By now, you can hopefully see how this game unnecessarily complicates things, especially when it comes to the handheld arena. But wait, there’s more! Those magic coins that I mentioned earlier actually each hold their own magic points, which determines (in combination with the RAP meter mentioned earlier) whether a spell can be cast or not. These coins can be upgraded as well by engraving them with various seals, but the game doesn’t actually provide a way for the player to know ahead of time what effect those seals will have on a coin. Ending up with a useless coin simply because the game doesn’t give you the direction in engraving it should is as frustrating as it sounds.
Once you look past the actual game mechanics, the game becomes frustrating in other ways. The number one mistake handheld developers often make is forcing the player into an overly long gameplay session, and Hoshigami’s incredibly long battles do just that. There is no in-battle save function, and while not having an in-battle save function was understandable in the original PSX version, it’s just not conducive to the typical handheld gaming session on a bus or in a waiting room. What’s really frustrating though is that this was the perfect opportunity for the developers to correct just that kind of oversight, and yet it went unchanged. The game also forces the player to level-grind throughout the game, even going so far as to include special areas that serve as nothing more than grinding grounds before heading into the battles that really matter.
The DS-specific touch controls are also poorly implemented. The bottom screen displays the actual battlefield and menus, allowing the player to touch options rather than selecting them with the D-pad. Movement using the touch controls is cumbersome however, due to the 3D environment. By the time you rotate the screen to see and select certain locations to move in that are otherwise obscured by buildings or higher terrain, it’s quicker and easier (and both attributes are most welcome in this game) to simply use the D-pad and buttons to do it. Also, while it would’ve made sense to allow the player to double-tap an area to move or change direction, that’s sadly not an option here. So, to use the touch screen controls for movement the player taps the area, and then taps a separate menu option or icon to confirm on another part of the screen. Fortunately you can use the buttons solely to perform all functions, which keeps the game playable as it was originally, but that relegates the touch controls to more of a novelty than anything else.
I never played the original title, so I can’t say for certain exactly what was and wasn’t changed for this remix. However, I can tell you that the new music is actually really good, with a nice militaristic and fast-paced feel to battles. Aksys also claims that this version features a new character, missions, character art, and intro animation to go along with the new dialog localization. The character art is solid as well, in the same anime style you’ve no doubt seen in countless other Japanese games before. Character sprites are animated well, constantly moving on-screen and with a lot of little touches to emphasize the type of warrior and the action he or she is executing. On the other hand, spell effects are pretty weak, with simple explosions and the like for even high level spells.
Bottom Line:
I’m not against titles that are geared solely towards hardcore fans of a particular genre, and in fact as a gamer I get great satisfaction when I overcome a game designed to test the limits of my gaming ability. Unfortunately, Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix simply makes too many mistakes while trying to cater to that hardcore gamer.
The fact that this game has battles that typically last 30 minutes or more, and yet does not have an in-battle save option, alone makes it a poor fit for the handheld market. Despite that though, the real problem is that it’s simply much too complex for its own good, bogging the gameplay down in excessive micromanagement while giving the player little direction to follow in trying to come to grips with the game’s intricate inner workings.
A very specific type of gamer should enjoy this quite a bit, but most will want to pass up this remix.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 5.6 |
Posted: 2007-10-22 19:23:21 PST