When I was a young fan of gaming, I use to love the genre of side-scrolling beat 'um ups. Games like Double Dragon were the constant drain on my allowance and recently I was on the prowl for something along these lines. I came across Sacred Citadel by Southend Interactive in my library and gave it a try.
Can't Think of Title
Released in 2013, Sacred Citadel takes on their interpretation of the side-scrolling brawler genre. You have a selection of a few heroes that you can take into one of several levels in four stages to take on hordes of enemies. Like its predecessors, you will move along the screen triggering enemies to come out of the woodwork to take you on and you must dispatch this crowd with your combos in order to move on.
One thing that adds a little bit of modern to this game is your hero gains XP and will level up through the adventure. You will also be given skill points, which you can allocate to Attack, Defense, Magic, or Dexterity. Weapons and Armor can also be upgraded from drops or town vendors. The weapon increases are so strong it feels like they greatly eclipse the stat boosts you can get. In any case, it didn't feel immediately clear how much the stats were helping you improve anyways.
The Game Felt a Little Clunky
When I first popped into the game it felt like a solid title. The graphics were ok, the game had combos, it felt like an all around ok brawler. This didn't last though. I started to notice little issues that started to become bigger issues like hitbox collision. Where it feels like I should have definitely hit an enemy the game would not register this hit but as soon as the enemy would swing I would take damage. Along with that, the controls never felt smooth. Even light attacks felt heavy and lethargic. There was never a sense that you hero had any power and a lot of the time is spent knocking enemies on the ground in a pile, waiting till they get up, and doing it again. Not to mention there were a ton of small bugs. 
The level designs were different and unique but due to the lack of many assets in the fighting areas they didn't feel that way. The game only took me four hours but it really felt like a lot longer. Near the end of it, I was counting the levels till it was over. The sound assets were fine, the story was there but really didn't make sense, and overall it wasn't a very enjoyable finish.
Like many games in my library, I have no idea how it got in there. If I had to pay full price for it I wouldn't. This game is a package that just does not feel complete. It isn't compelling. It just doesn't feel like anything is there. This is a game you can pass up.
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