Another Level-Five Triumph!
GAMEPLAY (8) - This is an action-RPG, but typical of Level-Five, it has depth. During battles your characters will have two attacks, usually a melee and a ranged attack. For most of the game you will have three characters involved in a battle with your two teammates under AI control, though at any time you can switch who you are controlling. This becomes almost necessary as there will be times you will want different characters to use some of their special abilities, and they probably won't do it on their own. At times the battles can get a little confusing, especially if it is against multiple enemies in a confined space. This is when the camera angle can get a little frustrating, ala Kingdom Hearts, but it doesn't happen too often. After battles not only do your characters gain experience but the weapons will as well, a nice touch from Dark Cloud 2. Eventually you will be able to combine weapons to make new and improved ones, ala DQ VIII. Another interesting aspect is the Revelation Chart. Somewhat like Final Fantasy, the Rev Chart is where characters acquire special abilities similar to magic attacks, as well as more mundane but helpful aspects such as additional Hit Points, Fire Resistance, etc. This abilities are obtained by gathering specific items, either from stores, treasure chests or battles. The game pretty much sticks to a linear path, but this did not bother me as there was still a lot to explore considering that you travel to many different planets, all very distinct from each other.
GRAPHICS (9) Again Level Five uses the cel shaded graphics, and they are truly masters at this technique. Dark Cloud 2 is a beautiful game. DQ VIII took it a step further and gave everything a bit more of a 3D look. Rougue Galaxy practically reaches perfection. Everything looks great, from the characters to all of the different backgrounds from the various worlds you'll travel to. What was also impressive was the CGI cutscenes. It took the cel shaded look and made it come even more alive. Hard for me to describe, but I definitely recommend you check it out. It is true that in the larger dungeons you will notice a repeating pattern of the layout of the floors, but I did not find this to be much of an issue as the battles kept me interested.
SOUND (8) Great voice work with a variety of characters that obviously put a lot of effort into this. The background music was varied though not particularly memorable.
VALUE (9) The game took me almost 60 hours to complete. For the most part I stuck to the main quest but the game offers many additional things to do. The one thing I did get involved in was bounty hunting, somewhat similar to Final Fantasy XII. These were pretty straightforward and was a fun way to gain additional experience and valuable items. The game also offers Insectron Battles, where you use a trap to gather various insects and then put them into battles against other people's insects. Have to admit that this did not interest me so I skipped it, but I can imagine that there are a number of people that would get into this. The game also sets up a factory that can make some useful items after you obtain blueprints and create assembly lines. Again, not interesting to me but also not necessary to complete the game. As you might imagine the game also involves bonus quests upon completion, which I'm currently working on. All in all this game should provide plenty for you to do, and you will get your money's worth!
TILT (9) While the storyline might not be completely unique I still found it to be plenty entertaining, and the fact that you will be traveling to different planets really added to the enjoyment. As stated before the combat also wasn't perfect but at the same time I never really became frustrated with it, and the unique abilities that your characters acquire makes the battles more interesting. As far as Action-RPGs go I would put this one at the top of my list. If Level-Five were to make some more of these games they would continue my interest in the PS2 indefinitely! Highly recommended to not only RPG fans but action-adventure fans as well.