NeverDead PS3 review

The battles themselves are boosted by surprisingly strong swordplay. Controlled with the right stick, you can pull off precise on-screen slashes with corresponding flicks on your DualShock. Like Dead Space, enemy damage is contextual, and swiping horizontally or vertically determines which direction baddies’ dismembered limbs drop off.

Combat is further beefed up by cute environmental damage – toppling pillars can crush certain foes. It’s the sort of system we’d love to see in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Ironic, seeing as Never Dead is directed by Shinta Nojiri, the guy responsible for MGS4’s ace Third Man-esque Eastern European mission.

Pity about the guns, mind. While Bryce might try to squeeze into Dante’s clothes, the fit isn’t flattering. Next to Ebony and Ivory, the dual-wielding weapons feel insubstantial. Riddling foes with bullets lacks any sense of feedback or impact, and I all but ignored them in favour of dicing demons with my seven-foot pal, Mr Stabby.

Never Dead might be a scrappy mess in places – it’s blighted by severe screen-tearing and dialogue so bad it makes the original Resi look like Citizen Kane. Yet it’s a game about throwing a man around who’s usually missing 75% of his torso, meaning it’s impossible to be too scathing of its faults.

So if you can keep your head while all others are losing theirs, you’ll be a daft but mega-likeable immortal man, my son.

Our Score