Forever Kingdom

"You get killed so easily it ain't FUNNY!!"

Okay.... The main reason I even bought this game was because it was the only RPG I could buy at the time. Also, me friend... ''recomended'' it to me. So...after playing for a few hours, I learned something from it...

Never, ever trust people's opinions so easily.

Graphics: 6/10

Quite frankly, the frame rate on this game plain sucks. It runs at around... 30-45 frames per second. That's just an estimate, but you know as well as I do that's nothing compared to the 60 something fps games of the PS2. And that's the best it can do! When there's more graphics on screen I think it gets even worse. Now, that wouldn't be so bad if the graphics were oh so great, but it's not. The characters look like the FMV from Galerians, with all the plain looking faces and body it contains. Plus, the voice acting doesn't even match the lips. The graphics are, however, better than most games I've seen. Too bad that's all I can say about it.

Gameplay: 6/10

You all share one life bar, meaning if someone gets hit, you all suffer. MWAHAHAHA!! Before you all run away screaming, the idea itself is a unique one, but it's not for everyone. It's easier to die, definitely, but gives you a bigger challenge to survive considering the only healing item heals you to full health. A good balance in essence, but the other factors can make it more of a pain. First off, expect to die VERY OFTEN. Yeah, expect to see the load screen after around 1-4 hits. Yup, it's that easy to die, and revive items are really, really rare. One mistake in the fight then BOOM! Reload.

The main feature in this game in the Palmira attack. These abilities allow you to use special attacks depending on the accessory you have. You can chain these attacks, one per character, to do more damage and get better items. A great feature but hard to master, and it's mostly the game's fault! The camera is mostly static. You can't move it around and it permanently stays in a difficult to see 3rd person view. The only way to move it is to press a button so the camera faces the active characters view, and that's it. It's so hard to aim and see, plus the quirky auto aim feature, that it makes fighting in cramped spaces ridiculously hard. Now add the fact that you can only control one character at a time, and the others just block and block and block almost ever time, almost effectively making it a one on one/many fight unless they have their palmira attacks.

Audio: 8/10

If there's one thing that stands out in this game, it's the sound. The voice acting itself isn't so bad, but it isn't too good either. The actors just do a pretty average job. The music itself is pretty decent, but rather repetitive. From what I've heard, the pieces are somewhat short, so expect a lot of looping music. As for the sound effects... well... they need some work. They just don't sound... that realistic.

Overall: 6/10

Not a game for everybody, definitely. It wasn't for me anyway. I really suggest you rent it first, then decide. But hey, it's the sequel to Evergrace, so any fan of that game might really want to pick this up. But as for me, it's not really my cup of tea.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/21/02, Updated 07/21/02