.

A satisfying feel to the game makes up for the short length, taking place over about 3 days of Jackie’s consciousness. The various powers (A tentacle, black hole, minions, and awesome guns to name a few) are all great, and really ramp up the gore factor as well as the fun, however, the amount of weapons is redundant since you’ll never use anything but your dual pistols. This gritty and gruesome title is slow at points, with a lot of talking and looking for people, but the action is abundant and incredibly satisfying. Having Jackie walk across a city is very immersive, but takes away from the intensity that was a heavy metal fueled gun fight that you just walked away from. Going from helping an old lady find her wedding ring to slaughtering 15 cops is a very unbalanced method of gameplay…

What is ultimately a short shooter, I couldn’t help but pick my jaw up off of the floor multiple times throughout, despite the incredibly unsatisfying ending. The achievements on the 360 version are well paced and clever, but the multiplayer the game offers is worthless. It’s truly trash and needs a patch so it runs in a double digit framerate, which is impossible for it to do now. It’s worth your time, and has a very difficult Hard mode that should offer a satisfying challenge once you think you’ve mastered the art of Jackie’s mafioso bad-assery. The powers limit the difficulty towards the end, what with the Black Hole power equating to the “Win Button”, but there’s a lot of things that people will enjoy.