Japanese Players Are Actually Having A Lot Of Fun With The Hybrid Action Of Devil’s Third

Devil’s Third recently released in Japan, and the reception for the game has actually been quite positive according to its Amazon reviews, which comes off as quite a surprise, especially after the previews we’ve heard of or seen from Europe.

Devil’s Third is one of those games that appear to have been made with the Western audience in mind when looking at it from a Japanese perspective, as action shooters don’t exactly have the biggest market in Japan. To top it off, Devil’s Third got little coverage in Japanese media until near its release.

With that in mind, Amazon Japan currently has Devil’s Third at 4 stars out of 5, which is pretty high, especially when considering that Japanese reviews on Amazon tend to be a little harsher compared to the West. It’s also the only place to purchase the game in Japan. While it is a smaller sample size with its current number of reviews, its overall positive feedback is still surprising, nonetheless.

That said, here are some quotes from the reviews on Amazon, with most of the positive reviews sharing similar sentiments of how they enjoyed the action in Devil’s Third.

“Following Splatoon, I thought it looked like fun, so I decided to buy it,” the reviewer wrote. “Its controls are unique, but once you get used to it you can move with a lot of freedom, and it’s very fun. The online parts are especially fun, and I’m completely satisfied with it. With all the slicing and shooting going on, the online fights get hectic. You get taken out right away if you’re not always moving, It doesn’t take long to get caught when you try hiding. It’s all about always running and disposing of any enemies in sight, as quick as possible. It’s pretty radical for a Nintendo game.”

While the above reviewer had a lot of good things to say about its online mode and its free matchmaking teams, deathmatch, and battle royale modes, he pointed out a few of the bad parts being the graphics, as he felt that they were a little choppy at times, even for scenes shown during the offline single player mode.

“I recommend this title for players that are bored with current FPS or third-person shooters,” wrote another reviewer. “It does a wonderful job at combining close-ranged combat action and FPS. As far as graphics go, it’s not on the level of a PS4 or Xbox One game, but those who play a lot of games should be able to see that the fun factor is truly the essence of the game.”

The next reviewer, who titled his review “sunglasses baldy goes wild!” listed some of his pros and cons for the game. Starting with the pros:

• It looks difficult at first glance, but the controls make it really easy to play.

• Switching between melee feels very natural and smooth.

• It’s simply fun as an action game.

• Everything is so flashy, it makes me feel like Rambo or Bruce Willis.

As for the cons, here’s what he listed:

• Blood spraying all over (which I knew about, and it also disappears right away,) but I can’t play it in front of kids.

• It’s not bad, but the story is a bit unexciting.

• As far as graphics go, I was satisfied for it being on the Wii U, but the characters kind of have stiff-looking hair (think of it on the same level of PS3.)

• The protagonist is a badass, but I personally couldn’t like him, to be honest.

Here are some of the other comments people that purchased the game have wrote:

“It’s been a while since I played an FPS multiplayer game, but I’ve been addicted to it. The shootouts on the massive fields with 16 players is the best part. I haven’t had this much fun since GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64.”

“Unlike the FPS I’ve played until now, there’s a variety of action to it, which almost makes it feel it takes the action elements from a Yakuza game, which you can experience in an online title.”

“I’ve always been bad at shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield, and could never better my kill/death ratios, so I never knew what was fun about them. After getting into Splatoon after it released in May, I’ve become more confident in shooters, so I decided to buy this game. The single and multiplayer content are completely different, so it feels like you’re playing different games. You don’t take fall damage, so you can feel like a ninja while during the shootouts, and being able to shoot while sliding gives it a nice action element, which makes it different from your average template for approaching your enemies in other shooters.”

“It’s excellent [the online mode]. It feels like it’s been a while since I plowed through a game so much in a single day. Guns and melee weapons are very well-balanced, so it doesn’t feel like either of them are too over-powered. With all the weapons and character customization, I have no complaints.”

Devil’s Third will release in Europe on August 28, 2015 for Wii U. The game is expected to release sometime in Q4 2015 in North America.

Food for thought:

I thought it was pretty interesting and worth noting that upon looking up the keyword “Splatoon” in the reviews, there are many reviewers that mention how it was their first shooter, or how it influenced them into buying Devil’s Third on Wii U.