Phoenix's VG Blog

Return of the Unemployed Ninja

2008-08-06T19:31:00.006-05:00

The sequel to Izuna: The Legend of the Unemployed Ninja comes to the DS from Ninja Studio and Atlus.

Synopsis

The game takes place a year after the first game, and begins at the wedding of two NPCs that were featured in the first game. After the ceremony, Izuna's older "sister", Shino, leaves during the night. When Izuna wakes up she begins searching for the person who kidnapped Shino.

Gameplay

The game is a rougelike RPG, meaning the dungeon, items and emenies are randomly generated when you enter the first level. Each dungeon has a set amount of levels and types of enemies. But be warned if you lose in a dungeon all your money, items and weapons,unless using a certain tailisman, will be taken away and you left with nothing. After a couple dungeons, you gain the option of choosing partners to expore the dungeon. Each team of two has a set double team attack that can be utilized after the gauge is filled. With this also comes the option of switching between the two characters.

Each character also has a certain set of weapons that they can use, but with each character they only have a certain amount of skill that is used with the weapon the higher the skill the better the the weapon is when used with the character. The weapons used are; swords, claws, yo-yo's, bows and arrows, dolls, and boots.

The two sceens are split by the top screen showing a map of the current dungeon level, and the current character's stats, while the bottom screen is where the action takes place.

Graphics

The graphics had a slight upgrade from the last game and are better. It is still a sprite based game but I really don't care.

Sound

The games voices are in Japanese, which I personally like, while the text is in English. The music is also well composed.

Overall

A solid upgrade for an already great game in both graphics and gameplay.

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

2008-07-18T20:58:00.005-05:00

I'll start off with a game spun-off from my favorite RPG series from a trio of excellent makers, Akira Toriyama, Koichi Sugimaya and Yuujii Horiyama, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors for the Nintendo Wii.

Synopsis

You are a 16 year old sent of to prove you worth at the beginning of the game, and return to find your friend the prince of the country worring about his mother. You agree to help him and find out that a evil thought to be destroyed five years ago wasn't destroyed.

Gameplay

Like most Wii games you swing your sword by moving the Wiimote in the direction you want to swing your sword; i.e, side to side for horizontal, up and down for a vertical slash and at an angle for diagonal swings. You can move forward on the screen by either pressing the D-Pad forward or using the B-button and when the D-pad and B-button are used together the character runs forward. The other D-pad buttons are used to look from side to side and back up. To interact with chests, pots, NPCs, and other parts of the world simply point the Wiimote in the direction of the object and press the A-Button.

While the swing controls can be rather annoying for some it is a fairly easy system, at least for the regular swings. A feature added to the game is a Master Strike system. With each new sword you either buy or temper you learn a new strike that requires the player to move the Wiimote in a certain direction. For example, one the Fire Blade you need to shake the Wiimote up and down repeadedly to increase the attack power before swinging the sword.

In order to gain new weapons you need to temper the weapon you currently have buy gathering items found throughout the stages from monsters and hidden in grass or under rocks. Once you have a set number of the items needed and the gold it costs to pay for tempering the weapon head to the local weapon shop and choose the temper option. Once there choose the sword you want to have tempered and the desired upgrade, after the Steel Broadsword there is a choice of three sword to choose from an ice, thunder and fire blade and each has its own line of upgrades.

Graphics

For the graphics either its the TV its being played on or the graphics aren't quite as good as Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2. Of course, Level 5 did not work on the graphics for this game, but the graphics are still very good.

Sound/Music

The soundtrack for the game when walking is the same as the music used in the regular Dragon Quest series which is not a bad thing mind you.

The characters' voices, except for the main hero's since he is a silent protagonist and other NPCs, are all excellent. Each character has either an English or in Flourette's case a French accent keeping with Dragon Quest VIII.

Overall

This game while extremely short when compared to the originals is still a very fun game to be played by anyone. The shortness is what has been the downfall on most reviews, but this is not a game that can be compared to the original series. The graphics could use some slight work and it's probably just the sensitivity of the Wiimote when it comes to my faulty sword swings that cause me to break a 30+ hit streak, but overall a very good first person spin off of the best RPG series of all time.

Score: 8.5/10

Required First Post

2008-07-18T20:51:00.001-05:00

Well I've finally entered the blogging realm.

I will post personal reviews, and some previews, on video games.