Avalon Code Review

Seems like I've been doing a lot of game reviewing lately. I have too much free time... that's not good.

I actually had no interest to start playing this game at all. I was having trouble locating (and securing) a copy here so I had my friend keep a look out when she went down to Seattle for a day. It just so happens that she -did- manage to find it, so I had her get it for me. She apparently bought too much that day so she opened the games she bought for me so it didn't look like she just bought it (it's hard to hide games to begin with isn't it? o_o)... Since I got it opened, sure why not, let's play this one next!

The only thing I knew about the game is that it's localized by XSEED and made by MMV. Oh and it's an RPG. Since I didn't know what to play next, Avalon Code was a perfect candidate to keep me occupied until I did know.

STORY 3/5
It's saving the world AND recreating it... well, not so much on the recreating unfortunately. You start off picking your gender which determines who of the opposite sex you can woo. You're napping at your usual napping spot on the hill until suddenly a frickin' book pops out of a giant rock/tablet. The next thing you know, you're getting attacked by mysterious soldiers. A magical spirit comes out of the book to your rescue, teaches you the basics of using the book to beat up the bad guys and then tells you your role. So hello, apparently you're the destined creator/designer of the new world when the current world falls. Your goal is to gather data from the current world so you can use it in the world to be.

The recreating idea was really neat but it seemed like it fell a bit short. I was hoping for some more customization with the future instead of just getting a mere glimpse of it.

CHARACTERS 3.5/5
I was a pretty optimistic and nice protagonist so it seemed like everyone was generally pretty neutral. The characters were rather shallow so it was difficult for me to pick a guy I wanted to chase after or a girl friend I really wanted to befriend. There is one guy character that is involved with the story itself and had a bigger back story but sorry I don't particularly dig childhood friends who try to act tough but are actually wishywashy. I also find it weird that you can choose to hook up with one of your spirit friends instead if you wanted.

And gosh the confession and feeling scenes were so corny and awkward.
(insert floating bubbles background) "I love you!" *fade out*

SOUND 3/5
They managed to put a few voices here and there and they weren't half bad. Music-wise, nothing particularly stuck.

GRAPHICS 3.5/5
The characters and fields are surprisingly rather detailed for a DS game using a 3D engine (but then again, I don't play enough NDS games to begin with... so I don't know if I have a say in that). However, on field/world textures and backgrounds are reused often so going through the multiple maps of the areas does get rather boring. There's also a pretty little anime opening which includes your typical jpop song.

GAMEPLAY 3/5
I didn't expect this game to be an action RPG. In fact, I didn't know what to expect so I can't really say. You had to go around "code scanning" objects throughout the world by SMASHING your book on the object (no really - it looks and sounds painful). Then you get to equip a weapon on each hand and decorate yourself with pretty/useful equipment. Weapons and equip can be customized through the usage of the codes you scan. Different scan combinations can create stronger equipment, etc etc. Then there's a strange little feature called "Judgement Link" where you basically juggle enemies to their death. It sounds weird and it actually looks weird too. On top of being action RPG, it also heavily features on PUZZLES. There's the dungeon puzzles (which are ok) and then there's the SLIDING PUZZLES(!). Some objects you code scan require you to solve the puzzle to get the item. Such time wasters but I beat them all just to show it who's boss! D:

The most frustrating part of this game was the menu. The game revolves around the book being the menu so imagine scanning everything in the world - everything has its own page. Now try going through those thousand of pages just to find one particular code you want just to complete a code combination! URAGH, that was probably the most tedious and annoying.

2nd most frustrating is probably the fact that the game required to use both the stylus and the buttons. So you'd action RPG button mash and then have to stylus your way around to use the menu... and yes, you do use the menu quite often. However, the up side is that you can go into the menu anytime in the game... even in the middle of a swing/chop to SAVE if you really want to.

Ok, so the gameplay wasn't all bad. The dungeon crawling is pretty fun: each map gives you a goal time plus objectives you can try and complete, so it wasn't all just hack n slash.

OVERALL 3/5
As I mentioned, I wish they did more to the "future world" concept. I seemed to have looked forward to that the most. The game became a free roam after you "saved" the current world, which made the game (or story, at least) feel incomplete.

The game's pretty original overall. If they had a sequel, I'd dig it... that is, assuming they make the necessary improvements of course. :B