Deception II gets sexier (with a chick and some cool new innovations)!

U.S. Game Front

During The Main Game, Millennia
Is Almost Always Seen From Behind.
Thankfully, This Illustration Shows
You Her Front Too.

When You Visit The Options Mode,
You Can View The Opening
Movies For Dead Or Alive And
Monster Rancher.

I Think Millennia Is The Coolest
Looking Protagonist
Of The Series.

The Symbol On Millennia's Back.

After the positive greeting that Tecmo's Deception received, it was pretty safe to assume back then that a sequel would be made to it. Eventually, we would receive this sequel in 1998 and it's name was "Kagero: Deception II". With the original game doing so well in 1996, Tecmo wanted to make sure that K:D2 would not stain the reputation that the previous game had. Did they succeed? I don't think I need to answer that, now do I? K:D2 not only provides a groundbreaking blend of action and strategy, it does this while changing almost everything from the original game! The back of K:D2's case states that Tecmo's Deception was an award winner, so Tecmo took a bold risk by making so many changes. Even the protagonist has changed and she just so happens to be a cute girl.

The plot revolves around a girl named Millennia (the back of the case spells her name "Millenia") who is a human girl who serves a race of people known as the Timenoids, or TMD. Timenoids are beings with blue blood and skin who possess the blessing (or curse, if you will) of immortality. In the days of old, humans were lowly savage creatures who fought and created chaos amongst themselves. One day, the Timenoids showed up and imparted wisdom and guidance to the humans to end the madness and bring peace and comfort to all. Due to their wisdom and immortality, the Timenoids enjoyed a ruling status over the humans and considered themselves to be superior. Yocal, Millennia's foster mother and a Timenoid herself, was given the task of brainwashing Millennia into believing that the very existence of humans is wrong...and she succeeded. While the Timenoids have power over the humans and helped them in the past, they fear the humans because they are the only ones who are a threat to Timenoids. The King of the Timenoids, King Eclypse, wants to use Millennia to exterminate the humans because she is also human and that makes her expendable. Though Millennia has been brainwashed, you can control her fate and the decisions you make change the events that take place in the future.

K:D2 is a graphical marvel compared to the previous game. For starters, the game uses a completely different perspective. You no longer move in a first-person perspective, but a third-person perspective. You can now see your character and she is nicely modeled and designed. The game is also very atmospheric with candles burning on the walls, fire in the fireplace and furnace, Pendulums swinging from the ceiling, flowing water from a fountain...even small splashes when you run across water and a big splash when someone plunges into the water. The lighting effects are excellent and if Millennia happens to be near fire, she will get lit up with a red glow. The character movement is smooth and fairly realistic and for its time, the game was highly polished with impressive attention to detail and wonderful 3D architecture. The audio goes one step further to bring about the dark ambience of both the characters and the universe of K:D2. You can hear hooks swinging in the air, footsteps echo within the silent halls, water flow along the ground, spikes coming out of the walls, loud explosions from bomb traps...even hear the men and women scream when they are hit by traps. I think the attention to detail is superb.

Besides changing the perspective from the original game, Tecmo also changed the majority of the gameplay mechanics. Don't get upset just yet...you still lay traps and you still cannot attack directly. However, the system has been completely redone to make the game even MORE strategic. How is that possible....especially since you are now limited to setting a mere three traps per room? In Tecmo's Deception, you could lay as many traps as would fit in the designated area. In K:D2, the traps you set are now infinite and don't disappear after being used and you can only bring up to three different ceiling, floor, and wall traps for a total of nine traps. Since traps are infinite, there has to be a catch, right?

Well, you can't just rapidly use the same trap over and over. Tecmo has now implemented a wait system for traps. This means that once you use a trap, a gauge must refill before you can use the trap again. The gauge fills up automatically with time, but one important aspect of K:D2 is that different traps charge faster (or slower) than others. Powerful traps, like Mega Rock, usually have long wait times while weak traps, like Bear Claw, charge very quickly. You must also time traps since some traps won't activate automatically when used. For instance, if you see someone standing near the spot for your Mega Rock trap, you shouldn't press it WHILE they are standing directly on the spot. You need to plan ahead accordingly since it takes a second for the rock to fall.

Based on what I just previously stated, the game ensures that you must learn how each trap works before using it. Like the previous game, the invaders have different characteristics and require various strategies to beat. Even if you find a set combination of traps that works on the majority of invaders, the true beauty of K:D2 does not come from using one set of traps, but using everything in the environment. Unlike the original game, geometry and physics play an integral role in deciding what traps you want to use and where to use them.

Set a Mega Rock trap on a slope and it will roll down the slope. If you use the Iron Ball trap instead, the invader might dodge it...but that's okay since it will bounce off the wall and roll back in the other direction. Get the invader covered in oil then set them on fire with a fire-based trap. If you set an electric trap in water, it will shock anyone within the same body of water as the electric trap. These are only some examples of the various fun things you can do. You can also activate all three traps (Ceiling, Wall, and Floor) at once as well as use the objects in the area to create insane combos. You can also use the various preset traps such as the fireplace or the electric chair within rooms with a clever trap combination. The game provides you with many traps, many stages, and multiple endings too as well as a couple of unlockables.

The game is missing things from the original though, like virtually all the RPG elements, room creation, and monster creation. You also can't buy items and the only way to heal is by touching healing crystals that can only be used once per mission. There are still good things though. In an effort to remedy the lack of the room creation feature, you will travel to new locations at set points in the game's story which means you have new territories to exploit for all they're worth. The challenge is fair and the game is good all around. The game takes solid graphics, an excellent musical score with well implemented sound effects and a ridiculously fun trap combo system to provide you with hours of crazy entertainment. The game also uses one block to save this time around (YAHOOOOO!). I was pretty sad that the game wasn't actually two players like the case advertised, but you don't need a friend to enjoy Kagero: Deception 2. The price of the game has slowly increased over the years, so grab this one up before it's too late!

- Written by Vyse the determined -