|
 - In the end, it's still a good gameA few people remember the dungeon adventures Chocobo had nearly ten years ago. This time around, treasure-hunting companions Chocobo and Cid find their way to Lostime where the people have been losing their memories as a result of the periodic ringing of the clocktower bell that looms over the town. This sets up the game's premise, in which you must enter and fight your way through a series of dungeons in order to reclaim everyone's lost memories. While not the most engaging concept for a story out there, Chocobo's Dungeon for the Wii fondly pays tribute to the roguelike series of games, a genre that honestly is not for everyone. Despite the dreamlike storyline that tends to border on overly cutesy and childish, the main star of the game is first and foremost its emphasis on dungeon exploration. Though the battles you encounter with enemies are in fact turn-based, the various floors and the treasures, items, and traps that await you in them are all randomized. The enemies match every move you make in the dungeon, making for a little strategy involved when it comes to making dire decisions. Die in the dungeon and lose everything you have obtained. After gradually building up your character's strengths and discovering more abilities and attacks, you will soon be able to get into other aspects of the game such as implementing the job change system and even getting to play mini-games unlocked from further dungeon grinding. The controls for the game are relatively simple. You can utilize the Classic controller or play it with the Wii remote, upright or sideways for a more traditional feel. No one should have any trouble controlling Chocobo, and the menus are very easy to navigate through. The sound of the game is a real hit and miss, however. The game's dialogue and text comes complete with pretty annoying voice-acting, as well as certain sound effects (particularly Chocobo's attack) that can become grating to your ears after a while. Luckily the musical soundtrack is filled with many familiar tunes from the Final Fantasy series, which are very nice faithful rearrangements to the originals. The graphics aren't anything to go crazy over and some people may wince at the drab washed out finish of the visuals, but the orthodox cartoon appearance of its worlds is actually quite perfect for the entire theme of the game. I wouldn't get Chocobo's Dungeon because 1) it looks cute, or 2) it has the Final Fantasy name attached to it. The game requires the player to have a certain level of devotion since it comes rife with some rather extensive dungeon crawling. This might turn out to be a worthwhile adventure for some while to others it may be a repetitive bore. On the other hand, the developers of the game stated they designed the game to be simpler and easier in order to appease to more players. The game's difficulty is relatively low compared to other games of its kind, which could disappoint the hardcore elite wanting a deep roguelike experience. While I do applaud the fact that they want to reach a greater demographic and introducing more people to this type of game, Chocobo's Dungeon has a couple flaws that will upset both casuals and non-casuals. Still, anyone who just wants a decent adventure to tide them over for a while should check it out for themselves. Take it for what it is, and just have fun. Rating: - Chocobo is good for what it is but isn't good for everybodyChocobo's Dungeon for the Wii is a bit of an odd duck as far as RPGs go, especially RPGs targeted towards children. Chocobo's Dungeon is one of the best professionally produced "rogue-like" titles that I've encountered. If you're wondering what a "rogue-like" title is, I recommend a light bit of reading on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike). To put it bluntly, Chocobo's Dungeon is a niche title based off of an extremely old formula dating back several decades since the dawn of computer RPGs. It doesn't deviate far from the formula: random dungeons, random monsters, random treasure, random... you get the idea. Each time you take a move in the dungeon each of the monsters can do the same, so it requires a fair amount of strategy. Each dungeon consists of several levels each of which ends with a boss battle. If you die in a dungeon you lose all of your equipment except for the items you have equipped. If that sounds harsh, consider the fact that old-school rogue-like games typically deleted your save file when you died and Chocobo's Dungeon seems pretty merciful in comparison. The game has also deviated from the traditional rogue-like formula by allowing you to switch job classes (knight, black mage, white mage, ninja, etc). All in all, it makes improvements on the formula while staying true to the concept. The problem with this is that the rogue-like formula is probably either too slow paced or too hard for most children to come to grips with (and many adults). If you like rogue-like games though, I recommend it. Here's where the appeal to rogue-like fans tends to drop a bit. The game falters in the storyline department. I will not lie when I say that the storyline presentation is generally fairly terrible. The basic premise and concept for the storyline is actually pretty sweet but then some overpaid write at Squaresoft decided that a huge portion of the storyline had to center around a baby. So you get to run around as a big chicken and help a baby save people's memories by diving into their minds and... I'm sorry... I can't go on. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I just started skipping most of the story elements. Pros: +++ It's a professional grade, high-quality rogue-like game. +++ Dungeon graphics and monsters are well designed +++ The music is pretty much completely amazing with brief exceptions. Some of the best music I've heard in any video game for a long time. Cons: --- It's a rogue-like game. A majority of people really won't have patience for it. This alone will make you love it or hate it. --- The backgrounds in the town often look downright ugly because of a poorly implemented depth-of-field blur effect. --- A decent story concept that was butchered. --- The controls are really unintuitive unless you use the Classic Controller. So, I just spent several paragraphs pretty much harshing on this game, stated that most people probably will not like it, but I still gave it 4 stars. Why? Because, despite it's flaws, the game is an excellent rogue-like title and I have a lot of fun with it. Don't expect a traditional Final Fantasy title or a kid-friendly action game. That would be like going to see Tiger Woods play golf and then complaining that it wasn't as exciting as the Super Bowl. Most rogue-like games don't even have stories OR graphics, so this game stands out. If you enjoy rogue-like games I recommend this title despite the painful storytelling, but if you aren't sure or are unfamiliar with the genre I recommend renting it first.
|
