Angels, Demons and Men Looks to Smite Thee

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

Developed and published by SmartOliveGames, Angels, Demons and Men is an RPG Indie Game in which you are playing as an Angel, a Demon, or a man. I really wanted this game to be very good, because when the developer approached me about covering the game and then showed me the game trailer; I was reminded of retro PC games such as Baldur’s Gate or Diablo II. However, the game was a complete let down. I see that SmartOliveGames has created mobile games in the past, and this looks to be their first game they have created for PC.  So, instead of trashing the game like some might do, I am going to take the time to point out what they did wrong and what they need to do to possibly improve the game. However, before I do so; I would like to thank SmartOliveGames for still providing me with a free copy of the game.

As I stated before, I did like the graphics of the game because it did bring back the feeling of the old school retro PC games. However, the first issue I have is at the very beginning of the game.  The title page for the game has no title. There is just the game menu but nothing telling you what the name of the game is. Also, there was an incident where I click to continue, and it took me back to the splash page for SmartOliveGames. Besides there not being a title on the title page; the music is way too loud, and although you do have an option to turn it down  the option sometimes will not stick. So, the music will come back on extremely loud, which leads me to the next thing regarding the music. The music plays and then it fades up only to start back up. So, in terms of the music it needs to be fixed to where the music is continuous; not that it fades out and then returns to the beginning of the song.

The next issue that I saw was in the very beginning. The story of the game pops up which tells you about Mya, a witch who accidently broke a seal on the gate of hell to steal its power to save her beloved. However, by doing this she accidentally frees Cade and his demons from hell to wreck terror on the lands of Earth. Now, the Earth is in grave danger and must stand in arms to defeat this new enemy.  I paraphrased the story, mainly because the story doesn’t come off strong. I think the story is pretty good, so let’s keep in mind that the issue is not with the story itself, it’s the way the story itself is presented.

The font is so small, and I feel that because this is the  story it should have been more  attention grabbing. They could have easily included panels of art work to tell the story, that would have grabbed my attention. However, is just a black screen with tiny font. Then that’s not even really the bad part of it. The part is after reading it you expect the game to start up and then comes the voiceover five minutes after you are waiting for the game to start up. I must be honest; the voiceover is bad. I don’t mean just bad as in; “I didn’t like the voice actor” bad. I mean down right awful. I’m not sure if they were looking for an exotic effect to it, but with the story screen not being able to really grab your attention the voiceover just comes off as being  cheesy. Then when the next scene pops up, someone is clearing their throat. Which I thought was apart of the script, however after some time goes by you realize that  it is not. Mainly, because after the clearing of the throat there’s just silence.

After the awkwardness of the clearing of the throat and nothing else occurring the game starts up. The game does not do like other games do, which is tell you what the controls are. It just simply tells you to find the key and pull the lever. You can only move around in the game using the keyboard. There is no gamepad support for the game, which is something I would have liked to been added. Therefore, a tutorial or at least some indication of what keys do what should be added.  However, it’s not even just the lack of the gamepad support. There is no way to bring up the menu for the game, once you are in the game you are into the game, which left me a little annoyed because the music came back very loud, and I wanted to turn down the music.  Therefore, an in-game menu would be a nice touch to add to the game.

Even after you figure out how to move, which I just went with the standard WASD keys to move, the character just moves way too slow. There is no way to increase his speed. He just moves really slow which becomes a problem when you get to the point where there are lasers and he can’t move fast enough to dodge them. However, if you are lucky enough to get past that part you encounter your first enemy. However, there is no way to attack the enemy. Yes, you read that correctly; you cannot attack the enemy. I try hitting all the standard keys that would be considered for attacking and none of the keys worked. Ideally, you are really playing a walking simulator in the form of Diablo since you must pretty much dodge the enemies when you are playing.

The game does not offer any achievements, nor does it offer any trading cards. If the game played better, I would be a little upset that the feature had not been added. However, as the game does not play very well and there are still a lot of bugs in the game, it is okay that neither feature has been added. I could see if the game was in Early Access, which is something I feel the developers should have taking into consideration. Releasing the game with this many bugs and issues and expecting people to pay $12.99 USD for it is not ideal.

I hope that SmartOliveGames, do a massive update or patch for this to fix the issues that have occurred. However, I can say that with the game in its current state that I cannot recommend that you purchase the game.  There are just too many things that are wrong with the game, to pay the $12.99 USD that they are asking for. If they correct the errors, I would consider replaying  the game, but if they aren’t going to make the necessary changes then I would recommend staying away from this game. However, if you would like to try your hand at Angels, Demons, and Men you can do so again by purchasing it on Steam for $12.99 USD.

If you would like to see additional gameplay footage of Angels, Demons, and Men. I have attached the link to the the footage of the game that I have done below. As always there is no voiceover in the video, as I have written this in-depth review.