Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood review: Great combat but a role-play miss

Boy, could we do with a great werewolf game on consoles.

And this title promises an action-packed role-play game full of savage combat and mystical adventures, all based around the fabled beasts.

What we get isn’t sadly quite the top-tier video game we’d been hoping for.

But players into all things werewolf will still get a kick out of the addictive bloodlust and button bashing mayhem the game’s best bits have to offer.

It’s a shame really, much of Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood’s original premise is realised well.

The design of lead character Cahal and his transformation into full-on monster is great and those action moments where you’re swiping away biddies in a wild mix of blood and environmental destruction is great.

It is everything it should be.

But the role-play element of this game is poor, and there’s little more to it than clicking on pre-written comments to trigger the next part of the conversation.

It doesn’t feel like your chats with other characters are altering the story at all when playing and the whole RPG concept ultimately slows down what should’ve been a speedy action brawler game.

One with awesome quick cut-scenes to push the story along at rollercoaster pace, focusing on getting to the fun hack-and-slash gameplay.

Instead what you get is an action game held back by it’s dull RPG elements and a shoddy, cliched B-movie plot that’s more cringeworthy than enthralling.

The game plays great in combat mode. You’ll love going crazy as a huge monster full of rage, swiping and smashing your way through rooms full of soldiers.

And the stealth gameplay building up to those sections is decent too. Infiltrating bases with a mix of human takedowns, wolf jumping through hard-to-reach grates and an all-out werewolf attack makes this game stand out from the crowd.

But it can be clunky and isn’t anywhere near as polished as other stealth titles like Assassin’s Creed or Hitman.

I suspect most people looking forward to this game will be somewhat disappointed with the final result.

The graphics aren’t amazing, certainly not in the next-gen category, the story writing lazy and predictable and the role-play poor.

But there is a great combat hack-and-slash in this title dying to get out, almost like a werewolf itself.

It’s a shame the developers didn’t ditch the average bits and focus on unleashing that beast. Perhaps a slimmed down sequel could do just that job.

VERDICT 3/5