If you like a game that features lots of no-nonsense bloody action, then Rakion Chaos Force might be for you. It’s a combat action game set in a world where Dragons have pledged to rid the planet of the human race. Your task is to take on the beasts and monsters and ultimately slay the dragons once and for all – and spill a hell of a lot of blood along the way.

You take on the role of 5 different characters - Warrior, Blacksmith, Archer, Mage, and Ninja. All have their own individual strengths and weaknesses and two modes of attack: short-range and long-range. There are 4 different game modes - Solo Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Stage Mode, and Golem Wars. The Deathmatch mode sees you blow up everything and everyone in sight. You can also play it in a team online with friends. For each stage you advance to, you win more gold which you can trade for more powers, ranging from weapons and armour to even small Gremlin-like creatures known as “Cells”. These creatures can be summoned in times of battle to eat and destroy any awkward baddies that stand in your way, including the horrendously hard to beat dragons.

The Golem War mode involves two teams competing to defeat the “Gold Golem” which is an end of level Dragon-devil which confronts each team separately. The player who defeats the Golem will receive the golden sword which basically means your character is surrounded by a golden glow and is indestructible for a limited period of time. You must then travel to the opposing team's Golem and defeat it without dying. Stage mode is more strategic. It involves less killing and more wit and guile to reach the end of the level and move onto the next world. Along the way, you again collect gold for killings which you can trade at the end of a level for more firepower. For those who prefer strategy to violence, Stage mode will prove more interesting.

The game's graphics are nothing exceptional although they are very gory – axes flying around chopping off heads and arms are displayed in considerable bloodthirsty detail. Most importantly, the game play is smooth except when playing online, as users competing against each other have complained that the game lags a lot. The sound is a bit disappointing – you can choose to have either just effects or select from a very limited series of soundtracks which all sound the same but are arranged differently. The sound effects are better than the soundtracks so our recommendation is to disable music in the options menu.

According to some users, direct hits on opponents sometimes do not register. Although we didn’t notice this, it may become apparent after prolonged gameplay. This is more a problem with online users due to the lag times although the developers claim the game has a clever detector which ensures all players in the same game have the same ping time before battle commences. Users also report the online feature is prone to occasional crashes and hacker attacks; however this is fairly common in such games.

In summary, one of the most bloodthirsty games out there although once you’ve got rid of that initial aggression, you may find it all a bit one dimensional.