Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

"A good way to follow the first game."

Introduction- The sequel to the great Tales of Symphonia is ok. I think of this game as a book that you play through and you always want to make it to the next part. Very clever dialog. A lot of repeating of dungeons. Same idea as the first game.

Story- 6/10 This game is about a boy named Emil who grows up in Palmacosta. Emil's parents die by a person in a red coat with two swords we know as Lloyd Irving. Meanwhile there is a girl named Marta with a red jewel on her head in the same town where this is happening. She is tracked down by the vanguard and almost killed, but a boy with blond hair and looks like Emil saves her. Only Emil doesn't remember this. That's the start. Mainly what you do in the game is go around to almost all the same temples that you did in the first game and look for centurion cores. Centurions are the beings that control mana and monsters in their region. There are some different parts, but it's mainly the same with different graphics and dialog. It would be better for someone who hadn't played the first game.

Gameplay- 9/10 I've always liked the Tales of Symphonia gameplay and this game improves it. In the first game you gain skills that you can use in battle and you assign each skill a different button and if you press that button the skill is preformed. In this game there are many different ways to assign skills so that each of your many skills might just get it's own button (in this game there's also swinging the wii remote and nunchuck). You don't swing the wii remote unless your using a skill so there isn't a lot of swinging unlike Zelda Twilight Princess.

Graphics- 8/10 The graphics aren't as good as some other games on the wii, but are a huge improvement from the first game. There is good light and dark and more detail on all the characters. They did a good job giving monsters more detail too.

Sound- 7/10 You might get a little tired of characters always yelling what they're doing. There is sound in just regular conversations though. The voices on some of the characters from the first game might have changed such as Lloyd's voice.

Character Development- 9/10 There's a good amount of maturing of characters throughout the game and this is one of the things I liked the most. Some of the older characters are a little the same, but you can find a lot of differences.

Replayability- 6/10 It might just be me, but I don't really like repeating long games. There is a lot of new things you can buy on the second go around using your grade. I started it again, but didn't get all the way through.

Overall- 7/10 Worth playing, good dialog, and not too much.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/09

Game Release: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (US, 11/11/08)