Spring Break
Annoying PSP role-playing game still has some charm
Tom Bennett
Issue date: 1/13/06 Section: Entertainment
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At first glance, Popolocrois may strike you as being a game developed with kids in mind. Well, you'd probably be right. With a deformed, cell-shaped art direction, annoying voice-overs and a fairy tale story, Popolocrois appears to be a title that would fit well in the hands of a person who just shouldn't be holding a fragile PSP. As one of the few role playing games, however, Popolocrois demands a look from fans of the genre; even casual takers might find the game worth a play.
The two most important aspects of any RPG are the story and battle system. As the story is fairly lackluster, the fighting mechanics take center stage, as they are fairly unusual. Battles take place on a 2-D grid, similar to many tactics games. Range is factored into attacks, as well as the position of the attacker with respect to victim. Attacking from the side or back will cause more damage than a direct hit to the front of a character. Players can also perform combo moves with two characters adjacent to each other (Both characters must have skipped a turn to charge for the attack.). These combo attacks have a large range and deal a great amount of damage. If only enemies were a bit more difficult, such a battleground would be a superb addition, as the placement of characters could very much decide a battle.
Popolocrois does have a fair amount of spells and equipment to earn for use in battle, although spells are usually accompanied by a rather annoying voice-over. A nice feature when equipping new items is that the game will, in addition to standard stats, tell the user whether the new item is better or worse overall when compared to the currently equipped item.
Like most RPGs, Popolocrois uses a random battle system. Unfortunately, the frequent battles tend to be more of an annoyance than of any assistance, as enemies are ridiculously easy to beat. The only battles that offer a risk of loss are boss battles, yet even these tend to go down fairly easily.
The sound quality can be downright painful. The narrator has an over-the-top way of speaking, what one would typically find in a children's story. Overall, the voice acting is bad and doesn't even seem to match the respective character. The game visuals are in an interesting point. The cell-shading works quite well; however, everything within the game seems to have some jaggedness. Overall, the appearance lies between a Playstation and Playstation 2, lagging behind other PSP games.
Despite the lack of quality graphics, load times appear quite often in this game. Granted, it might be an attempt to save some battery life, but the frequency is quite annoying, especially since the game must load before entering any battle, which happens quite often as well. What's most frustrating is that users are not always given a "load screen" either. Usually a loading symbol will appear, but more than a few times the game will simply pause to load without any notification.
Despite all of the problems Popolocrois may have, it's still a halfway decent game. Besides being one of the few role playing games on the PSP, the game carries with it a certain charm that will make people come back for more. With around thirty hours of game play included across two games, Popolocrois presents a fairly good deal, if you can get past the fairy tale story and terrible voice-overs. Popolocrois is certainly not a must-have title, but fans of the genre may be interested.
--
Popolocrois
3/5 Triangles
Playstation Portable
Role-playing
Publisher: Agetec Inc
Developer: G-Artists
The two most important aspects of any RPG are the story and battle system. As the story is fairly lackluster, the fighting mechanics take center stage, as they are fairly unusual. Battles take place on a 2-D grid, similar to many tactics games. Range is factored into attacks, as well as the position of the attacker with respect to victim. Attacking from the side or back will cause more damage than a direct hit to the front of a character. Players can also perform combo moves with two characters adjacent to each other (Both characters must have skipped a turn to charge for the attack.). These combo attacks have a large range and deal a great amount of damage. If only enemies were a bit more difficult, such a battleground would be a superb addition, as the placement of characters could very much decide a battle.
Popolocrois does have a fair amount of spells and equipment to earn for use in battle, although spells are usually accompanied by a rather annoying voice-over. A nice feature when equipping new items is that the game will, in addition to standard stats, tell the user whether the new item is better or worse overall when compared to the currently equipped item.
Like most RPGs, Popolocrois uses a random battle system. Unfortunately, the frequent battles tend to be more of an annoyance than of any assistance, as enemies are ridiculously easy to beat. The only battles that offer a risk of loss are boss battles, yet even these tend to go down fairly easily.
The sound quality can be downright painful. The narrator has an over-the-top way of speaking, what one would typically find in a children's story. Overall, the voice acting is bad and doesn't even seem to match the respective character. The game visuals are in an interesting point. The cell-shading works quite well; however, everything within the game seems to have some jaggedness. Overall, the appearance lies between a Playstation and Playstation 2, lagging behind other PSP games.
Despite the lack of quality graphics, load times appear quite often in this game. Granted, it might be an attempt to save some battery life, but the frequency is quite annoying, especially since the game must load before entering any battle, which happens quite often as well. What's most frustrating is that users are not always given a "load screen" either. Usually a loading symbol will appear, but more than a few times the game will simply pause to load without any notification.
Despite all of the problems Popolocrois may have, it's still a halfway decent game. Besides being one of the few role playing games on the PSP, the game carries with it a certain charm that will make people come back for more. With around thirty hours of game play included across two games, Popolocrois presents a fairly good deal, if you can get past the fairy tale story and terrible voice-overs. Popolocrois is certainly not a must-have title, but fans of the genre may be interested.
--
Popolocrois
3/5 Triangles
Playstation Portable
Role-playing
Publisher: Agetec Inc
Developer: G-Artists
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