Dark Cloud

"Falls a little short of "classic" but still a great game"

Dark Cloud-A game less ordinary

One line, which fully summarises this game, as it is, in general known for its remarkable originality, and combination of RPG, Building, and action games into one.

Well, that may all be a tad confusing to anyone who has never played the game, so on with the review:

Story: 3/10

UGH- This horrid plot that looks like it was either written by a 7 year old child, or a team of script writers who were smoking something, really lets the game down. Basically, its about the big bad man who summons the big bad genie, who makes all the nice peaceful villages of the world (All 5 of them???) go bye-bye. So along comes the Fairy King (What a name -_-) who manages to trap EVERYTHING in the villages in little balls to keep them all nice and safe. But then the big bad genie manages to blow them all away, and they all conveniently land in the dungeon nearest the village. So along comes our “hero” Toan, who looks barely old enough to be past puberty. So the Fairy King gives little Toan a jewel to collect all the pieces of the village (Or atla, as they are now known) and bring them back. No prizes for guessing what you’ll be doing now.

Graphics: 9/10

OK, enough complaining, the game has many good points. The graphics are quite pleasant to look at, and really set the scenes quite well throughout the game. I really have nothing to complain about here. Maybe the odd annoying camera angle, or a blurry character/object or 2, but in general the graphics hold their own. Nothing to make Final Fantasy jump in fear, and there are no FMV’s but that’s ok, as the in game graphics themselves are more than satisfactory.

Audio: 5/10

Not considered important by many people, but I just love a game with some really gripping melodies that stick in my head. Unfortunately, this games developers do not seem to share my opinion. The tunes in this game are generally drab, un-original and they don’t stick in my head, they make me want to put a bullet through it. Some of them are alright, but the majority of them are dull, lifeless noise that repeats itself every 15 seconds.

Gameplay: 9/10

The most important aspect of the game. If you can look past the abysmal plot which unfolds before you at the start, you can really get into this game. Basically, you just do what the Fairy King says. Go down into the dungeons, find the parts of the towns that have been sealed into Atla spheres, and absorb them into your jewel. Now here is where the game gets interesting. You take these spheres (You can carry as many as you want) back to the surface, and now its up to you to put them back. You get natural features aswell as the houses and villagers, such as trees and rivers, to decorate the village as you please, and then of course you have the houses and villagers themselves. It gets a little complicated here. Lets say you find Mr. X’s house and Mr. X in the dungeons. You take them back, put in the house and put Mr. X in the house. Now Mr. X tells you the house is missing Furniture Y and he would like it to be in place Z. Now you go back down into the dungeon and find Furniture Y. Place it in the house and Mr. X gives you a special reward, be it an item or just some info. You can also move his house around to have it in Place Z. Do this for every villager and you’ll get an extra special reward. So how does the dungeon exploring go? Very simple really, battles are very easy to grip and at times you’ll get into “duels” which involve timed button pressing. These are quite enjoyable and make the game that little bit more interesting. The only thing I didn’t like was how repetitive the dungeons quickly became. I liked playing through them, but often, after after trudging through floors 1-10, you just don’t feel like going through floor 11. None the less, the game is still great fun to play, and the plot does occasionally get interesting, so don’t worry.

OVERALL:

Dark Cloud is a nice little gem of a game that will certainly appeal to wide audience and hold almost anyones interest from start to finish. I would definitely recommend buying rather than renting, as you just can`t get enough out of this game in 1 or 2 nights. Later!

SCORE CARD:

PLOT: 3/10
GRAPHICS: 9/10
AUDIO: 5/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/16/02, Updated 03/16/02