|
Published
by Koei Co., Ltd
Developed by NIPPON ICHI SOFTWARE
Release Date: Out Now
Price: £39.99
Last
year we looked at one of the best turn-based strategy games
ever made, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. The game thoroughly
impressed us and it was an easy choice in making it our
PlayStation 2 game of the year. After being so enthralled
by the game we decided to look at what other games the developer,
NIPPON ICHI SOFTWARE, had also been responsible for. To
our delight we found that they had made a game before Disgaea
called La Pucelle Tactics and were working on a game called
Phantom Brave. At that time no UK release was planned but
thanks to Koei that's all changed. Koei had the wisdom to
bring Disgaea to the UK and they've also done us a huge
favour by releasing Phantom Brave and they will also be
releasing La Pucelle Tactics at a later date. Up first though
is Phantom Brave so let's see if NIPPON ICHI can create
another masterpiece.
The
main two characters in Phantom Brave are Ash and Marona.
Ash is a ghost, or as he is known in the game, a phantom.
The game begins with Ash (then alive) on a venture with
Marona's parents, Haze and Jasmin. The three of them were
on the Island of Evil when they met their death. In a last
ditch attempt to use all of their energy to restore Ash
to life they managed to restore him but only as a phantom.
Trapped in between the lands of the living and the dead
Ash made looking after the now orphaned Marona his sole
task. Marona like her parents before her (and also like
Ash before he was killed) is a Chroma. Marona also has special
abilities such as being able to see, confine (more on that
in a moment) and communicate with phantoms. This ability
has made everyone despise her. Despite this complete rejection
though Marona still believes that one day people will accept
her and want to be friends. Both Ash and Marona travel the
Ivoire world sorting out other people's problems in the
form of turn based battles.
If
you've played Disgaea and think Phantom Brave will simply
be more of the same then you will be in for something of
a surprise. Yes the game is still a turn-based strategy
game with RPG elements (some call them sRPG games or tactical
RPG games) but there are some major differences with Phantom
Brave that will really change the way you play the game.
Perhaps the most noticeable difference is the lack of a
grid. Gone are the squares that dictate your movement and
instead your character will have a circle around them to
indicate how far they can move or the distance that an attack
or spell can cover. This seems like a simple thing but it
really makes your movement seem far less restrictive than
with the grid system. You are also able to throw your enemies
off the battle map, which is great. However whilst this
initially seems like a quick way to thin down the number
of opponents you have to consider that when an enemy is
thrown from the map the remaining enemies slightly increase
in strength. Also you can't throw the last enemy from the
map and you must be aware that the enemy can also throw
your phantoms from the map too.
Aside
from the obvious removal of the grid and the ability to
throw your enemies out of bounds, the other big difference
between Disgaea and Phantom Brave is the concept of confinement.
When a battle begins you will only have Marona. Marona can
summon phantoms (you begin with Ash and a few others and
as the game progresses you can create your own phantoms
from a range of available classes) and confine them to various
objects. The objects that she confines the phantoms to will
modify their attributes so you have to be careful what you
confine your phantoms to. I must make it clear that when
I say confine I don't mean that the phantoms can't move
from the spot where they are summoned (as in the dictionary
meaning for the word). They can still move about freely
but the object they were confined to will determine their
attributes for that given battle. In another twist each
of the phantoms, including Ash, can only remain on the battlefield
for a set number of turns before they disappear. This limitation
in using phantoms really makes you value them more and encourages
you to be more skilful with your strategies. At first it
comes as a bit of a shock but after only a short time you
grow to appreciate the way confinement adds depth to the
game. It also seems to make the battles go more quickly.
The
longevity of Phantom Brave is amazing with 100+ hours of
enjoyment on offer. Random dungeons and the ability to level
your characters in to the thousands (in what other game
apart from Disgaea could your characters reach level 9,999?)
means that you could well be playing the game until this
time next year if you're inclined to do so. When you factor
in the ability to increase the abilities of your weapons
too (it's also worth pointing out that most things in Phantom
Brave can be used as weapons, even rocks), it all adds up
to a game that will keep you entertained for as long as
you're interested which will be a very long time indeed.
Characters can be customised and even merged if you really
want to do so. Rumour has it that Laharl (the main character
from Disgaea) can even be found in the game although sadly
we haven't seen him yet.
Phantom
Brave, like Disgaea before it, uses anime styled characters
and it's a look that works really well. The game has a simplistic,
yesteryear, look about it but this doesn't take anything
away from the game. Graphically the game could be said to
fairly simplistic given the capabilities of the PlayStation
2 but a simple glance of the screenshots doesn't really
give you the full flavour of the game. When you see those
superb, way over the top attacks being carried out in all
their glory it's really difficult to pick fault with the
graphical elements of the game. The battle map can be rotated
in 90° increments and this can help should your view
ever be obscured by objects that are on the map. The games
cutscenes are side-on 2D affairs which again look simplistic
but they do have a certain charm about them that makes it
difficult to criticise.
Disgaea
was great for deaf gamers and Phantom Brave, thankfully,
is identical in this respect. Comments made during a battle
(that accompany an attack) are not subtitled but this is
really the only omission. The cutscenes are all subtitled
and all other information is shown in text. Like Disgaea,
Phantom Brave has a wonderful help system within the game
that will help you if you're ever stuck with what to do.
The game manual keeps things brief but it does cover the
basics fairly well. The game makes a good use of icons and
the manual shows you what they all mean although most are
self-explanatory.
Given
the critical acclaim that Disgaea received it would have
been all too easy for NIPPON ICHI to simply repeat the formula
with Phantom Brave. Initially you might think they have
but after only an hour's play you realise that in some ways
Phantom Brave is very different. Different it may be but
it's still excellent and another first class title from
NIPPON ICHI. Removing the grid was a superb move and the
concept of confinement was brilliant from a strategical
perspective (as you are forced to constantly rethink your
strategy) although had it not been handled so well it could
have proved problematic. Phantom Brave doesn't contain as
much humour as Disgaea did but this isn't surprising really
as it has it's fair share of emotional moments where as
in Disgaea you could laugh at virtually everything that
was going on because that was the developers intention.
The bottom line though is that although there are some key
differences between the two games Phantom Brave is another
turn-based masterpiece that like Disgaea before it is worth
buying a PlayStation 2 for.
Overall
Game Rating: 9.4/10
If Disgaea made gamers take notice of NIPPON ICHI then Phantom
Brave will make them realise that they are indeed the masters
of console turn-based strategy games.
Deaf
Gamers Classification:
(Click
the letter or here
for details)
Deaf gamers will have no problems
at all with Phantom Brave. Comments made by the characters
during a battle (such as taunts when attacks are performed)
are not subtitled but everything else is.
|
