"A poorly mixed bag lacking polish"

I'll start out by saying, from a presentation standpoint, this game deserves a much higher rating. However, there is so much about this game that frustrates that it's impossible to recommend it to anyone except the hardest of gamers who are willing to digest an insane learning curve and an unbalanced combat system just because they are starved for an RPG on the PSP.

First the good:

Graphics 8/10:

Character models are nice and animate well (especially for the attack animations that can be chained together using the combat system) and the aesthetic is generally pleasing. However, some of the background textures look a little limp. There are some nice effects, like a glowing ripple that surrounds you when you power up your chi (read: magic) to fire it.

Sound 6.5/10:

I need to break this up because some of the audio is stellar and some is practically bargain basement.

MUSIC: The music is actually pretty nice and enjoyable being of the instrumental eastern variety. What one would expect in a kung fu movie.

VOICE WORK: Eee GAD, the voice work in this ranges from decent to so bad that I wish it was just text instead of voices. I know full voice work is popular these days, but I'd rather read it myself then have someone butcher it in a line reading.

The man who voices the main character reads so flat that you may as well have had the janitor record it. Seeing as how he talks ALOT in the game this is really a handicap for what could have been an enjoyable experience.

SOUND EFFECTS: shissh sissh sissh sissh that's the sound your footsteps make. And there are a lot of footsteps in this game. It's not quite annoying but it's obvious and really takes away from the experience. It's way to high in the mix. The combat sounds are good and the grunts and screams are well done. A mixed bag here as well.

Now for the bad:

STORY: 4/10

It gets 4 because it has a story. But to be honest, I've seen shooters with better plots. The game just continually gives the hero a cliche motivation (avenge your parents, retrieve the special sword, resurrect your clan) and really is all over the place and doesn't take the time to develop the characters. And let's not forget how the voicework just kills any involvement with the characters. Bad RPG, BAAAAD.

GAMEPLAY: 3/10

The premise is solid. There is a combat system that gives you combo sets (called scrolls) that let you arrange canned animations/attacks with various tiles (or attacks, called kenpu) to create combos that are executed by quickly mashing the circle button. Really it's the only button you'll use, except X which lets you skip through text and cutscenes (sort of).

Actually, you can't really skip cutscenes and fastforwarding (via the X button) is a hit or miss affair. Sometimes you hit X and it goes to the next line, sometimes it pauses (for as long as the dialogue would have taken if you'd listened to it) and you end up sitting there while the UMD spins. This wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to watch the same scenes over and over again when you die because of the near-broken combat system.

The combat system supposedly blends weapon combat with chi (magic) attacks. However, most of the time you'll use your sword on common baddies and try spamming chi and knockdown attacks on bosses. Very uninteresting and sadly flawed.

The game lacks a dedicated block button, instead requiring the player to hold in the attack button. This only works partially well because the hero will generally take 2 or 3 hits before blocking the last strike in a combo.

This would not be so bad except the boss attacks to major damage. That would not be so bad except the combat in boss battles is unforgiving and completely out of balance. There is no tutorial, no ramping of difficulty.

Rather in around an hour of gameplay you face a boss that is among the hardest in the game. Then the difficulty drops back down to minimal before shooting up again with another boss.

There was actually a boss battle that was followed by another boss battle without having opportunity to save, almost guaranteeing death.

This game punishes the player for not figuring out a complex system without any aide. The menus are confusing and the whole process is counter-intuitive to say the least.

In the end one is left to trial and error frequently dying and having to watch the same cutscene butchered by the voice cast that you can't skip properly before being put back in a boss battle for which there is no strategy to beat. Every boss seems to be the same: run away, spam chi, knockdown, run away, repeat.

Even with a scarcity of RPGs on the PSP, that's no excuse to give this a passing grade. It's a pretty package that hides a poorly implemented mechanic.

This isn't even a proper RPG. You're not given an opportunity to make any choices as to what the hero will say or do. It's more like a 3D brawler with a broken combat system.

Give me Golden Sun or KOTOR.

TILT: 1/10

FINAL SCORE: 5/10

The difficulty level is all over the board and the game mechanics are counter-intuitive to say the least. The menu system is complex and difficult to navigate. The voice work ranges from tolerable to hideous. The combat is sometimes satisfying but unbalanced (favoring chi spam) and the lack of spell variety (you just get the one spell starting out and spam it. No healing spells or anything, just one offensive spell to do over and over) is disappointing.

I'll be swapping this game as soon as possible, before I break my psp in frustration. Save your money. Buy something else. Anything else. Unless you like sadistic difficulty and games that will eat up your play time with load screens and menu diving and reskipping the same cutscene. If that's your cup of tea, go for it.

This game is horrible. The graphics and sound keep it from getting a lower grade, that and the fact the game actually spins up and plays at a decent frame rate most of the time.

TNT

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/07