Buy El Shaddai from Amazon, and a $10 credit descends from heaven

by JC Fletcher on Jun 25th 2011 6:30PM

Just as El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is very loosely based on the apocryphal Book of Enoch, some lesser-known works from the Book of Amazon.com have been discovered related to the game.

For example, if you read this page in the sacred and infinite website, you'll learn the previously undiscovered commandment "If thou pre-order El Shaddai, thou shalt receive $10 in promotional credit." El Shaddai (and your emailed Holy Relic of $10) will be out July 26. Let us celebrate the happy news of free money in the traditional manner: by studying Amazon intensely to find more things to buy.

Source: Amazon

Tags: amazon, el-shaddai, El-Shaddai-Ascension-of-the-Metatron, ignition-entertainment, microsoft, playstation, ps3, xbox

Reader Comments (41)

Hey everyone. You see this game here? Buy it. It deserves your money.

Wait, El Shaddai is a full price game? At $10 or $15 it was a maybe, but $60? Meh

@Faenix I agree, played the demo and if felt more like a PSN game, and not one I was particularly enjoying. If the game was $15 with a $10 credit I'd give it a shot, but $60 seems WAY too much for what I experienced with the demo, at least for me anyways.

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga
It's a DEMO! There not gonna give you the whole game to play as a demo.

@Jay Z

A demo is supposed to give you a taste for what the game is about...and it was pretty unimpressive. You get to play around with 2 of the 3 weapon types in the demo, and both got a bit boring by the end of the demo. At this point, they're pretty much done with the control and feel of the game, which just don't feel that great for the platforming sections.

@EatSleepChuck Exactly, I was bored with the weapons very quickly and the lack of a floor though charming at first what annoying to me in the end. The enemies didn't feel varied enough, and quite honestly Outland feels much better at $50 less.

@Faenix
Yeah man the weapons need more detail, the animations need a hell of a lot more polish, and the combat system needs some serious work. This game does not need to be sixty freakin' dollars.

Buy this. If you want game industry to retain at least a bit of unique and different masterpieces.

This game deserves its price.

@Kitanishi

Have you played the demo? It's got a unique art style, but that alone doesn't make for a good game. The platforming was pretty bad and combat is a bit stale.

I don't think it's worth $60, but I may check it out once it drops.

@Kitanishi
Yes, because that strawman argument works all the time.

There is plenty of "unique" games out there that don't require a $60 investment. Journey sparks a quick mention, and there are plenty of games out there both $60 and PSN/XBA priced that ARE worth it and are creative and unique.

@Kitanishi

Buy this for $60 when it doesnt feel or look worth it, or buy one of the amazing games coming out between august and december that look worth it?

I'd rather get Deus Ex in august, myself.

@Kitanishi I just spent $5 on a pack of 5 unique indie games that kick the crap outta this game. Sure, it looks cool, but as has been said, art style does not maketh the game.

@sortius
I guess none of you knaves have been following the excellent reviews this game has been getting from Japanese sources as well as import reviewers. It's been out in Japan for months, so for you to base your opinion based on what, a few minutes of a DEMO is astoundingly hilarious.

@(Unverified)

Can you cite some sources? Another commenter here posted a pretty positive review by eurogamer, but aside from that and the 34 score it got on famitsu, I haven't heard much.

@(Unverified) these pinheads arent going to get it anyway so dont bother. Ignition is one of the best I wish they'd continue making games :'(

@EatSleepChuck Edge Magazine gave El Shaddai an 8/10 in the new print issue. For comparison, they gave InFamous 2 a 6/10 and Witcher 2 a 6/10 in the same issue, and recently scored Shadows of the Damned a 5/10.

Famitsu also loved it, as you saw (9/8/8/9) and people who imported have been tweeting their love for it for months. GOTY for some already.

@djblewis
Clearly Edge isn't very trustworthy then.
I'm buying this, as I've got money to spare for a game that delivers almost entirely on its graphics, but all signs point towards it having okay mechanics and not much better than that, and if people don't want to buy that, that's understandable.

A timing based extreme action/platformer loosely based on an apocryphal book of the bible uses a gimmick like $10 credit to sell? Well I never!

@Limimi If I recall, Halo: Reach had a 20$ credit....

From what I've read elsewhere the combat is actually pretty fun. The demo locked out a lot of things and didn't fully explain what it didn't

The platforming is supposably painful throughout due to the camera though. I'll buy it at some point. A lot of creativity obviously went into it and the developer is having trouble it seems.

More Amazon.com credit deals:

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238099

If you're doubting why it's a full retail title or you're on the fence, the Eurogamer review sums up the game nicely (they gave it a 9/10): http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-01-el-shaddai-ascension-of-the-metatron-review

The full game is about 10-12 hours long on Normal, with two more modes unlocked after completing it. Each level is vastly different from the last (mixing 2D/3D action and platforming, even driving), and some of the boss battles are WAY out there. The demo is only a tiny glimpse of the full experience.

Having played the import version, I can tell you the combat system is VERY deep once you realize button mashing is doing it wrong. Everything is rhythm-based and each weapon changes how you jump, dodge, set up combos, damage specific enemies, and interact with the world.

El Shaddai is tailor-made for fans of DMC, Bayonetta, Okami... even Rez and Super Mario Bros., but it's also not for everyone. One thing it absolutely *isn't* is a budget title. It was directed by the artistic forces behind Okami and Devil May Cry, and internally developed by Ignition Japan for far longer than any $15 XBLA or PSN game.

@djblewis
It's basically Heavenly Sword all over again. An action game with surprisingly deep elements and a collection of gameplay modes and unique style wrapped together in a package that no one is convinced is as good as it really is until they actually play more than just the brief demo that doesn't contain half the gameplay elements.

Their loss, you're not going to be able to convince the haters with facts.

@PN04 No, it's the developers' loss. And it's also their fault, for putting out a brief demo that doesn't contain half the gameplay elements.

@Limimi

Isn't a demo by definition a brief section that doesn't include all features or gameplay available in the final product?

@PN04

Honestly, Heavenly Swords only major failing was its length, and that sounds to be about right with this game as well.

@djblewis I was surprised by the amount of moves/attacks that I could pull off with just one button. I don't think enough people experimented with the direction pad, holding the button, controlling shots after fired, etc...I probably won't pick up the game now, because I'm trying to finish too many others, but it definitely looks great and more importantly, was rather fun while I played it.

@The Joy of Painting w Bob Ross Not by definition, but I know what you mean and yes. My point was that if a developer is going to release a demo for their highly stylised and unique game, they might want to do what they can to explain things to the demo audience, instead of dropping them into the middle of things without more than a passing mention. Otherwise their demo is only going to push people away, as it has judging by the other comments in this thread.

@Limimi It was one of the best demos I've played in months. The only one in over a year that put out a game I've never heard of, and instantly put it on my buy list. The demo was elite in that it did what it set out to do.

You weren'y going to buy it anyway, so you playing it is no loss for them.

@Fire Walk With Me Actually I imported it. You have confused my comment on the reaction of gamers to the demo (the web is littered with people saying it's a dumb game with bad combat) with hatred of the game.

My point is that they would have been better off sticking with videos than a demo, because people go off their own impressions rather than anything they see from someone else. And if they can't be bothered trying to figure out how to do anything other than mash the buttons, then they will come away from the game thinking it is bad, because it doesn't tell them otherwise. The devs shot themselves in the foot with the demo.

No offense to you guys or anything, but Amazon usually has a $10, $15, or $20 credit offer with the pre-order of any new video game

@aray48

Yep, it is very rare for a game to not have the $10 or $20 credit for a preorder. They also offer free release day shipping, no tax and knock 5 bucks off the retail price. AND if it is a flop like Homefront and they drop the price after launch by 10-20 bucks they refund you that money.

@Anticrawl

For example with Homefront I got the game on release day from them with a 10 dollar credit and 55 dollars total. Then they refunded me 20 bucks cause they dropped the price a day after. So I paid 35 dollars and got a 10 dollar credit. I sold the game back to amazon after a week for 38 dollars. I made 13 dollars profit and got to play Homefront for a week.

@Anticrawl Wow you can sell games back? wish i did that with Brink. Do you mind telling me how to go about doing that? I don't plan on buying many mediocre games, but all my friends were getting Brink. Who knew it would be so meh.

@aray48

They offer trade-in for nearly every game. Just go to the game page and below the In Stock text there is a box that says they accept trades for the game. The trade value is usually way higher than Gamestop and you have up to 7 days to send it in with the trade-in value guaranteed.

El Shaddai is closer in worth to $60 more than Brink ever was so everyone please stop whining.

@PerkinsBeatrice
Trying to trojan your spam by copy/pasting part of another user's comment, huh? I hope all the unfortunate things in the world happen to you, you pos spammer.

I want to buy it, but I'm still not quite sold. First price drop consider me there, though.

...huh...I had no idea that this was a full retail game

I'll wait until release and see what the reviewers and players say about it. The demo gave me the distinct impression that this game was about as deep as any other $15 PSN title. Perhaps its a failing of the demo, but I was bored rather quickly. I enjoyed the visuals and artistic style more than any other game in recent memory - but not enough to spend $60 to "encourage" other designers or the game industry in general to take risks and make more interesting games.

Art and style only go so far with a game... about $20 worth - to make up the other $40 the gameplay has to be fun, and that is not the impression I was left with after the demo.

Is this really newsworthy? $10 bucks off is nothing. This game will be in the $20 price range within a few months. I can't imagine anyone isn't busy without a backlog right now anyways. Heck, Fallout New Vegas is already in the $20 range and that was a big AAA game.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

Buy El Shaddai from Amazon, and a $10 credit descends from heaven

Reader Comments (41)

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 6:36PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 6:41PM Faenix said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:05PM The angry pro consumer gaming ga said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:14PM Jay Z said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:22PM EatSleepChuck said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:37PM The angry pro consumer gaming ga said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 12:07AM Protobreed said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 6:54PM Kitanishi said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:20PM EatSleepChuck said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:33PM DevilSei said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:38PM Faenix said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 8:26PM sortius said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 1:00AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 1:34AM EatSleepChuck said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 11:05AM Fire Walk With Me said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 1:47PM djblewis said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 4:42PM corna said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:14PM Limimi said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 1:07PM Drew327 said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:45PM ricochetguro said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 7:48PM Jenks said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 8:40PM djblewis said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 8:55PM PN04 said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 9:53PM Limimi said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 10:35PM The Joy of Painting w Bob Ross said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 10:37PM DevilSei said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 10:49PM laserboyjc said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 1:11AM Limimi said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 11:08AM Fire Walk With Me said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 8:55PM Limimi said

Posted: Jun 25th 2011 11:12PM aray48 said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 12:04AM Anticrawl said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 12:06AM Anticrawl said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 12:44AM aray48 said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 12:58AM Anticrawl said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 8:07AM iAlejandro said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 11:19AM Brett from Atlanta said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 11:21AM Brett from Atlanta said

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 12:21PM Kinjiro said

Posted: Jun 27th 2011 11:00AM Goldenspiral said

Posted: Jun 27th 2011 4:02PM dvdjunkie32 said

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