Folklore

"Warning: This game contains a badass!"

First things first: Keats is a badass.

Now that that's out of the way, let me introduce you to Folklore, the newest action-adventure game from Sony Computer Entertainment and developer Game Republic. This is Game Republic's second PS3 game, the first being the lackluster launch title Genji: Days Of the Blade. However, don't let that fact keep you from this wonderful title, which is definitely one of the best games available on the PS3 right now. Plus it has Keats…who is badass. More on him in a second.

KEATS IS BADASS…BUT IS THE STORY?

Folklore's follows the tale of two characters. Ellen, a young, soft-spoken women with a clouded past who lost her mother at a young age, and Keats, the cool, calm, and collected editor of the third-rate occult magazine Unknown Realms. Keats basically has the looks of Otacon from Metal Gear Solid and Vincent from Silent Hill 3, combined with the intellect and wit of Jade Curtiss from Tales Of the Abyss. Wrap that up in a fancy trenchcoat with a “hands always in trenchcoat pockets” walking animation, and you sir, have got yourself one hell of a badass, and I'll stand by that remark until the day I die! Um…. well anyway…

Ellen and Keats are summoned to the village of Doolin, a place where supposedly the living can talk to the dead, for different purposes. Ellen gets a letter from her supposedly dead mother, and hurries to the village in the hopes of seeing her dead parent again and understand her clouded past better. Keats receives a phone call at his office from a frantic woman who speaks of faeries coming to kill her and of Doolin, right before hanging up. Not one to pass up a juicy story, Keats also sets out for the small village. Both Ellen and Keats arrive in Doolin just in time to see a woman fall to her death from a cliffside onto the beach. This event starts a murder mystery tale that will take Ellen and Keats to the deepest realms of the netherworld, both on a search for answers. This is definitely one of the most thought provoking narratives in a video game this year, full of interesting characters and events. You'll stay glued to your TV set, and guess what, not just for the story…

KEATS IS BADASS…BUT IS THE GAMEPLAY?

Folklore is divided up into seven chapters. At the beginning of the first five, you can choose to either play as Ellen or Keats for their respected part of the chapter. Each character has there own different side of the story to experience, even though they go to the same netherworld in a certain chapter. So if you wanted to, you could play the first five chapters as one character, and then finish them with the other. I recommend alternating between the two characters for each chapter, however, as it will help you keep up with the events in the story. Either way though, in order to finish the game, you have to complete each character's chapters and story.

During the daylight hours, you'll move your character around the desolate village of Doolin, talking with it's various shady residents and finding out various clues to unravel the mysteries of the netherworld. More importantly, your ultimate goal is to get a memento of the dead, which will allow you to travel to the realms of the netherworld by presenting it at a stonehenge at the south of the village at nightfall. When nightfall arrives (either automatically or by resting in your respective characters safe house), the village residents are replaced by creatures known as halflives, creatures born from human emotion…who enjoy hanging out at the local pub. When your ready, you can present your memento and journey to the chapter's netherworld realm.

In the realm, your character must battle against the creatures that inhabit it, known as folks. Your goal is to collect these folks and use their abilities in battle to defeat and collect other folks. At the end of each realm, you'll face off against a boss, or “Folklore”, and defeating it will usually send you back to Doolin village where you can finish up the story for that particular chapter. You move your character around with the left stick, while you use the right stick to manipulate the camera. The R2 button causes your character to dodge, while L1 will activate a lock-on to the closest enemy.

Once you have folks in your employ, you can press the L2 button to access the folk menu and easily assign whichever ones you want to the face buttons. This excellent mechanic gives you a lot of creativity. There are at least 100 available folks and their abilities to use in the game, and the combinations you can come up with are almost endless and help keep combat from ever feeling repetitive. But wait, first you have to get these folks in your employment, and getting them is just as enjoyable as using them. Basically, attacking a folk will give you one of three results: 1) the folk will deflect the attack, which means it's weak against a certain element or folk. 2) The attack will do slight damage, or 3) the attack will do damage and begin to release the folks “Id”. The folks Id is basically it's life force, and attacking it with the right attack enough will cause the ID to turn red and float above the folks body. Now we get to the games excellent use of the SIXAXIS motion controls: when that Id turns red, you hold the R1 button to latch onto it, then all it takes is a quick flick upward of the controller to pull it out of the folks body and absorb it into your character. Not all folks let their Ids go so easily, however. Some of the bigger and more powerful folks (including the Folklores) require more complicated moves, such as timing flicks with Id color changes, shaking the controller up and down, or leaning the controller left and right, beating the Id into the ground until it finally gives up. This is by far some of the best implements of motion control I have experienced so far, and that includes Wii games. Not one time do they feel gimmicky or tacked on; they are an essential part of the game and in time performing them will become just as natural as pressing a button. Even after employing a folk, you can keep sucking up Ids to increase Ellen or Keats's experience and upgrade their health gauges.

Another cleaver thing the game does is scatter picture book pages around the various realms. These pages have illustrations on them that will give you hints on how to defeat the more intimidating folks in that realm (including the Folklores). The folks you employ are divided up in the L2 menu by either realm or element, so you will always easily find the ones your looking for. Ellen and Keats for the most part collect the same folks in their trips to the different netherworld realms, except for a few rare ones that only one character or the other can get. Don't think that means that Ellen and Keats play in the same way, far from it. The folks will employ different attacks based on the character controlling them. So while the folks who fight with Ellen do mostly powerful, single shot, or charged up attacks, Keats's folks prefer close combat with various combo attacks. It's a nice twist to the similar battles that Ellen and Keats both have. Ellen also has the ability to change cloaks, which changes here appearance and gives her various abilities. Keats on the other hand has the ability to “transcend” when a gauge is full, mostly by absorbing Ids. Pressing R3+L3 will causes Keats to turn white and become surrounded by a purple aura making him invincible, and all of his attacks will become insanely more powerful. Folks themselves can be individually leveled up by absorbing the Ids of the same folk or by using various items you'll come across in your travels. Powering up folks will increase their power, decrease their magic consumption, and other good stuff. Suffice to say, there is never a dull moment while playing Folklore.

Still, not every game can be Resident Evil 2 (AKA perfect). For one, the realms of the netherworld are divided into some pretty well spaced out areas. While that's good and all, the realms basically consist of getting from the start of the level to the end of the level. You have some extra rooms that will house items and the occasional rare folk, but for the most part it's just running through the realms fighting folk and then defeating the Folklore at the end. This is how it is with both characters, and I can understand how some players may find it repetitive to pretty much go through the same realm multiple times with both characters, doing the same thing. Another is the short load time that happens after you change folks with the L2 menu. Basically, after you assign your folks and exit the menu, the games momentarily pauses to load up the folks you've selected. While not a game breaker in any way, it can break up the flow in the middle of a battle. Also, the targeting system sometimes didn't target what I wanted it to, and it would only target enemies that where on-screen. So I couldn't face an off-screen enemy and target it to get it in my sights. The game would only target the closest enemy that was on-screen, so that was kinda lame. The camera would also sometimes zoom in tight if I was fighting enemies backed into a corner, but it didn't happen all too often.

KEATS IS BADASS…BUT ARE THE GRAPHICS?

While not the best looking game on PS3 (look at Heavenly Sword or Lair for that title), Folklore is definitely the most artistic, and perhaps the most beautiful. Doolin village looks just like a desolate village would, with run down buildings and grass and weeds growing everywhere. The various realms you'll visit are also highly impressive. The faery realm is a lush, colorful forest, while warcadia is a burnt out, war torn city in rubbles. I especially liked the underwater city, which is basically like being in a domed area underwater, with fish and other sea creatures you can spot swimming on the outside. I believe, however, that the most impressive artistic feature in Folklore is the designs of the folks. Looking like they were ripped out of a Jim Henson movie from the 80's, almost every folk have unique designs and animations to it. You'll be hard pressed to find more creative looking creatures in any other game for a while.

The story in Folklore is told in four different ways: The impressive and well-made CG cut-scenes; the in-game cut-scenes using the in-game engine; the traditional RPG way of showing two characters on the screen talking, and the most prominent device: comic book style scenes. The game will present the characters in these scenes in different poses frame-by-frame like a comic book. Text is even written in speech bubbles and animates depending on the character's emotion. You'll probably either love or hate these, but I found them to be quite slick, even though there are some that just seem out of place.

If I had one complaint about the graphics, it would be that in some of the in-game cut-scenes, the character models didn't look so hot (one scene involving hypnosis comes to mind). Other than that, Folklore is very impressive. I hope you have a HDTV to enjoy this one.

KEATS IS BADASS…BUT IS THE SOUND?

Folklore's sound is just as impressive as it's graphics. The music definitely fits the atmosphere, with a melancholy piano tune playing over Doolin village, to more upbeat and whimsical compositions that play in the faery realm. Every piece of music fits in where it plays, and there are all well done. Sound effects are impressive as well; especially if you have your PS3 hooked to a surround sound system. Many different sound effects come from the back channels, and really immerse you in the game. Folklore also supports 7.1 channel uncompressed sound, which makes it even more impressive. Voice acting is also well done, with the Irish-accented cast earning their paychecks. Especially Keats…who is badass.

KEATS IS BADASS…AND SO IS THIS GAME

If you want to just play through the story and beat the game, it can easily take about 15 hours to do so. However, during the course of the game, you'll have the opportunity to take on quests at the local pub, either at daytime or nighttime. These quests can range from simply eliminating folk to finding a certain items. The rewards you get from these ranges from loads of useful folk powering-up items to rare folks themselves! Add in the ability to level up all your folks to MAX, and you may be looking at a 20+ hour game. Collecting all folks will even unlock alternate costumes for Keats and Ellen. There is also the dungeon trial option, which lets you create your own dungeons to upload onto the Playstation Network and allow other players to download and play through them. I haven't spent that much time with this but from what I hear it's a pretty shallow, but still fun diversion.

Add in some promised downloadable content in the near future (folks, quests, costumes), and you'll be seeing Folklore in your PS3 for a while. That's a good thing, since it's definitely one of the best games available for the still early in life PS3. I strongly suggest getting this game if you are into unique action-adventures with an RPG twist. Or if you just want to play as Keats…who is badass!

KEWL
+Excellent artistic graphics and designs
+Great atmosphere
+Fun combat that hardly ever gets repetitive
+Folk collecting can be addicting and gives you tons of attack combinations
+Excellent music, voice acting and surround sound
+Fantastic story
+Best use of SIXAXIS, maybe even motion, controls thus far
+Replay value
+Did I mention that Keats was a badass?

LAME
-Going through the same area twice can get repetitive for some
-Character models didn't look to good in some cut-scenes
-Targeting system was sometimes annoying
-Loading pause when closing the folk menu can break the flow of things
-You will never be as badass as Keats. Start crying :(

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/23/07

Game Release: Folklore (US, 10/09/07)