El Shaddai; OW! Mind Melt!

There are a great number of things in life I struggle to comprehend, too many in fact. Fashion, Shia Labeof’s appeal and significance, Paul W S Anderson’s directorial capabilities, as well as being completely confounded as to why people would consciously watch “I’m a talentless attention seeking, anorexic cretin, listen to me warble some horrific love song and recant with brutal clarity some sob tory, consisting of how I survived on the mean streets of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and the moment my family were remorselessly murdered by ravenous pigeons”, over technically superior show’s like Fringe! (I guess that’s been on my mind for some time). But nothing quite compares to the utter bewildering sensation of playing El Shaddai, the only game that creates the illusion that your PS3 is continually dispersing hallucinogenic properties, that grants you with the unique opportunity to experience life through the eyes of Otto from the Simpsons.

Seriously, El Shaddai’s aesthetics is so indicative of mind altering drugs, that it makes Twin Peaks seem like a Richard Donner movie (not a derogatory comment). I guess the point I’m trying to convey is that El Shaddai is the single most obscure game I have ever played. The narrative is so baffling it needs to be seen to be believed. The basic premise is, well, um? You battle creatures with some form of angelic scythe, and uh, there are numerous religious influences, inferences and, um?……. Well admittedly, I have no clue as to what is going on, because I’m so transfixed by the seizure inducing environment’s, that any chance of understanding important plot developments, as well as your sanity soon appear to abandon you.

If ever there was a game that could be described as an art form, this is it. Pablo Picasso wouldn’t have been opposed to exhibiting something so expressively vivid, so thought-provoking or more specifically, weird! Mind meltingly weird. And the point of this admittedly pointless assessment, well I’m not entirely sure, I just felt an overarching compulsion to express my pleasure and bewilderment at the fragmented world of El Shaddai, and also generate publicity for a title that appears to have been avoided like asbestos cooking utensils. So temporarily dispense with your sanity and play it, trust me you wont forget it, no matter how hard you try.