C.O.P. The Recruit: A Game Review
Former street racer, Dan Miles, has joined the group called Criminal Overturn Program or C.O.P. The story follows his missions in New York and uncovering the truth behind the arrest of his mentor, Detective Brad Winter.
Upon playing the game, you will instantly get the feeling of déjà vu. Gameplay is very similar to Grand Theft Auto wherein you can steal cars and race around the street, minus the police running after you. Despite the comparison, C.O.P. The Recruit delivers, giving a unique experience to all players who prefer gameplay like GTA.
The game takes place in New York and the player has the ability to traverse the six (6) square miles of roads by foot or by car, whichever you prefer. The graphics are quite blocky but the map is fairly accurate. The streets are littered with semi-intelligent pedestrians, fast-moving vehicles and destructible environment.
Music is impressive, effects for every police car and civilian who you “accidentally” try to run over are present. Even the screech of the brakes and the clash of metals when you crash into a car are realistic.
Wielding a gun is also a fun way to break the monotonous driving/running events. Controlling your weapon uses the D-Pad, stylus and the left trigger. At first you might find it frustrating but as the game progress, you will be able to want more gun fight.
Regrettably, the story suffers the lack of dialogue that might be a little confusing to players. The character’s background was not tackled which resulted to loss of memory in the character’s part.
C.O.P. The Recruit flaws are forgivable considering there are not a lot of games with this kind of gameplay. Despite the restrictions of the console, the creators proved that shoot and drive games can be created and be successful.
Phantasy Star Ø: A Game Review
Two Hundred (200) years after the “Great Blank”, both humans and CASTs alike are trying to survive when a new species believed to be extinct appeared and threaten to destroy everything.
Phantasy Star Ø’s story revolves all around the “Great Blank” and what had caused it. The storyline can be told in the POV of the three (3) different types of characters, where the start of the game will vary but the ending will be the same.
Humans are the same human beings that survived the “Great Blank”; the force that diminished their race but also destroyed other life forms on the planet. While humans are easily understandable, CAST are humanoid machines that are created by humans in order to help them in their everyday lives. But due to the “Great Blank” their systems shut down. After two hundred (200) years, they are slowly waking up but with no memories of the tragedy that fell on the planet. Newmans on the other hand are living on the moon and believed to be extinct by both Humans and CASTs.
There are three “classes” in the game: the melees, who are efficient in hand to hand combat; the rangers, who are agile and can shoot long range weapons; and the magicians, who can use magic to heal their comrades or destroy enemies in the battlefield. Classes vary depending on what type of character you choose to use.
Weapons that are used can be synthesized to add specific trait that can be changed as long as you have the correct requirements. Items can also be used to strengthen the weapons and armors. Mags are like CASTs except they are smaller and fly beside you while you fight or run around in town. With Mags, you can use your “limit break” when you charged it. Mags can be fed with items and equipment to either boost or reduce its abilities.
Creating a party to complete quests is also available and can either connect thru the Nintendo Connectivity or the Wi-Fi internet. While connected, you can send visual chats that you can draw or write your messages just like PictoChat.
Fighting “hostiles” are also a little tricky as you have to hold the left-trigger button to lock on to your target and sometimes it does not lock at all. Most of the time “hostiles” are moving too much and if you are a melee fighter, you might get frustrated from running all around and not damage the opponent. Grinding is also a staple in this game as the boss sometimes are too strong for you and you might end up just killing yourself.
The music is awesome that even message bubbles for messages have their own sound. Graphics are magnificent as it boosts details. Unfortunately, there only a few places that you can go to while questing and sometimes it gets to bothersome to go thru all paths.
Phantasy Star Ø might have a couple of flaws here and there, but still a memorable one as the storyline and party creation is a great new feature that will entice old and new players alike.
Assassin’s Creed II – Discovery: A Game Review
An untold chapter in the Assassin’s Creed II is revealed in this exciting game of stealth and pursuit. Discovery takes place in 15th century Spain where Ezio Auditore da Firenze needs to free his fellow assassin from the hands of Knights Templars and used the guise of Spanish Inquisition into persecuting and capturing assassins in the country. Plans of the Knights Templar to sail to the west to discover the New World were also uncovered as Ezio travels from one City to another.
The game scraps the idea of recreating the 3D environment and the use of the stylus, focusing more on the fundamentals of the gameplay, like abilities and tricks Ezio can use to his advantage.
The idea of the game is to move craftily behind the guards who are patrolling the area and kill them with one strike. Failing to do so will result to difficult hand to hand combat where blocking, countering and attacking must be used in order to defeat the opponent. Opponents range from archers who strike with arrows from afar to captains of the guards wielding halberd. One of the exhilarating parts of the game is when you need to dodge arrows that are raining over your head while jumping from one point to another in an attempt to escape.
Scores are based on how many you were killed cautiously, notoriety, damage your character has taken and the time it takes you to achieve your goal/s. Unfortunately, these factors are not indicated until the actual scoring takes place which is after completing the mission. 
Discovery also uses the camera of the DSi wherein players can take their picture and place it in the Wanted poster. Posters can be seen throughout the game where completing a set of ten (10) can earn you “character upgrades” and decreases notoriety.
Discovery does not imitate the 3D environment of the other consoles that sports the title but instead creating an environment that players will appreciate. There are minor flaws that can be easily overlooked because of awesome gameplay. Regrettably the game might be falling short on the story as some might find the story too short for an Assassin’s Creed franchise.
Hero’s Saga Laevatein Tactics: A Game Review
Imagine the classic Square Enix’ Final Fantasy Tactics with political problems but having characters with Spanish names and using Spanish jargons – you will get Hero’s Saga Laevatein Tactics. Wow, that is a mouthful. The game is just a basic tactics game that can pass by time but despite of that, they made sure that it is not like every tactics game.
The story begins with the Kingdom of Valencia, a small independent nation that stood up against the conquering Imperium Galia. Having escaped being conquered in the Valorous War, fifteen years ago, the land is in peace until the day Prince Ernesto of Valencia travels to the country’s border only to find it under attack by the undead. He’s able to stop the attack by using the legendary Vaettir Arms, the same weapon that used by the Imperium Galia in conquering the other nations, given to her by a mysterious woman wearing armor from head to toe.
Laevatein Tactics is the same tactics RPG that we all love except with a couple of different features. One of the features is the simplification of the job class change by giving the characters different weapons to be wielded whilst in battle. This makes changing classes easier and less complicated. Another feature is every character that you control are the leader of a group and have soldiers that you can use when the fighting actually happens. Options like Attack, Phalanx, Charge and Defend can be use as strategy when fighting an enemy.
Element affiliation, terrain weapon type, special skills and morale affect every battle that you’re going to encounter. Every character has a meter being filled every time they survive a battle with the enemy and as it gets full, they are allowed to use their powerful Vaettir Arms attack.
Unfortunately, gauge for HP levels for enemies as well as your soldiers and your characters are not indicated while the battle is ensuing. Stats of the enemies and your characters are also not clear and misleading; you might as well play the guessing game. This leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of a tactics player as more of the luck rather than skill is being used while playing. Also, when attacking the enemy, your troop will immediately assume a position and attack the hero or the enemy’s troops, whichever you choose.
The graphics and music are not that good either as they are not as clean and fluid as the other tactics game. Regardless of these obvious flaws, the game presented exciting ideas that will leave you wondering if they would make a new game with the flaws in mind.
If you’re a beginner in the tactics gaming, you might want to pick this title up so that you will know the basics of the game. But for a more advanced player, pick it up when you have extra time.
Atelier Annie – Alchemist of Sera Island: A Game Review
Alchemy is a creation of a new substance by merging two (2) or more products and determining its inherent traits. Being an alchemist is a tough and glorious job that requires concentration and hard work. In which why the game’s protagonist is being sent to an island to be a successful alchemist.
Annie, the protagonist of the story, is a lazy girl who only dreams to marry someday but sleeps all day. With her parent’s insistence, and her grandfather’s decision, they ship her (using her bed) to a remote island where she is force to join an alchemy contest to create a resort that will bring tourism to the island. There she meets Pepe, a “tall” fairy that guides her to be successful and helps her to raise the popularity of the Sera Island.
While the plot is pretty straightforward, there are seven (7) different endings that can be achieved. The seven (7) endings is determined your interactions with other characters in the game and performing their requests. The contest spans for over three (3) years where Annie receives the assignments requested by the contest committee with a particular due date and key ingredients to be collected and synthesized. These assignments are mandatory and handed out every half a year which could win either Gold, Silver or Bronze awards. The money collected using the awards are used for facility creation and upgrade.
Gameplay involves heavily on quest achievement and character interaction, so the more friends you have or the more quests that you finish, the more you learn about the people who requested the items. Quests that are completed increases Annie’s popularity in which generates more income for the facility.
Each facility, including your shop, has different quests to increase popularity. Synthesizing items are the key in completing most of the requests. In a facility, there’s a manager that is giving you quests that you should perform but will reward you with items instead of money. Mini-games exist here as well with an equivalent monetary payment to participate in it.
Synthesizing is fairly simple as recipes can be bought in the Library and automatically included in your recipe book when you use your pot. Regrettably, you can only access the recipe in that pot so you have to be good with your memory or you better write what you need so you don’t waste any days going back to the pot to check what you might have missed.
Traits for an item can also be included for specific requests or can be used as monsters that you encounter have specific trait weakness that you can utilize. Items can be collected in either Gathering Points that will be unlocked in certain points of the game or fighting monsters. Fighting monsters is tough as you and your team can easily die if you’re not prepared for battle.
Dialogues of the game can be a little annoying for a time as the Japanese language is being spoken even if the options are in English. But good thing that there is an option that you can turn off the vocals. The in-game jokes are pretty funny at the start but sometimes get too repetitive most of the times as the jokes are the same but with a different person saying it.
The battle system is simple and yet pretty irritating most of the time, since you are pressing the button too much to move to the next action while attacking an opponent. Although there is a “fast-forward” button that can be used and your characters will only attack without using special skills.
The graphics are nice and anime-ish, unfortunately, when walking in town of Gathering Points, the characters look like blobs with different color hairs and outfits. Despite that, it has its own appeal. However, the music is amazing and quirky as you have an option of changing them inside your workshop.
Despite its flaws, Atelier Annie is light and addictive that you want to synthesize every recipe that you get. The game can also train your multi-tasking ability and time management as time is always spent in synthesizing or going to a facility and gathering points. All in all, Atelier Annie is a good game to pass some time.
Cake Mania 3 (DS): A Game Review
Our favorite baker and cake extraordinaire is back again with another new adventure that involves bending time and space. Unfortunately, instead of giving gamers awesome time playing the game, the game gave the opposite; albeit a memorable one.
Jill, the protagonist of all the Cake Mania games is getting married to the love of her life. While preparing for her wedding, she accidentally broke the Time Bender and transported her family into different time and place. Right before she was about to leave, her fiancé arrived seeing her disappear into nothingness.
As usual, Jill needs to save everyone by baking cakes of all shapes and colors to appease the need of the citizens on that timeline. In addition, customers now have an option to order beverage with the cake. The gameplay is pretty much the same as the other installments but with more vibrant environment and mini-games.
The previous installments for this game are wonderful even if it’s the miniature version of the PC game. There might be issues regarding small buttons and items that it’s easy to tap the incorrect ones but generally, it was still an awesome game. Regrettably, Sandlot; the creators of Cake Mania, did not fixed these problems and added a couple more that are making the gamers frustrated on playing it.
One of the issues of the game is that there is no smooth transition in between the tasks that you want Jill to do. Another issue is that despite having small buttons in the games predecessors, the new installment seems to even shrink the buttons that you have them precisely to get Jill do what needs to be done. Aesthetically, the game is wonderful but because of the vibrant environment and background, buttons and the cake itself are hard to decipher as it blends and too small for the naked eye.
Mini-games are also included in the game’s timeline but it is not a worthwhile distraction. You need to complete the mini-games in order to continue to the story’s timeline.
The music is superb, portraying the timeline where the protagonist is at. Customers are also new and truly represent the area.
The game might not be as hit as the previous installments in the DS and the fans and new gamers alike might be turned off with the new glitches the game would bring. In the end, the game might be best played in its PC counterpart.
The Leapling: Book 1, Chapter 1
The Leapling
Book 1, Chapter 1
The rays of the sun peeked through the thick curtain of the darkened room where a figure lies unmoving under the comfort of the bedcovers. Amidst the mountain of bedcovers lies a young girl with honey-colored hair; strands of which are framing the peach-colored pillow. She’s in deep slumber as the sun ascends more to the horizon.
Her slumber was interrupted by a soft knock by the bedroom door. The door opened slightly in order for the woman behind it to peek through and smile at the sleeping form of her daughter.
“You should be up by now, being your birthday and all,” she remarked and moved towards the curtain covering the windows. Instead of pushing the curtains to let in the streams of sunlight, she made a beeline towards her only child who is pretending to be sleeping.
“Wake up Sophia or you’re going to be late for school.” Sophia slowly peeked underneath the covers. Her mother sat down beside her and she flinched as a hand stroked her ruffled hair.
Sophia noticed that her mother was wearing an elegant blue dress that accents her fair skin tone. The blonde hair that crowned her mother’s head was pulled up in a bun, making her neck longer and more elegant than before. But what makes her mother more enticing is her stunning blue eyes, as blue as the sky on a cloudless sunny day.
“Good morning, uhm… Mama?” the girl with honey-colored hair said and stifled a yawn.
“Good morning birthday girl. Now, get up as you are going to be late for school and disappoint your friends.” Her mother smiled instead of frowning at her. She stood up gracefully, her blue dress sashaying around her, and leaving her daughter alone to dress up.
Sophia sat up and looked around her room, and was amazed at the size of it. Clearly, it was not the room she slept in for the past 11 years of her life. The room was elegant, with an off-white wallpaper highlighted by the dark brown carpet the covered the floor. Her bed was equally stylish and can fit a several more person as thin as her. Things on top of the dresser beside the bathroom door do not belong to her and yet, she had a sense of familiarity that she had used most of them from time to time. Before she had a chance to remove herself from the comfortable bed, another knock was heard and the door opened to reveal his father.
Her father was wearing his black business suit, tailored to his body to emphasize that he is as fit as his wife. His dark brown, almost black hair that was usually unkempt was tied at the base of his neck. This emphasizes his broad shoulders and soft brown eyes that always reflect laughter and happiness.
“I didn’t know that being twelve means your going to slow down…” her father remarked, laughter evident in his eyes as he opened the curtain revealing the bright new day. Her eyes squinted at the sudden light that invaded her previously darkened room.
“I thought you’re angry at me…” she whispered softly to her father.
“Angry? What for?” her father said, giving her a curious look. “Are you still dreaming?”
“Ah. No. Sorry, uh, Dad.” Sophia tried to smile as her father tried to crack another joke and left the room when she expressed that she wanted to get ready for school.
Facing the mirror on her dresser, she noticed that each of her parent’s features contributed to her looks. From her hair to her complexion, even her eyes are mismatched to accommodate her parent’s lineage. It’s like as if two bodies decided to mix with each other but didn’t fully absorb one another.
Opening the closet, she noticed that a calendar was pinned on the door and the 29th day was encircled in the month of February. Balloons were drawn beside the number indicating a celebration for that day. Before she could process any further, her clock beside the dresser chimed, signaling her that she should hurry up.
It was later revealed that today was indeed the 29th of the month and it was her birthday. Sophia frowned at the idea for she didn’t understand why her parents retained her birthday in a leap year. Usually, a parent with a child whose birthday falls on a leap year has an option to change her birthday to either February 28 or March 1.
“What leap year?” Jessica, her bespectacled seatmate in Geometry remarked when she asked about it. She was sporting a black headband that compliments her copper hair, instead of braiding it like the usual. Beside Jessica was Brad, the awfully silent classmate who never uttered a word unless it’s about class. Brad was looking quizzically at them for continuation of the discussion but never contributed in it.
“Regularly, February has only 28 days instead of 29 because of the rotation of our planet.” Sophia tried to explain. Jessica gave her a curious look and shook her head in disapproval.
“There’s always 29th of February. Are you alright?” Before she had a chance to reply, their teacher entered. Despite the endless droning voice of her teachers and assignments, her mind drifted to her birthday as well as the absence of the leap year.
By lunch time, she was sporting a headache at the events that was happening unexpectedly.First, she woke up in a different room instead of a run down apartment her parents own. Then it was her parents’ attitude towards her was odd as if she wasn’t included in a life altering circumstance months before.
A lone tear escaped her eye as she remembers the headlights in front her, hypnotized at the bright intense beam. It was followed by the darkness that surrounded her accompanied by wails of her mother as she finally opened her eyes. The tears are not for her however, but for her older brother who died saving her from a car driver by a drunkard. After that, her parents were not the same anymore. Their scorn and indifference leave her hollow inside that she usually shut herself in her cold room.
Sophia wiped away the tear and walked towards her locker to get the other books she needs for the next subjects. A couple of students caught her attention as they were huddled in the corner of the hallway, whispering to one another. She caught one of them; the girl with a jet-black hair looks at her from to time and continued with her conversation with the other student. The other was Katherine James; her best friend since they were little was also acting the same.
“Katherine!” Sophia shouted, waving her hands in an effort to get her noticed by them. Instead of being acknowledged, the two girls looked at her uneasily and hastily removed themselves from the corner of the hallway.
“Do you want to go to the principal’s office again?” She looked at Jessica who was instantly next to her, grasping her right arm in an effort to dissuade her from pursuing Katherine. She was perplexed at Jessica’s statement about the principal’s office but before she had the chance to ask her what she meant, the bespectacled girl went her own way. Equally baffling was her seatmate’s ignorance about the leap year, that it was a natural occurrence that there is a 29th day in February. And even Brad quietly supported Jessica’s claims about it.
Brad followed Jessica to the cafeteria who in turn motioned her to follow them. Her headache still persisted and she casually massaging the bridge of her nose to ease some of the dull ache.
“What do you mean about the Principal’s Office?” Sophia asked her red-haired classmate after seating in one of the tables in the cafeteria. Brad joined them and ate silently but listening to the conversation.
“Remember the stunt you pulled at Katherine and Amber last week? The one involved spreading a nasty rumor?” Jessica said in between the bites of her macaroni and cheese. The only guy in the table nodded in agreement and looked at the other table where the said parties are sitting.
Sophia widened her eyes and she stopped breathing for a second; she feared that she would be hyperventilating soon if not for Brad’s nudge at her shoulder. Not in the million years she thought of spreading a nasty rumor about her best friend, let alone a complete stranger. Amber who was sitting beside Katherine was still whispering to her about something, completely absorbed at the discussion that she failed to notice that everything around her.
“What rumor?” she asked breathlessly at the only one who can provide her the answer for now.
“Well, apparently, you told everyone Katherine and Amber was a couple, and then it spread like wildfire from there. Brad and I were the only ones who didn’t believe the rumors though. Unfortunately, the Principal sided with Katherine and Amber and scolded you until your ears were burning.”
“I don’t even know Amber! How can I spread a rumor as nasty as that?!” Sophia exclaimed in a loud voice, earning her several looks from the nearby table.
“You don’t know Amber? Do you have amnesia or something?” Jessica dropped the fork she was holding and placed the palm of her hand on her forehead. “You don’t have a fever or anything…”
What the hell is happening? It’s as if the world suddenly turned itself upside down for her and the only remnants of the previous one is the memories that resides in her head. Her headache evolved to a full pledge migraine and white dots began appearing in front of her eyes. Sophia stood up in alacrity to get away from the things she was learning that day. Before long, her vision darkened and the floor slowly greeted her.
Nostalgia: A Game Review
What if you have the power to save the world even if it’s the expense of your own life? This is what Eddie and his friends did when they found out that they have the only means necessary to save the world.
Nostalgia (or Nostalgio no Kaze in Japan) was created by the same people who programmed Square Enix’s Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV. With that in mind, you might be skeptical that this might be a carbon copy of the famous series… unfortunately; you might be right on some parts of the game.
The story starts with Edward Brown, or Eddie for short, who wanted to rescue his adventurer father after reported missing after a quest. With the help of the Adventurer’s Guild, Eddie became an adventurer just like his father, Gilbert and proceeds in trying to find out the whereabouts of his old man. Along the way he meets Pad, a street urchin who is looking for his mother; Melody, a troublesome witch; and Fiona, the girl who had no recollection about her past.
The story is pretty much run-of-the-mill RPG where the party after discovering the bigger picture that Gilbert was trying to prevent, tried to take over the task and ultimately saving the world. While saving the world, hints of pair ups between characters are given until the ending credits. While this sounds like any Final Fantasy series that you had played, Nostalgia’s plot is just straight to the point, no twist or turns you have to take in order to get the ultimate ending.
The gameplay is turn-based where the list of players or enemies that would be next to attack is listed on the bottom screen. Additionally, there are co-op attacks that you will be able to unlock after completing the each of the players storyline. The skills per character can be upgraded by using Skill Points you receive from fighting enemies. Bonuses can be achieved whenever you score A or S per fight, so additional points can be earned. Defeating an enemy while taking little or no damage is generally how the rank is determined.
Another Final Fantasy-esque feature of this game is the use of a ship named Maverick. Instead of walking on foot to different location, you will use your ship to travel from one place to another. Maverick can be upgraded with weapons and shields that can be used by the character while fighting in the sky. Maverick also has three (3) modes of flights, low, medium and high that you unlock eventually as the story progresses. Monster toughness also differs when flying in different modes so be sure to be able to handle high altitude flight.
Quests are also available in the Adventurer’s Guild where you can earn money and AP which will be used to level up your Adventurer’s Rank. The higher the rank, the tougher the task you need to complete. There are also mysterious items that can be appraised in the Guild which can be used by your characters. Discoveries of special places that can be read or heard from hearsay of townspeople can also be earned.
Graphics are not the specialty of the game and no special cutscenes are shown but it’s passable. The graphics and environment are 3D while the accompanying music is perfect for gameplay. Every location boasts great detail, perfect for every location and despite not having the best graphics against other RPG titles, you will be pulled into the world of magic and fantasy.
After completing the game, you have an option to complete the items and equipments that are in your Adventurer’s Notebook, as well as the quests that are still available in the Guild. You can also complete the the map in the dungeons or the world map to truly.
While Nostalgia takes other RPG elements into their own and story is pretty predictable, they added several new and unique essentials to be able to stand on its own. This game will be able to make you ask for more and give you a unique RPG experience.
Cooking Mama 3 – Shop & Chop: A Game Review
Our favorite Mama is back again with a spanking new game and recipes that ranges from complicated marshmallows to straightforward Korean barbeque. There are a total of eighty (80) recipes that comes with additional steps that are equally light and challenging as its predecessors; this includes keeping dried squid from cats who keep grabbing them to simply opening a can of tomato sauce.
Unlike the previous Cooking Mama games, there are five different game modes to choose from — Cook with Mama, Let’s Cook, Let’s Match, Let’s Shop and Cooking Contest.
Cook with Mama is like a training mode where you can practice your cooking skills, with the guidance of Mama of course. Recipes that you finished are scored with Gold, Silver and Bronze coins; and unlock new recipes as well as a chance to earn the Recipe Trophy.
Let’s Cook is not as lenient as Cook with Mama as she is more likely cheering you from the background (with pompoms to be exact) – and making a mistake will make you repeat the whole cooking process again. Finishing recipes obtains you new playable characters that you can cook for but bears no consequence in the actual cooking procedure. Unlocking all playable characters earns you the Mama Trophy.
Doing well in either Cook with Mama and Let’s Cook will earn you Bonus points. Collect five (5) bonus points and you’ll earn an item – either an item for Mama or stickers for your diary. Collect all items and stickers will earn you the Item Trophy.
Let’s Match is a new concept where you can match one ingredient to another and create a new recipe to unlock. Its fun to see what recipe you would be able to create; unfortunately, you can only choose two (2) different ingredients and no bonuses are given despite cooking them excellently. Another limitation is that there are only six (6) ingredients available to be paired up.
Another new concept is Let’s Shop which is somewhat self-explanatory. You are task to shop certain ingredients in a crowded market where you have to dodge other shoppers, store clerks, moms with crying babies and the elderly while keeping eye on the clock. If you ever bump into someone, you have to perform a mini-game for that person in order to move on – i.e. helping the elderly get the right purchase or helping a woman keeping all her seafood purchases in the 
basket. Failing to do so will lose one of your hearts and if you loose all of your hearts, you will force you to go home to a disappointed Mama. As much as it is fun as it is addicting, it’s sad to say that there are only four (4) challenges to choose from.
Cooking Contest is more like a record breaking game where certain steps in a recipe can be performed which exists in the previous games. Other modes like Let’s Get Fancy, Change Design and Write in Diary enables you to customize what Mama is wearing, the utensils you will be using while cooking and the stickers that you put in your diary.
All in all, it’s a fun and addicting game but the gameplay is similar to the previous titles. Let’s Shop is a welcome addition but it’s too short to enhance the game and give it its own distinction. This game is more for the beginners who haven’t tried virtual cooking rather than the experts who finished the first two (2) games.
Drawn to Life – The Next Chapter: A Game Review
Creating your own little world is not bad at all, especially if you have the power in creating not only cute cat-like creatures called “Raposa” but also create your own hero to help them when they are in trouble. In this sequel of the Drawn to Life franchise called The Next Chapter, gives you the ability to create elements of the world as you battle the dark creatures and bring justice to Wilfire, the main antagonist of the story.
The game starts off with you creating a scene based on what you think is the right answer to the questions given to you. As the story progress, you will see color being drained from each place in the Raposa Village where the previous protagonists, Jowee and Mari resides.
There are a lot of improvements that was introduced in the new installment. Such as your character starts off with all three (3) weapons unlike the previous game where the sword is your only option. Upgrades can still be bought in the item shop as well as the music and templates for character creation. There are a lot of different kinds of character templates made available to tickle your imagination. If you don’t have the artistic ability to create what needs to be created, most of the elements have their own template and can be used or edited at your own discretion.
Over the course of the game, your character will be able to change into two (2) other different forms that you need to access hidden areas in the dungeons. One of them is the “blob” that can fit into tiny holes and absorb them, using the weight and momentum to topple and defeat enemies in your path. While the “spider” can walk on walls and ceilings, using its web to swing from one point to another and immobilize enemies.
Another part of the game is that a section of the dungeon requires you to place lines on the map in which you would use in order to go to the next room. The provided lines are limited and vary from stationary to moving up or down to springy that lets you jump higher.
Graphics are still the same compared with the previous game but most, if not all areas are different and new. Its fun coloring the areas you visit, unfortunately there’s no option for choosing your own colors.
Gameplay is still the basic movements just like playing the Mario game. The town’s people are still scattered all over the area that you visit and you have an option to gather them one by one.
The story might be a little confusing to some players as the ending involves more on the only human in their world and not raposa themselves. This might signal that this is the last installment of the franchise.
Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter has definitely stepped up a notch when it comes to unconventional way on how to play a console and bringing the creativity of the players into the gameplay. It also proved that this game can be both interesting and exciting for those players who found the previous game too laid-back.
