Kingdom of Paradise
Publisher: SCEA • Developer: Climax Entertainment
ESRB: T • Genre: Action RPG
Background
You are Shinbu, a former disciple of the Eastern Seiryu Clan. Expelled from the Temple after taking a forbidden look at the Temple's sacred monument, you've made a life for yourself at the nearby village of Chikuan. One day, on your way home, you see a girl in the robes of your former clan being chased by some warriors and, as any good man would, you interpose yourself between them and her.
From there you learn of the destruction at your temple, the death of your former master, and the troubles that lay ahead...
» 7.5/10
Gameplay and Controls
Controls for this game are fairly solid and straight forward. The Left Shoulder button cycles through your equipped items, while the Right Shoulder button cycles through your Bugei Scrolls (think of these as martial arts forms... strings of specific attacks). The directional pad moves your character. Your × button allows you to talk, search or throw your sword (once you have the Hiken Arts skill) in combat, ⃝ is used to break things, attack, defend and cancel, Triangle uses the currently selected item and ⃞ will charge your Chi Arts while you hold it down and release them when you tap it.
If you hapen to skewer an enemy with your sword when you use Hiken Arts and then unleash your Chi Arts, that enemy takes extra damage, but the area effect of the Art is negated. Chi Arts only advance as they are used, so leveling them can be time consuming, but I've found a trick to "power level" them.
About the only downside of the gameplay is that some parts of the plot won't advance until you talk to one very specific person. That person is usually dressed just like everyone else which means, generally, that you think you've already talked to them before... 7 times.
As an added bonus, when you beat the game, you can start over with all your equipment, Bugei Scrolls, Kenpu and Chi Arts. However, any tempering you've done to your Ginmei sword will be lost. Unfortunately, I don't know about any other swords, I never bothered to buy any.
» 9/10
Graphics and Sound
The graphics in this one are very nice. Bright, well saturated colors and three dimensional characters are everywhere. During important dialog, the scene fades slightly and is overlaid by larger versions of the characters where you can their facial expressions and gestures more clearly. The animation is quite smooth and there are even voice overs. However, in the beginning, the voice overs are not the best. Some of the lines sound rushed, inflection is off.. just enough to pull you out of an otherwise immersive experience. As time goes by, the voice acting seems to get better. It's a shame, though, that they didn't notice this and take the time to go back and redo those early parts of the script.
» 7.5/10
Overview
While I'm not a huge fan of the Action RPG genre, preferring the Traditional RPGs more, I would most deffinately recommend this game to any RPG fan. It's a well made game and very fun, although a bit on the short side. Battles get repetitive after a while, but you're generally faster than most of the enemies so you can just run by them if you choose.
If you're looking for a good RPG for your PSP, then go ahead and get this. You shouldn't be disappointed.
» 8.5/10
At a Glance
Positive:
+ Well done graphics
+ Chi Arts are easy to use and never run out
+ "New Game+" type feature where you can start over with all your techniques and equipment after you beat the game
Negative:
- Voice acting is poorly inflected in the beginning of the game
- A fun game, but only about 20 hours worth of gameplay
- Replaying with "Cleared Data" does not remember the state of your Ginmei Sword