Dark Cloud

"Well if GT3 and TMB wheren't enough...then try another 1st party smash, Dark Cloud."

Sony can’t make good 1st party games...well I think you’re wrong my friend. With Twisted Metal: Black, Gran Turismo 3, and the ICO demo, Sony has yet to disappoint me. I recently rented Dark Cloud and lets see if it has what it takes to live up to the other great 1st party games.

When I first rented this game I was really iffy on if I would like it or not. All I have to say is ''Thank God blockbuster was out of NCAA Football 2002.'' From the second I started playing I knew this would be a game that I would put many hours into.

This story borrows a few aspects from other games while at the same time bringing you a whole new plot and objective. As the story begins, the ancient Dark Genie gets released from the urn and wreacks havoc on many different villages. Norune’s notorious hero has been mysteriously missing for many years. This hero of Norune village was known throughout the world and he could do anything, defeat anyone, and save everyone. Yet now he is gone and the villagers need a new hero...a hero to stop the Dark Genie from destroying the world. The Fairy King, although usually not fond of children chooses a boy named Toan. He needs a boy who has a kind heart and brave soul to stand up to the evil and destroy him. It’s up to Toan, and the aid of five friends, to stop the Dark Genie. The Fairy King will grant you the power of Atliamillia. This magical power lets you unseal atla (parts of the towns and also people) to try and restore the villages back to normal.

All the creative features of Dark Cloud are really fun. Your main goal is to go to numerous caves and dungeons and collect pieces of each village and restore it to normal, or even better. While dueling through your journey to stop the evil genie you will meet a handful of new friends, battle all kinds of monsters, come in counter with a handful of new weapons, and collect different items to better your overall performance and help you stop the darkness that is...Dark Cloud.

There are six playable characters each with their own unique, abilities, weapons, skills, and strengths. Each character will have their own task in which only that character can do, for example: Toan is the only character that can open the atla and Goro is the only character who can smash the stump to open the door to a new section of a dungeon.

The aspect that I thought was so fun and the first of its kind is the GEORAMA. What you do is after you’ve collected parts and pieces from the various dungeons you can now build them wherever you like in the village. Once you restore everything back to a villager/villagers home than they will reward you with an either important or very useful item.

There are plenty of weapons and you can add various attachments to them to make them stronger and also more effective on various types of enemies. Like I have said before the gameplay is a lot similar to Zelda: OoT. One of the great features is the targeting which makes it so much more easier to hit an enemy (especially on the run). Also, you can set three different items at the top of the screen similar to OoT’s c-button commands. One interesting thing is that it gives you a water supply and once your thirst depletes then you start to slowly use energy, so you better have some water on you or you can also just take a dip in a nearby lake which will restore all energy and thirst. Another aspect which is very original yet sometimes very annoying is the fact that like your character, your weapon has a certain amount of energy too. Like yourself your weapon will take damage, you slay a few monsters here and a few more over there and then you will need to use repair powder or you can say bye bye to your weapon as you will lose it if it goes all the way down to zero. You will always be able to use the weapon you start out with even when it brakes, but it does a lot less damage to your enemies.

The battle system was also another first and yet it wasn’t used much. There is a bar that runs across your screen with a box on the left side of the bar. As the bar scrolls across different button commands will scroll across the screen eventually entering the box. Once the command is in the box you quickly hit the button and when you successfully get all the commands in the battle you defeat the monster. The thing that baffles me is why they barely used it because it was really a good feature. Level 5 and Sony did a great job on th camera work. A lot of games mess up on this feature, but not this time. The camera moves almost too smooth. As you move, it moves. The right analogue functions as a full 360 degree rotating camera to let you scope out anything around you. The overall gameplay is just perfect and along with the great story line, they couldn’t have done it better.

The graphics are nothing to make your jaw drop but at the same time they are very nice, just nothing stunning. I think this may be the worst part of the game...without being bad at all. I really like the design of the different characters which you use. Toan reminds me so much of Link, and me being a huge Zelda fan this is definitely a positive thing for me. Actually, now that I think about it, really everything in the game reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. From the villages to the swords to the dungeons, maps, treasure chests, and time of day. The graphics run nice and smooth. Even in intense combat it never seems to slowdown or clip. I think the people at Level 5 could have done a better job graphic wise but with the huge environments and long story line it’s really nothing you can complain about.

The sound is your typical action RPG with nice slow tunes and a sudden change once encountered by an enemy. I know not many games in it’s genre use voice overs but man would it have been awesome if they did. The sound effects are very accurate to their real life sounds such as walking in the grass or swinging your sword against a rock. That’s about it for sound, though the absence of voice overs didn’t hurt the game it would have been so great if they were included, and done correctly of course.

I really didn’t see much in this game when before I turned it on but now that I have played over 20 hours already I’m really getting into the story line and the game is just so addicting and inovative. It has literally kept me up all night a couple times and now I am writing this because I need to give my eyes a break. If you’re looking for a good game to hold your tides over until the game you really want comes out than this isn’t the game. But, if you want an excellent game to put 50+ hours into then this game is definitely what you need. There is no way you can beat this game on a rental unless you don’t sleep at all. Only rent this to see if you like it or not, don’t expect to beat it on the five days they give you. This game RULES!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/01, Updated 08/05/01