Playing Blood of Mehran is like a opening a time capsule for me. It reminds me of the glorious DC/PS2 days where 3D action games might not have been the best in terms of quality, but there’s something there that kept me coming back to play more. Blood of Mehran is the first game since Wanted Dead to have this effect on me, though sadly much like that title the misgivings are a bit too overbearing to make it a title worth recommending.
Playing Blood of Mehran is straightforward enough.Combat is the focus here, and we get light, heavy and ranged attacks, and some unlockable combos and upgrades to make things smoother in action. We’re fighting a lot in Blood of Mehran, so it comes as a surprise that on the whole, the combat is pretty bland, verging on bad.
Mehran is a known fierce warrior in this land, but he moves and attacks like an awkward teen at a school dance. There’s a lack of fluidity to the action, be it in his combos that come to a grinding halt for that bit too long, or his dodge roll that never seems to actually get us out of danger. Most fights also feature a good 9 or 10 enemies at once who will politely surround us and wait for us to attack before all piling in and interrupting our combo over and over. We can block or parry, but this has proven to be about as effective as a wet paper bag for the most part. Attacks with no flash or a yellow flash can be parried, but red ones must be dodged. The problem is half the time enemy attacks are coming from off screen and the sound effect that comes with them is identical so all too often I’d get mobbed by an unblockable attack as well as everything else going on.
It is, then, a pretty miserable experience, only made worse once stronger foes and ones with shields show up. The latter also require heavy attacks to drop their defence for a small window, usually during which the other enemies hit us and stop us from finishing the job. The reliance Blood of Mehran places on combat just highlights the flaws that much more, with each time we’re locked in an area greeted with a sigh rather than excited anticipation. We can’t even barrel roll though areas as Mehran is blocked off from exiting until every last enemy is dead, and there are often several waves to contend with as well.
As mentioned, we do get some upgrades that make the combat less frustrating, but also make it feel like where we should have started. One of the first to unlock is a simple light heavy combo (that is hard to pull off – see above)… Upgrading our weapons stats unlocks further upgrades and moves, but it all feels like it barely makes a difference, and it certainly never made the game anything more than a slog to play.
There are stealth mechanics that we’re encouraged to use from time to time, and I love stealth so hoped this would be a light reprieve from combat. Hoped, and sadly left wanting. Stealth kills are good for wiping out a few foes, but in every encounter where this was possible it was either all but impossible to move without being seen, or the prompt to stealth kill when an enemy was approaching a corner failed to trigger, leading to be being detected and having hell rain down on me again.
Outside of all this, Blood of Mehran is pretty middling in the rest of its presentation, from stilted and poorly balanced voice over work in cutscenes, to bland visuals, bugs, and a general lack of polish. At one point I died because I ‘fell’ into a rock, another I was blocked from progressing and had to restart a checkpoint – and combat encounter – because there was an unseen enemy still alive somewhere. I’m all for more budget titles when it comes to looks, but the sum of all of the parts in Blood of Mehran is sadly just not worth the effort it requires of the player to try and find the fun.
But as I said up top, I do find myself strangely drawn back to Blood of Mehran despite all of the issues. I think I may just be a glutton for punishment, but if the combat and stealth were more finely balanced then the majority of the other issues would feel less of a hurdle to overcome. And with every new upgrade there’s the hope of it feeling more fun to play, but that hope never materialised in my time with the game. I won’t resort to the easy name-based pun, but this is a title that is just not something I can recommend checking out unless you really fancy trying to find the diamond in the rough.
Conclusion
Poor combat and stealth only serve to highlight the rest of the issues with Blood of Mehran, and far too soon does it become a slog to play rather than the epic Arabian adventure it could have been.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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