"get ready for... STEAMBOT CHRONICLES!"...
no, it's not a horse riding-music simulation type game... though you can certainly be in a band and ride something that is ALMOST like a horsie... but not quite ^_^
so what is this game about?
STORY:
you play as this guy named Vanilla Bean who lost his memory because of a shipwreck and you wake up on the beach woken by the sound of a pretty girl's voice. Now, the game's most interesting concept that they try to push is choosing your destiny (though not as in depth as Fable). However they don't let you do that until about half way into the game where you get to choose between the dark side or the light side. Almost all important dialogues requires you to decide what to say (you are given a set of responses you can make) which makes the game comical because you can say silly stuff, or just lie all together.
Apperantly, they say in the game that your responses actually changes your attitude and the way you see your surroundings, but i didn't really notice it. However, your choice or words will certainly change the way people see you.
So, since you can decide your fate (almost) means that there are more than
one ending. i've seen 3 different endings so far and i think there are 4.
-good hero ending, bad hero ending, good villain ending, and bad villain ending.
that's pretty resonable...
COOL THINGS IN THE GAME THAT YOU CAN DO: (aka, the GOOD)
Another main push that the game has is it's "non-linear" gaming. However, i found the game pretty linear except for the fact that you get to choose to be a bad guy or good guy. There are MANY MANY MANY sidequest that you can do that should almost make it "non-linear"
-- be in a band --- there are about 8 different instruments you can play and the gameplay for that it similar to your run of the mill DDR-ness.
-- be a trotmobile gladiator -- err, did i mention that you get to control machine-like things called trotmobiles (like gundam wing!! or.. robots!!). So yeah, you can earn prizes as you go up in gladiator ranks in an arena.
-- be a "bus driver" -- you can use your trotmobil to have some sort of transport service by attaching some sort of carriage to the back of you trotmobile to transport people.
-- be an archeologist -- well, not really, you basically hack away on some specified rocks to unveil fossils and get them cleaned up then get them appraised then get paid for them! Uncover the history and help re-create the museum by puzzling together different bone parts!! YAY!
-- be a fashion, err.. wearer person? whatever, you can change clothes and you can actually see it! Be a cowboy, chef, pimp!!!, farmer, middle-eastern, hawaiian-leaves-skirt-thing!
GAMEPLAY (aka the GOOD/sometimesBAD)
like i have failed to mention right at the begineing of this review, that most of your movements will be through trotmobiles. Even around town, you can use it as transportation (and it even follows traffic, such as stop lights and designated parking spaces!!!). All of the battles are also done with trotmobiles, so it's not like xenogears/saga where you can choose to fight by hand or by machine.
Now, it's bad because the controls can be sometimes sloppy if you match it with camera controls because most major battles are against trots that are 5x larger than you are and it is hard to see where you are going sometimes. Also, if you are unfamiliar with using both analog sticks (such as the control in katamari damacy) then it might be hard to get used to--therefore i definetly suggest doing the tutorial)
other than that, all is dandy.
SOUNDS (aka, also the GOOD/sometimes BAD)
like i have mentioned before, you can be in a band! So what's so bad about being in a band anyways?
Well, it's the fact that the songs aren't all that good. Some are pretty catchy even though you'll hate the lyrics the first time you hear it. However, once you hear it enough (if you decide to tolerate it the first few times) then you might even start humming it!! (except the song Music Revolution... god that sucked)
otherwise, there are quite a few variation on background music which should definetly entertain and suffice.
GRAPHICS (for me... aka a GOOD thing)
its cell shaded, and it definetly contributes to the athmosphere, so it's a good thing. It's not anything spectacular, but sometimes the surrounding astounds. Which is cool, since they are choppy sometimes.
ENDING,
(no... i'm not going to tell you the ending)
I felt that i had to make a pretty in depth review on this game because, i took a chance and spent $60 on a game i knew nothing about. And i know that this is not a very well known game and probably does not have a lot of people even interested in it. So here it is...
i say, buy it (or rent it if you can, because this is not a very long game if you decide to fly through it) then find a place where you can just trade it right back in if you don't like it.
as for me, (as you can plainly see with how i rated it) that i enjoyed it. It does focuses more on sidequest/tasks that you can do rather than the story, but it's so lighthearted that most of the time, you won't even care.
so i hope i've helped with this review even by a little. (considering how long i've made this review with my useless comments!! ^_^)
HAVE FUN!