The control system is simplicity itself. It’s square button for maps, circle for items and equipment, and the X button for pretty much everything else. This is perfect for us, but might be frustrating for gamers who like to have more control over combat, and aren’t happy just to press one button and sit back and watch their characters go; although naturally as you progress, you do at least have to ponder which of your attack and magic options might be more powerful.
The cartoon-style graphics look simply gorgeous, the characters are beautifully represented and even the townspeople, whose job as always is to stand around to give you gossip and clues, are of a greater (and more comic ) variety than is usual. The Disney cartoon-like landscape is a pleasure to wander around, and it seems churlish not to whistle as you do. While, of course, the environment is nowhere as detailed as that of Ico, or anywhere near as interactive, it is still plenty big enough. It's massive actually, and repays constant exploring.
A word about the cartoon graphics though – the combat may look like scenes from Batman with similar camp enemies (a rabbit with horns anyone?) but be warned, some of the battles, particularly later on are fiendish and do require some thought as to tactics and party membership. Intriguingly, although the graphics are as far from unrealistic in a Call of Duty way as they could possibly be, you still actually find yourselves caring about the characters. You like them, and want to look after them, and they make you smile, which is a big bonus. Even the save scenes in churches are done with a tongue in cheek humour that helps lift the game way above average.
It’s an interesting learning curve too. Initially everything seems just a touch too easy, spells are learned, battles won, and items gained without too much fuss. Gradually however, the next level starts to take a lot longer to achieve, you have to work harder to learn and acquire, and combat starts to get really interesting in places. The first boss – a merman who is angry that a crystal ball has been dropped on his head – takes some beating, and that’s only 20 minutes in.
One of the random battles, against a constantly multiplying blob with a multitude of attacks, took us nearly 15 minutes and a f*ck lot of swearing to complete. But then we were rewarded with shedloads of experience and goodies and this reviewer was a happy bunny again – well, until the wife reminded me that a man my age really shouldn’t be doing a lap of honour round the room for beating up a cartoon blob.
There are the usual RPG drawbacks, especially for those who, like SPOnG, suffer with short attention spans. You still have to travel from town to town talking to everybody to find out where to go and what to do next, and distances between towns are huge! Boy, do you have to travel some, although once visited, you can warp back again and again. You still meet mysterious strangers who may or may not guide you towards the secret hiding place of the ultimate baddie (a wizard, which we said earlier. Who is disguised as a murdering jester, which we didn’t say earlier).
You still have to meander through caves and dungeons looking for hidden treasure, and you still have to purchase items and cures and find those convenient inns which not only let you stay the night but cure you of paralysis and poison and restore your health completely. There’s one in Guildford, apparently. And, of course, there are still those random battles. Those inevitable random battles that dull the spirits and unexpectedly kill you all just after you’ve won an important treasure, found a secret path, and forgotten to bloody well save your game.
But hey ho, those things are the nature of the RPG beast. And you don’t mind the townspeople so much when they tell you little jokes or flirt with you; you don’t mind the caves so much when your cockney brigand is a big scaredy cat; and you don’t mind the random battles so much when you are fighting tap dancing foxes and satyrs with deadly pan pipes.
You don’t even mind the really difficult boss level battles when you are fighting a paranoid squid whose tentacles talk to each other, and SPOnG certainly doesn’t mind any game where you gain entry to a heavily guarded monastery by visiting a nearby pub and rescuing a half-drunk monk from a brawl that started when he cheated at cards (the sheer relish on your brigand’s face as he realises a fight is about to start is a joy to behold!)
What we do mind a bit is the lack of anything approaching fiendish in the way of puzzles. Sure, there are puzzles, but you get a lot of help solving them so it doesn’t appeal to the mind as much as it does to the eyes and heart. However, that is more than made up for by the sheer variety and epic size of the game – we’re nearly done and it’s taken the best part of 60 hours (although my son will naturally tell you that’s because the old man is not so light on his feet any more).
SPOnG score A-
If you spent last night drive-by shooting in Grand Theft Auto or pointing and clicking your way through a fiendish Broken Sword-type puzzler, you may think that you will find this a bit beneath you, but really, whatever floats your boat, please give Dragon Quest a try. It’s not life changing, but it is ever so slightly life enhancing and not many games can claim that. And you know what? It’s fun. For the first time in years it’s me and not my son who is saying, “Please, just ten more minutes”. Fair takes me back, it does.
Cfan 4 Jul 2011 13:38