Soul Sacrifice for the PS Vita

At first glance, Soul Sacrifice may seem to be nothing more than a Monster Hunter knock-off wrapped in a Demon's Souls-inspired wrapper, but chip away at it for a few hours and you'll discover that it is actually an altogether different beast.

Yes, there are hulking great foes to overcome and missions are structured in a similar way to Capcom's behemoth, but there are enough fresh ideas at play for Soul Sacrifice to be judged on its own merits.

The world has been brutally ravaged and left to rot and those who have survived the horrific cataclysm have been imprisoned and are being fed to the sorcerer Magusar to feed his never ending appetite for power.

You are one such victim, but fate has decreed that your destiny is to differ from those who have gone before.

Through a chance meeting with a sentient journal called Librom, you are given the opportunity of reliving the past to discover a way of defeating Magusar, thus ending the cycle of death and destruction.

Flicking through the pages of Librom reveals ancient tales involving other sorcerers and the player is free to jump into their curly slippers and experience their trials and tribulations first-hand.

A string of characters are introduced, accompanied with their own stories and missions, while the babbling book also serves as a hub where you can change your character's appearance and experiment with magical powers.

It's an engrossing yarn and the unsettling storytelling underpins the action well. However, to fully appreciate Soul Sacrifice, you're going to have to dig well below the surface before things finally click into place - and that's going to take several hours of your time.

Initially, the bite-sized missions fly by without giving the player ample time to fully grasp the variety of combat styles and, as a result, the early skirmishes never settle into a rhythm leaving the player somewhat bewildered.

However, after extended play, the fog begins to clear and the seemingly impenetrable muddle of spells suddenly make sense and figuring out the best enemies to use them on becomes second nature.

Dozens of these offensive, defensive and support spells - called Offerings - can be collected but the compromise is that only six can be taken with you at any one time.

Spell load-outs can be configured before every mission and added depth comes from the fact these Offerings can be fused together to create new, more effective versions.

As the player ploughs through more missions and gains access to even more fizzing enchantments, the tactical possibilities become much more varied and interesting.

The player also gains Dark Rites which unleash blistering power, but come at a cost to the player's overall effectiveness. However, they can turn the tide in your favour, while downed enemies can also be saved or sacrificed, with each choice affecting your character's stats.

But while Soul Sacrifice gets better the more time you put into it, extended play also serves to highlight the game's flaws. Environments and enemies are reused repeatedly, which takes the shine of an otherwise interesting game.

Soul Sacrifice can also be a grim and depressing ride thanks to its grotesque villains and foreboding atmosphere and lacks the bright and breezy humour found in the Monster Hunter series.

That said, if you're looking to sink your teeth into an engaging and long-lasting action adventure on Vita, either alone or with friends via online play, you could do a lot worse than conjure up the effort to play Soul Sacrifice.