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Five: Guardians of David Review

Five: Guardians of David Review

Keep Biblical History Alive With Five

There’s quite a long history of religious video games, all with varying degrees of success. Spiritual Warfare is a The Legend of Zelda-like for the NES that’s among the best efforts. Super 3D Noah’s Ark is a weird FPS where Noah shoots animals. Five: Guardians of David, from Kingdom Games, is a substantial action RPG inspired by King David and his warriors. It offers an enjoyable experience that happens to also be religious, rather than being a religious game pushing an agenda that skimps on gameplay.

While Five: Guardians of David is the story of King David’s rise to power and reign, it’s more about the people who protect and support him. His five chosen warriors, Abishai, Benaiah, Eleazar, Jashobeam, and Shammah, go through eleven acts protecting the king and fighting against other nations, like the Philistines, Amalekites, and Moabites to save the kingdom. Each of the eleven acts are based on an important period of time and conflict during David’s rule, starting from the first act, where Abishai and Benaiah are established as his first protectors and he fights Goliath, to an epic final battle. It’s steeped in religious lore.

Don’t let the fact that Five: Guardians of David is a Christian game deter you non-Christians, though. Yes, it is inspired by stories taken from the Bible, but it isn’t overly preachy. It’s absolutely possible to skip over the narrative segments, and the actual interactions between NPCs and enemies aren’t conversion attempts. It’s best to liken it to the Spiritual Warfare NES game. The trappings help set the stage, but the focus is on the gameplay.

That gameplay is surprisingly tight. Five: Guardians of David is an action-RPG, with players controlling the Five. You can switch between them on the fly, which is helpful since each one does have his own specialty. You start with Benaiah, a heavy weapon wielder, and Abishai, who uses a bow. Eventually, Eleazar, Jashobeam, and Shammah each join the party. They have their own specialties, challenging you to pick the proper person for each battle.

The ability to control guest characters is quite appealing, too. Most interesting are segments where Ariella is a playable character. She’s a stealthy character who shows up in four acts. It adds quite a bit of variety to the game, making you think differently about your objectives and how you’re going to play. Getting to play as David in the first act is a given, since this is a story following his warriors, and reliving his iconic battle against Goliath is a wonderful way to kick things off. Uriah is a bit of a letdown, compared to those two, but the diversity he represents is an absolute positive.

I’d actually recommend manually switching between characters as you play Five: Guardians of David, though. The AI isn’t great if you leave your party members to their own devices. There seem to be intermittent targeting issues as well. I didn’t have as much trouble in less populated areas, but if there were a lot of characters on screen moving around, setting up attacks or skills could be troublesome. This isn’t a problem for basic battles, especially since enemies don’t regain health if your party is wiped out and needs to respawn at a checkpoint, but can be an issue with boss fights.

The massive assortment of loot does help compensate for a battle system that sometimes isn’t at it’s best. You can get tons of equipment for every character, and all of it offers stat boosts for your party that makes each of them most effective. However, the only enemies that really drop these items have at least one star attached to them. You don’t start encountering these folks often until you’re into the second act of an eleven act game, which might leave some people wondering about the incentive. It’s worth sticking with it to get those extra items, though.

Especially since Five: Guardians of David has a very clever way of handling all those extra items you’ll inevitably collect. The Five can build bonds with the Market’s spy networks and agencies. This can be accomplished by giving them money or dumping the equipment you’re not using on them. With the number of items you get, it ends up being a better investment to donate the extras than sell them, sometimes. It’s even a great idea to revisit past areas, once you have access to the world map after the third act, as the equipment you get from fighting bosses again might be different than the types earned the first time.

The only thing that really bugged me about Five: Guardians of David is the save system. It seems as though you can save anywhere and there are checkpoints that allow you to preserve progress, but these don’t let you pick up exactly where you left off. If you’re halfway through a map, save, leave, then reload, you’ll be at the very beginning of the map. All of the progress will be gone. You’re returned to the beginning of that area, with all caches undiscovered and objectives left to do. It’s frustrating.

Overall, Five: Guardians of David is an entertaining Diablo-like. It’s a loot-heavy adventure with unique characters that each have their own specialties and skills. It isn’t perfect, as the save system could have used a little work and there are some minor battle issues, but it’s enjoyable enough and constantly rewards you for playing. Plus, it never feels like the items you’re getting are going to waste, since you can donate them for additional perks. It’s an interesting and substantial action RPG for people who want a religion-based historical experience that isn’t too preachy.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
Five: Guardians of David looks a little dated, but the comic story segments look great. 4.0 Control
It’s a typical action RPG control scheme, where players click on locations and enemies to move or attack and special skills are tied to hotkeys. There are some minor targeting issues, but it works. 4.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The soundtrack is average, but established voice actors like David Fennoy, Adam Harrington, and Gavin Hammon help conversations shine. 4.0 Play Value
There’s tons of loot to collect, and the game really opens up once you can access the world map and start revisiting past areas to grind for gear. 4.0 Overall Rating – Great
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Heroic Gameplay: Fight a multitude of soldiers and Goliath-sized bosses.
  • Fluid Character Swaps: Swap between any of the Five and their unique fighting style on the fly.
  • Miracle System: Smite your foes with the blinding light of angels, hailstones of destruction, fires of the Earth, and many other miracles.
  • Equip your Gear: Gear up your Five with the extensive variety of ancient treasures, artifacts, and relics.
  • Spy Network: Stop hoarding your items! Donate valuables to develop crucial ties with different spy networks, and reap the rewards.
  • Epic 11-act Story: Experience the epic 11-act story of the Five featuring comic cut scenes from Sergio Cariello.

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