The Save Spot

One more for the backlist

 

 

 

The RPG, a favorite gaming genre, is stacking up recently as the bane of this busy gamer.  I haven’t had time to play through Oblivion, GTA IV, or Final Fantasy XII but I can’t stop myself from picking up each latest and greatest offering to the role playing gods.  These great games sit on my shelf and mock me with their dozens of hours of gameplay, sidequests, unlockable characters and gaming escape. 

The most recent game to insult me so is Final Fantasy IV DS, the latest in a long series of remakes of the game first released in the US as Final Fantasy II for the SNES.  I spent some time with the game yesterday, to get a feel for the remake and torture myself with guilt and frustration that I won’t be able to give this little gem the hours it deserves.  Here are some initial observations:

1)  The opening cinematics are excellent and well-matched with the Uematsu soundtrack.  Characters retain the look of the cinematics in the Playstation releases, and Cecil and Kain both look imposing in their armor.

2)  There are in-game cutscenes which do a nicer job of presenting the story than just dialog boxes did.  I really like an early scene where Cecil in a contemplative mood is shown with the moon framed through his tower window. 

3)  The 3D models look pretty good, almost PS1 quality, but obviously don’t compare favorably to non-portable final fantasy titles released in the last five years.  The effort at the armor for Cecil and Kain ends up looking cartoon-y, in contrast to the cutscenes where it looks intimidating.  Still, the game pulls a lot of horsepower out of the DS and it’s fun to see familiar sprite-based locations, characters, and enemies get the 3D treatment.

4)   It would be nice if battles moved more quickly.  You’ll want to go into the menus and turn up the battle speed dial as far as it will go.  They should have made it go to 11. 

I haven’t played far enough to get a feel for the difficulty or the amount of grinding that will be necessary to experience this re-telling of a great story.   I’d give even odds that I never will (or at least will have to push off the time when I can get to it until something like “retirement”) but if you’re a lucky gamer with more time than I, I’d certainly recommend giving this game a try.

 

 

 

 

 

Monster’s Den: Book of Dread

 

 

 

Four brave and adventurous souls set out to explore the depths of a dark and mysterious, blah, blah, blah. I will rarely say this, but in some cases the story in a game simply doesn’t matter. And Monster’s Den: The Book of Dread is one of those games.

The Book of Dread is the most compelling internet browser-based game I’ve ever played. I couldn’t stop. As of this moment I’ve played The Book of Dread 10x longer than I played Supreme Commander. If this game was around when I was in college I never would have finished a paper on time.

And the sad thing is, I’m not exaggerating.

The game does all of this without any shiny graphics, any cool sound effects, or stunning FMVs. What we’re left with is a tried and true game play.

  

  

The game consists of a series of dungeon floors. With each floor you clear, you gain one level. And with each level you kick more of evil’s ass. Simple. Efficient.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you.

There’s several things that make this game fun. The first is the simplicity of the design. In a world of highly complex games (which I love by the way), sometimes all you want to do is play for 15 minutes. This is the strength of games like Rock Band, or consoles like the Wii.

Within each battle lies some serious strategy. Especially at early levels. Since there is no way to reload a battle - when you die, you don’t get to restart. You’re forced to live with the consequences of your (poor) strategy. Each death carries with it a penalty of random equipment loss. That means that great armor you just bought, or that sweet sword could be gone with one careless round.

Painful, but not too steep.

This penalty actually affects you before you enter a battle. Rarely have I been so nervous going into a fight knowing that I could lose my favorite gear. As with all risk though, the thrill comes when you survive. Not only did you win, but you got to keep your favorite gear. What could be better?

  

  

Kill – Loot – Equip – Repeat. Anyone who’s played Diablo will be quickly at home with the inventory system. Part of the fun of these games is finding new equipment. And there’s plenty of gear to be found. Purple is elite, blue is rare, green is magic, and white apparently comes from Wal-Mart.

I can’t stress enough how much fun The Book of Dread is to play. And did I mention it’s free?

Do yourselves a favor, don’t walk, but jump on a T1 and click your way into battle. Your gaming addiction will thank you.