More from our favorite smart-mouthed sexy ninja.
Most of the same mechanics as the original are intact here. Nearly perfect difficulty level for any player with a brain. Japanese voice-overs intact.
The Bad:
Somewhat easier than the original, thanks to tag-teams.
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When the first Izuna came out, many people complained about the rogue-like difficulty level, having become used to save points and re-starts. Some of us, however, relished the fact that here was a game that was bringing back the meaning of death to a video game. You had to play smart, not overextend, and be prepared. Death was serious business. OK, not as serious as Shiren the Wanderer, since you could have your gear teleport back to a storehouse, and you kept all your experience, but still, it was a challenge to many. I figured it would be a one-off that wasn't popular enough to spawn a second outing.
Luckily, Atlus decided to 'fix' things and try again, so here we are with Izuna 2. How does it compare?
Well, the only major gripe I have is that it is a fair bit easier than the first one, in that you can bring a 'companion' into the dungeon with you, who will spring into action when you die. So, there is someone there to cast the teleport scroll if you bite it at the hands of a demon trap. Many of the more hard-core rogue-lovers will scream that this is blasphemous, but I understand Atlus' decision to do this. Basically, they saw how unbelievably popular the pokemon mystery dungeon was (it was the top seller last year, making hundreds of millions of dollars for the company), and wanted to get a piece of the pie. So, probably in an effort to boost sales, they included the Pokemon-style tag-team idea, risking alienation of the hardcore rogue fanatics out there. However, if you want to try to keep it real, just don't bother levelling up any of these companions (they don't gain experience if you don't use them), and they become next to useless beyond the first dungeon. So, the idea of instant death looming over your head is not as prevalent here, but still a factor if you choose to play it that way. The only other gripe is that the towns do not have maps to allow you to see where the various shops are, but you will be visitng these places so many times they will eventually become branded into your skull.
On a positive note, the game is still the tried and true rogue-like, with an interesting assortment of monsters to slash, gear to find, and lands to roam. The Japanese dialogue is kept intact with subtitles, a touch that I loved in the first one, and still love here. The story is, like any rogue-like, secondary to plunging into random dungeon after random dungeon, so don't expect any epic FF-XII tale. The script is nicely localized, with a few too many jokes about chest-sizes for my taste, but not enough that it drowns out the charm of the game.
In summary, this is a solid rogue-like that is somewhere between Shiren the Wanderer and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon in terms of difficulty, but is closer to Shiren than PMD in terms of its tendency to randomly punish you. The ability to construct your own gear by slapping talismen onto things is an added dimension you don't usually see in rogue-likes, and adds some depth to an already enjoyable romp. Finally, the ability to freely move from town to town (no slogging through the dungeons to get there every time) is a welcome improvement.