pumpkinfan1979
Zero
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2003
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- 112
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- Age
- 41
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- Florida. Also known as Americas Wang
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- cdcforum.proboards13.corgan
Darkcloud 2 Review
Darkcloud 2. The name holds so many promises. Although I personally didnt like the first one that much, I didn't feel it would be fair to judge this game simply because in my eyes the first one was purely repetitive slashing that was very mind numbing. I mean DC2 was supposed to have nice plot and story line, a different weapon upgrade system, not so many annoying characters, and a huge old school version of a Rock Em Sock Em Robot that you can customize. I mean with all these features how can the game possibly suck? Read on to find out.
Plot/Storyline 10/10 I dont know why but for some reason Darkcloud 1 & 2 came off as a kiddie game to me. The story line in the first one was very basic. ( in case if you dont know it it goes like this"OH NOHSSS BIG EVAL GENIE BLOWDED UP ALL THE TOWNES! MUST KILL HIM AND SAVE WURLD!) Thankfully they spare that sort of crap in this one and put a real story to it. When you first start out your a mysterious girl running from some even more mysterious people. Eventually you get cornered and kill them off only to run into a room and see your father dead and a Mystery Man (Damn all this mystery) dissappear. We then cut in on the main character Maximillian All he wants to do is go to the circus and have a good time. While there some nasty things happen and Max finds himself on the run with all the circus freaks hot on his trail! Little does he know tonight is the night that the biggest adventure of his life starts! Now after the crap DC put me through I was throughly impressed.
Graphics 9/10 The graphics to this game follow a rather popular trend thats been growing recently. That trend being cell shading. Now cell shading can be either really grwat or really horrible depending on how well its implemented. Thankfully in Darkcloud 2 it looks great. The characters are drawn well whether your looking at the main character or a common villager. Buildings and other 3D aspects of the game look neat as well and it is actually a joy to run around and look at stuff. Such as the waterfall in the second village you visit (The name slips my mind at the moment) and other things like seeing The Elder Jurak from the first one.Yes I will have to say that the graphics in DC2 are quite nice the only thing that lacks is the fact that it is cell shaded. It looks nice and all its just that it could look better in 3D. Oh well who am I to bitch.. Wait im a critic of course I can bitch! So yeah that its only fault graphics wise. ONWARD!
Sound/Music 9/10 The music of Darkcloud 2 was pretty relaxing except on a few occasions such as boss battles but that is to be expected. It is quite nice to have the soft music playing and to run along a babbling brook. Just dont relax too much. Theres some enemies that can tear you up. My point is the they did the sounds really well to. My only problem was the sounds the Riderbot makes after you install the voice box. Thankfully you can turn it off and not have to listen to a snotnosed comment everytime you kill something. Stupid robot thinks just cause he has powerful cannons that means hes big!...... Bastard
Controls 10/10 I can only use 2 words two words to describe the controls, slick and smooth. The controler layout is very easy to pick up on which means you can concentrate on more important things. Such as Why are these clowns chasing me? and Will Strongbad ever take off his mask?
Anyway I really cant say much else for controls since they are basically perfect.
Fun Factor/Gameplay 6/10 The same repitition from the first one haunts this game. I think its like a plauge. I mean theres only so many times I can slash a different monster befor I get tired of it. When your not exploring the dungeons of boring death you get to construct cities. Now this is where DC 1 & 2 got innovative. and I being a big fan of innovation and kittens enjoyed these portions of the game. Its like SimCity without all the goddamn tornados and moster attacks. The only thing about "being able to build your own town the way you like" Is that you cant really. You have to satisfy goals to get the items that max up your health/defense and progress the game. That my friends is another fault see that make it seem like its open ended and in essense you CAN build it the way you like but really when you get down to it building the towns is like a puzzle where you try to figure out where to put things. Needless to say I was a bit let down. Lastly the game wasnt enough of a challenge. after you get the Ridepods cannons you can pretty much blast your way through the dungeons. Not that blowing stuff up isnt fun it also gets reptitive. The only difference is is that you get it over with quicker.
Overall 8.8/10 Well there you have it folks it would seem as if the story along with graphics controls and music save this game from being bad. Seeing as how I was bored most of the time I was playing it I enjoyed the storyline parts. and since this is an RPG I would say its mostly about the story that it tells.I would seriously consider buying this game if not then at least rent it. Kids will enjoy it along with moderate gamers. I cant account for the hardcore gamers though. This just isnt tough enough. More hardcore people should seek out Xenosaga.
Well thats all for now. This is Pumpkin Fan signing off
Darkcloud 2. The name holds so many promises. Although I personally didnt like the first one that much, I didn't feel it would be fair to judge this game simply because in my eyes the first one was purely repetitive slashing that was very mind numbing. I mean DC2 was supposed to have nice plot and story line, a different weapon upgrade system, not so many annoying characters, and a huge old school version of a Rock Em Sock Em Robot that you can customize. I mean with all these features how can the game possibly suck? Read on to find out.
Plot/Storyline 10/10 I dont know why but for some reason Darkcloud 1 & 2 came off as a kiddie game to me. The story line in the first one was very basic. ( in case if you dont know it it goes like this"OH NOHSSS BIG EVAL GENIE BLOWDED UP ALL THE TOWNES! MUST KILL HIM AND SAVE WURLD!) Thankfully they spare that sort of crap in this one and put a real story to it. When you first start out your a mysterious girl running from some even more mysterious people. Eventually you get cornered and kill them off only to run into a room and see your father dead and a Mystery Man (Damn all this mystery) dissappear. We then cut in on the main character Maximillian All he wants to do is go to the circus and have a good time. While there some nasty things happen and Max finds himself on the run with all the circus freaks hot on his trail! Little does he know tonight is the night that the biggest adventure of his life starts! Now after the crap DC put me through I was throughly impressed.
Graphics 9/10 The graphics to this game follow a rather popular trend thats been growing recently. That trend being cell shading. Now cell shading can be either really grwat or really horrible depending on how well its implemented. Thankfully in Darkcloud 2 it looks great. The characters are drawn well whether your looking at the main character or a common villager. Buildings and other 3D aspects of the game look neat as well and it is actually a joy to run around and look at stuff. Such as the waterfall in the second village you visit (The name slips my mind at the moment) and other things like seeing The Elder Jurak from the first one.Yes I will have to say that the graphics in DC2 are quite nice the only thing that lacks is the fact that it is cell shaded. It looks nice and all its just that it could look better in 3D. Oh well who am I to bitch.. Wait im a critic of course I can bitch! So yeah that its only fault graphics wise. ONWARD!
Sound/Music 9/10 The music of Darkcloud 2 was pretty relaxing except on a few occasions such as boss battles but that is to be expected. It is quite nice to have the soft music playing and to run along a babbling brook. Just dont relax too much. Theres some enemies that can tear you up. My point is the they did the sounds really well to. My only problem was the sounds the Riderbot makes after you install the voice box. Thankfully you can turn it off and not have to listen to a snotnosed comment everytime you kill something. Stupid robot thinks just cause he has powerful cannons that means hes big!...... Bastard
Controls 10/10 I can only use 2 words two words to describe the controls, slick and smooth. The controler layout is very easy to pick up on which means you can concentrate on more important things. Such as Why are these clowns chasing me? and Will Strongbad ever take off his mask?
Anyway I really cant say much else for controls since they are basically perfect.
Fun Factor/Gameplay 6/10 The same repitition from the first one haunts this game. I think its like a plauge. I mean theres only so many times I can slash a different monster befor I get tired of it. When your not exploring the dungeons of boring death you get to construct cities. Now this is where DC 1 & 2 got innovative. and I being a big fan of innovation and kittens enjoyed these portions of the game. Its like SimCity without all the goddamn tornados and moster attacks. The only thing about "being able to build your own town the way you like" Is that you cant really. You have to satisfy goals to get the items that max up your health/defense and progress the game. That my friends is another fault see that make it seem like its open ended and in essense you CAN build it the way you like but really when you get down to it building the towns is like a puzzle where you try to figure out where to put things. Needless to say I was a bit let down. Lastly the game wasnt enough of a challenge. after you get the Ridepods cannons you can pretty much blast your way through the dungeons. Not that blowing stuff up isnt fun it also gets reptitive. The only difference is is that you get it over with quicker.
Overall 8.8/10 Well there you have it folks it would seem as if the story along with graphics controls and music save this game from being bad. Seeing as how I was bored most of the time I was playing it I enjoyed the storyline parts. and since this is an RPG I would say its mostly about the story that it tells.I would seriously consider buying this game if not then at least rent it. Kids will enjoy it along with moderate gamers. I cant account for the hardcore gamers though. This just isnt tough enough. More hardcore people should seek out Xenosaga.
Well thats all for now. This is Pumpkin Fan signing off
