"A sequel it may be... but better it is!"

I played the first game (Dark Cloud) and i loved it. All until i got to the final lair and i put it aside in favour of FFX. I went back to it, but gave it up again in favour of Shinobi. Don't get me wrong, Dark Cloud was great... but there are only so many times you can watch your weapon break. This is healthy better. The only things i could think of that were wrong with Dark Cloud are:
1) Thirst
2) Monotony
3) Breaking Weapons
4) Breaking Weapons!

Fortunately, this game takes care of all 4 of those things with great all round... betterness... Hang on while i get my thesaurus.

The game revolves around Max, a young boy from the town of Palm Brinks. One day, he is chased by an evil circus leader and eventually goes into the sewers where he makes an escape from his town... only to find out the world has been destroyed. Soon, he meets up with a girl named Monica, and the pair go around restoring various places in the present to make the future as it was.

Gameplay: _10_

As i said before, this game definately takes care of the faults with DC (Dark Cloud). The weapons don't break, but they still have the quirk of needing reparation (when they get to 0 Whp (Weapon Hit Points) they just don't work (Attack of 0 i believe). Thirst is no longer as deadly, now it is just a status effect that is only rarely caused. Heck, i don't even know what it does, which is a good thing. The game is also not monotonous. Sure, as the game gets on you get the ''Been there, done that'' sensation. But you get that with everything. Every chapter (8 in total) has its own general storyline, all revolving around a dungeon and rebuilding the future. You go into a dungeon, find something called a ''Geostone'' and you can use it to rebuild certain town parts, like one Geostone might contain the essence of ''Straw House'' and another may have ''Grass''. There are all sorts of building items that you can have fun with in the game. You need to restore some certain things to rebuild the future to how it is supposed to be. In dungeons, you fight enemies in a way that is a refreshing break from the Active Time Battling or Turn Based Styles. You focus in on an enemy and dodge, hit, block, zap, throw and burn the enemy to pieces! All enemies have their own special qualities for you to find out about and they all have varying rates of difficulty. For example, in the first dungeon there is an enemy called Vanguard. Vanguard is a tough robot who can beat you easily one on one. Later on however, in Chapter 5, there is a common enemy called Griffon Soldier who could eat Vanguard for breakfast. EAch level has a boss as well, someone who you really need a strategy against. The first boss can't be killed by hitting him, so you have to repel his attacks back at him. Each of the heroes (Max and Monica) both have unique abilties which help tremendously in battle. Max has a wrench (or hammer) which can smash any enemy into rubble and a Gun which he uses to wear down tough enemies and kill weak ones. He can also fish, play Spheda (Like Golf) and take photos. He uses Photos to invent useful things, such as health restore items or weapons. He can also customise a robot of his own called ''Steve''. Steve is a powerful individual who can be customised with any weapon imaginable, from Hammers to Katanas to Machine Guns. Getting him to look good is fun and a useful way of spending your time. Monica weilds a sword with a swift and powerful edge. She also has a magic armlet which can hurl fireballs at enemies. Her unique ability is that she can absorb enemies magic and fling it back at them. Very useful indeed! She also has the supernatural ability to turn into monsters. When in Monster form, she can converse with other monsters of that type, and fight as that monster would.

Story _9_

This game has a very engrossing storyline. Heres the deal. Monica is being chased down her hallway by some soldiers, barely defeating them, she races on to find an Assassin having killed her father... Max on the other hand, is eager to go to a circus that has arrived in town. When he gets there, he finds the ringleader taunting the towns Mayor. Then he gets chased down by the Circus for merely wearing a strange ornament round his neck... Anywho, it turns out that Max and Monica are destined to save the world from destructions... betcha didn't see that one coming?!

All the story has been done before, this holds a lot of side storylines in it to make you more in tune with the good sides of the heroes. Shame the game doesn't have any humour really, that would have made it a 10... ah well.

Audio/Video _9/10_

Supoib. Just, supoib. The animation is done by cell shading, which is a bit weird at the start, but it really grows on you and you respect the genious graphical design of the game. There are so many different costumes for the heroes as well, and all weapons are displayed in great detail. There are no downsides to the graphics at all, the game is just a pure visual orgasm from start to finish. The sound isn't much worse either. All characters with names have voice acting and the lines actually mix with each other well. The voices are realistic and completely what you'd expect from the characters speaking them. The sound effects are brilliant too, you get the realistic grunts of battle, coupled with the swishs of weapons and roars of victory. Just brilliant.

Replayability _10_

Well so far, i haven't completed the game once yet. But i can assure you, that there is so much to do that you will want to play the game again and again no matter what. Therefore, it is definately not a rental game. Buy and Enjoy! As for mini-games... You can fish, a very addictive and rewarding past time. Play Spheda, an even more addictive and just as rewarding past time. Build towns, fun and essential. Recruit people to help you on your quests. Destroy everything you find. Customise Steve. Get new Monster Transformations. LOADS to do!

Overall rating: 10
Best. Game. Ever. 'nuff said

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/03