Review: Grand Kingdom

Grand Kingdom is the successor to Grand Knight’s History and looks even better with ex Vanillaware people on the title as well as Spike Chunsoft and Vanillaware did work on the previous title but never made it to the west sadly.

In Grand Kingdom you get a lot of choices of characters throughout the game like knight and archer or my pick dragon mage but sadly dragon mage takes up two character slots so you have to decide on power or a bigger unit. The maximum is five I believe but I use three which is knight, archer and the dragon mage. Doing attacks can take some time getting used to if you want to combo with certain characters while others are really easy.

The graphics look great and are so well done and the spell effects look great to see. The story is confusing but handled at a good pace with the four factions who are all at war but your character Flint will not win character of the year by any means. He is the opposite of what you want in a protagonist but luckily you have someone to steer him in the right direction.

Missions are on a game board of sorts with weak enemies being the regular color, strong enemies being red and the stronger enemies worth money being gold. Random things happen as well from battling creatures, getting a chance to be healed with cost of course and finding items. You have side quests as well which go into one of the four factions. When you pass a mission trust goes up and if you fail a mission trust goes down. Some are mostly fetch quests while others are defend missions and defeat a certain amount of enemies.

Generally, the game is fun but some info feels left out. It seems the Japanese instruction book was bigger while the localized is smaller plus not a lot of info is given in the tutorials dealing with training like class up or how to use field items. I can use Salve but what about the five healing items I bought before the mission?

Also after dealing with enemies then heading to a boss it would be nice to be able to heal without dying and losing the whole mission and having to start all over again. These are just a few issues I have with the game. Online is sure to be big but I haven’t tried it yet and waiting till release to dive into it.

Conclusion

Grand Kingdom is fun and features some gorgeous looking graphics. If you like role-playing games then pick this up but be prepared to lose a lot.

Review: Grand Kingdom | PS Vita

• Presentation - 9/10
• Music - 8/10
• Gameplay - 8/10
• Lasting Appeal - 7/10

Summary

+ Gorgeous graphics
+ Lots of customizations for characters
+ Lots of characters
- Hidden enemies
- Sometimes you just want to heal
- How do you use items you bought

Grand Kingdom is fun and features some gorgeous looking graphics. If you like role-playing games then pick this up but be prepared to lose a lot.

Review: Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward really hit with audiences on DS/3DS and the PS Vita with the gripping story and twist and turns. The novel approach mixed with a fair amount of gameplay was great with the novel genre and each game got better and better as the sequels came which brings me to Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma.

The graphics, the way of story telling and overall style dramatically changed most parts for the better but not a perfect change, but more on that later. In Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma, nine participants are trapped in an underground bomb shelter called Dcom and everyone has a reason to be there though awaken in their cell. The participants  are split into teams of three and located in three different divisions of the shelter. To seek a way out, they need to find six passwords but each time a new password is revealed, one person will die, requiring a minimum of six deaths before they can escape.

The characters in Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma are either likable to someone you want to hate and that is always the case with the novel style which is great. There is also a dog and he does not care really doesn’t about anything. If you ever watched Married With Children that would be the dog in a nutshell but I want to own that dog. I will say my favorite character has to be Q has he just is great and really caring though for spitting lines Phi has to be the winner there.

Now to address the elephant in the room: the puzzles. Some are easy to mind numbing hard then back to easy which is a good pace as these games were not meant for the light hearted but if you think Professor Layton had hard puzzles just buckle up and be ready to be wrong. I like some can be so easy to do but you forgot to check on top of here or under there etc but it does handle pacing great. The overall style changed as well.

Back in Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, you only had a global flowchart to proceed with the game’s story. In Zero Time Dilemma, Spike Chunsoft introduces a new team selection menu where you can choose between the teams’ story fragments in the order you like. New icons appear when new story elements have been unlocked.

You also have the choice to play via a global flowchart but the new team selection menu makes things much easier to pick up on something or to see something from a diffrent angle. After you played Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma it would be hard to go back to the others unless you really love the story but they do great with the new style.

There is issues though: Slowdown with cutscenes happen a lot and everybody seems mechanical in movement which I found odd. Also found a few bugs in cutscenes like when a character’s mouth opened you could see what was behind their mouth in the room though after redoing, it went back to normal.

There is no lag during gameplay and loading is quick and I guess with the new graphics bugs or weird issues like hair moving around will happen just odd. The music is great in this game and really sets the mood perfectly and it even sounds at times Silent Hill like.

Conclusion

Overall, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a great conclusion to the epic series and with all the new gameplay elements it hasn’t hurt the original style, just improved over it and polished it up while leaving a few issues around. I have 21 hours into the game and not even done yet but this seems to be a very long game and well worth picking up. The first two are great to play if you are going into this but also as well not 100% needed but will help knowing things.

Review: Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma | PS Vita

• Presentation - 9/10
• Music - 9/10
• Gameplay - 9/10
• Lasting Appeal - 9/10

Summary

+ Graphics look great
+ Voice acting is done well
+ Team system is a great addition
- Few gameplay quirks
- Bodies seem mechanical
- Some puzzles will make you go insane

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a great conclusion to the epic series and with all the new gameplay elements it hasn't hurt the original style, just improved over it and polished it up while leaving a few issues around.

Review: Adventures of Mana

Square Enix has finally come back to the PS Vita with the surprise release of the Final Fantasy Adventure Remake Adventures of Mana. Back in February, the game landed on mobile and I have to say on the PS Vita it is quite fun and brings back the old school charm.

In Adventures of Mana, you play as Sumo who starts in an arena battling for survival while later your friend dies. Pretty soon after finding a way out you get attacked by the Dark Lord and so begins your journey.

The Mana series isn’t as big as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest but it still has a lot of fun out of it. Going into this game took some getting used to with map layout because getting lost is easy in this game and also easy in the dungeons.

You meet a lot of guest characters along the way with one being Fuji, the seed of the Mana Tree, which is why everyone is out to get her because only she knows where it’s at so expect backstabbing and a long journey.

You will get around 10 hours out of the game which is solid for being what it was back in the days and the upgraded graphics look pretty decent. There are also a lot of Final Fantasy nods like chocobos and mogs for example.

Items can be an issue throughout the game. You will need keys which can be bought at the shop and items to break cracks in the walls. Later on you get the moonstar which breaks the cracks which will save inventory space for other items.

The UI is sort of Zelda like showing your current equipped weapon, item or spell. The game can be played either with the gamepad or via the touchscreen. Loading is quick with no issues and the gameplay is really solid.

Conclusion

For the price, Adventures of Mana is a great game and it’s good to see that Square Enix is back supporting the PS Vita. RPG and Mana fans couldn’t be happier and should buy this game and enjoy some old school action RPG goodness.

Review: Adventures of Mana | PS Vita

• Presentation - 8/10
• Music - 8/10
• Gameplay - 8/10
• Lasting Appeal - 8/10

Summary

+ Upgraded graphics
+ Good amount of weapons and gear
+ Chocobo
- You will get lost
- Inventory space can be a pain early on
- Bosses seem too easy at first

For the price, Adventures of Mana is a great game and RPG and Mana fans should buy this and enjoy some old school action RPG goodness.

Review: Spy Chameleon – RGB Agent

Wanted to revisit Gex: Enter The Gecko? Too bad but if you like spy games you are in better shape. Spy Chameleon – RGB Agent brings quick levels and smart arcade puzzle gameplay to the PS Vita and it’s not too bad.

In Spy Chameleon – RGB Agent you control a chameleon on 5 different missions and 75 levels. Each level consists of a room filled with enemies where you have to find the right way to the next safe spot. Early levels are easy and pretty quick with what I will call the spy system which is pretty simple and requires fast actions.

When the floor is red, you hit the button that goes with that color and the chameleon changes to red that it won’t be seen by the enemies and the security cameras.  Later levels have harder themes and also use the level around you more while still staying simple.

You have flies to collect which also show the best way out and if you collect all of a room it will open more levels. When you replay a level you can collect ladybugs and also to beat each level’s best time. There are no bosses but the last level rooms should be called bosses because those are the hardest to play.

The music is generic but fits the game and keeps the pace going. Loading is quick and I did get a couple of crashes while I was playing the game.

Conclusion

Spy Chameleon – RGB Agent is a neat arcade puzzler with some smooth gameplay and ideal for quick up and play but the levels have a difficulty spike issue which can get frustrating in the last rooms of each mission.

Review: Spy Chameleon – RGB Agent | PS Vita

• Presentation - 7/10
• Music - 6/10
• Gameplay - 7/10
• Lasting Appeal - 7/10

Summary

+ Smooth gameplay
+ Neat color system
+ Quick levels
- Music won't be remembered
- Levels have a difficulty spike issue

Spy Chameleon – RGB Agent is a neat arcade puzzler with some smooth gameplay and ideal for quick up and play but the levels have a difficulty spike issue which can get frustrating in the last rooms of each mission.