The story goes that six families bear the "mark of Kri", parts of a symbol so powerful that it must be split up, lest the evil power of the spell contained within is invoked (or something like that). Anyway, a really nasty bloke is collecting parts of the symbol, by capturing members of the families that bear the mark (tattoos methinks), including a young boy and your sister…

You are RAU (pronounced 'ROW'), a massive barbarian warrior-apprentice who is looking for a fight. You pop into a local tavern and are trained in some slightly advanced warrior type skills by your new best friend and teacher, Baumusu. Baumusu isn't just a one-handed giant of a man with more than a little knowledge of combat techniques and the like, he's also a "Rakus", a protector of the six symbols, so you'd better listen to him. He teaches you how to use your sword, your bird (no, not that kind, your family pet crow Kuzo who you can get to fly on ahead to allow you a sort of spy cam view of the unfolding terrain and enemies ahead). Later he shows you how best to use your bow, your Taiha (a large staff/spear), and gives you a massive battle-axe.

   

From the superb intro and link sequences and music that are easily Disney or maybe Don Bluth cartoon standard, the game draws you in with its leather-voiced narrator and dreamlike settings. It's uncertain as to where its supposed to be set, the atmosphere certainly puts me in mind of feudal Japan, but there are tribal references and imagery that look more like Native American, Samoan or possibly Maori. The game characters themselves are similar in styling to a Disney cartoon, but the feel of the game is more like old classics like The Last Ninja, Another World and more recently Ico. That said, and as I previously mentioned this is one seriously violent game with its strange mixture and mismatch of almost comedy characterisations and animations combined with stealth kills, head smashing, neck snapping, dismemberment and decapitations aplenty, so maybe comparing to the relative gentleness of Ico is wrong - it does have a similar, dreamy look to it though. To add to the atmosphere, the way the game loads is superb; loading screens transform from line drawing to water colour to playable game engine superbly, and Rau and Kuzo go on another adventure.

Along with its constantly high production values, TMOK has smart design ideas like having a wizened old Sage act as your options screen and collectable scrolls as your save points (use them frequently by the way, they're generously distributed and frequent use will avoid the need for a lot of replaying). You can also unlock challenge arenas, DVD style extras, artwork and new outfits for Rau to wear.

   

So if you enjoyed EA's enjoyable but repetitive kill-a-thon The Lord Of The Rings, The Two Towers (and want some more) and The Mark Of Kri sounds like the perfect hack and slasher for you, then hang on a minute. There are some really irritating quirks in the game. For a start, Rau may be a big heavy bloke, but he handles like a truck - difficult to manoeuvre onto ladders or through narrow gaps, he sticks on scenery sometimes too, annoying as you haven't got the ability to jump over something (Rau does all his own climbing and doesn't do any platform game style jumps). Triangle is used to swap views between you and Kuzo, and in the heat of battle it's too easy to do this by accident. Some of Rau's animations (drawing, changing and putting away weapons for instance) are beautifully done but take too darned long to happen - leaving you unfairly open to attack on the odd occasion. The targeting system for the bow uses a sort of lock on, and it can be hard to shoot at the exact target you want to if several are in close proximity. The very fact that you can get Rau's melee weapons stuck in scenery (or bodies) may show a commendable level of detail, but his swipes are so wide that it happens frustratingly frequently. Despite you being taught how to kill with stealth, it's used rather sporadically and killing two enemies stood side-by-side one after another is daft. You'll find the numerous and unfairly armoured archer enemies to be real pain as well. And although the combat becomes increasingly tactical and graphically violent (cleverly justified by Rau's righteous rage at the murders committed by the enemy), the levels become tediously hard, unimaginative and repetitive toward the end of the game - You can only cleave so many zombies in half before you get fed up - can't you? - I'd really have liked to give the game a higher score, but the unimaginative ending and some irritating flaws spoiled it for me.