Trapt (video game)

Gameplay

Players begin by equipping and making traps for Allura to take with her into the game mission. Each mission starts in a specific room, where players can position traps in order to defeat enemies. The traps are classified into three types according to where they can be positioned within the game world (wall, ceiling, and floor). The player is allowed to take up to three traps of each type into a game stage, and additional traps can be obtained by completing the game. Enemies' life bars are shown at the top of the screen, while Allura's life bar and active traps are shown at the bottom left and right respectively. As the player defeats enemies they are rewarded with "warl", the game's currency, which can be used to purchase new traps between missions. Players may also purchase room keys, which allow Allura to access other rooms in the game missions. Apart from the main story missions, the game also includes several "side stories", which are optional missions that give different angles and insights into the game's main story. There are three official endings in the game, and a fourth that is not registered when saved onto the game file.

Apart from regular traps, Trapt introduces "Dark Illusions", which are pre-existing traps found throughout the mansion. Each is located in a different room and has a different effect upon an enemy. Each Dark Illusion requires certain criteria to be fulfilled before activation and can only be used once per level.

Characters

For the majority of the game, the player controls Allura, the daughter of the recently deceased king. Reina and Millenia, protagonists of the third and second Deception games respectively, are shown as unlockable characters in the game, and Millenia is also included as a boss.

Development

Producer Keisuke Kikuchi renamed the game Trapt from its original title of Deception 4 because he considered it the first part of a new series. The development team used existing torture devices and historical items as the basis for the traps found in the game, collecting books and photographs for reference. These traps were modified "so that they would be good for a video game". Most of the traps were generated from the staffs' own ideas, some others were inspired by comic books and films. Two weeks were spent creating an initial pool of 720 trap ideas, after a few days deliberation and examination it was decided that 45 traps would be needed. A number of further screening processes were needed to bring down the total to 45. Hitoshi Hasegawa (the game's Director of Development and Promotion) stated that the "killer clock" Dark Illusion was inspired by a specific anime, but did not mention its title. The more advanced PlayStation 2 graphics, compared to those of the original PlayStation which previous Deception games were developed for, resulted in some traps being toned down due to them being considered too grotesque.

The developers experienced difficulty in creating the enemies' artificial intelligence, due to each enemy behaving differently depending on their personality. Some characters remember where traps have been placed if they had previously fallen victim to them, and avoid passing through the same location or make "comical moves" to evade them. The team "had a lot of fun tailoring and adjusting the AI to suit these funnier moments." All the characters in the game, including the minor characters that Allura encounters, have background stories. Hasegawa noted that this is "one of the features that the Deception series is renowned for in Japan." The team's purpose for doing so is because they "want the player to defeat their enemies, but to also feel guilty about doing this."

Reception

Trapt received "mixed" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one nine, one eight, and two sevens, for a total of 31 out of 40.

Reviewers generally agreed that the overall content of the game is acceptable, however several issues with technical stability and a poor translation from its original Japanese language reduces its quality. The amount of slowdown (drop in frame rate) caused by activating traps in particular drew criticism from reviewers. Greg Mueller of GameSpot stated, "The frame rate comes grinding to a halt whenever traps are activated." Louis Bedigian of GameZone also noted the slowdown, suggesting that with the already slow pace of gameplay it "could be summed up as being a wait and see RTS". Kristian Reed of Eurogamer said the game suffers from a "rubbish camera system and an all-round feel of technical impoverishment". VideoGamer.com reviewer Tom Orry found the in-game camera "awful" and "by far the biggest problem." Andrew Reiner of Game Informer compared the game to a "Demonic Cut" version of the Christmas movie Home Alone and criticized it for repetition and its limitation in scope, saying, "I enjoyed the Deception series on PSone, but this sequel hasn't made any strides forward. Inflicting unspeakable pain on mindless video game drones puts you in the shoes of wily Kevin McCallister, but as you'll soon learn, anything that reminds you of Macaulay Culkin is not good."

Despite the technical issues, Trapt was praised for its uniqueness on the PlayStation 2 platform, as well as the game's premise of killing Allura's pursuers, though most reviewers found faults which detracted from their lasting impressions. Chris Roper of IGN commented "death and destruction is always good fun. If that's all [you're] expecting from Trapt, you'll likely have a good time with it." GameSpy's Benjamin Turner found the game to be "a decent execution of a fairly original concept, at least when it's not bombarding the player with questionable movie scenes." 1UP.com writer Richard Li said the game encourages players to find inventive ways to kill enemies, but added "It's fun at first, but its flaws prevent it from being a spectacular and memorable experience."