Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Steambot Chronicles - Atlus - Playstation 2
ZOMG a new console?! Haha, yeah, I decided to review something new. I'm not exactly finished with this game, but I think I have a basic understanding of it to review it.

Vanilla Bean, a boy who possibly crash lands his ship on a beach, and is awaken by a girl he thinks is named Coriander. Why is everything variables? He's lost his memory. Its up to you to guide him through this newfound town, and see if you can jog his memory and see where he came from.

The game is very open ended, allowing the choices you make turn you into a hero, a villain, or somewhere in between. On the back of the box, they say that if Miyazaki were to make a game, this would be similar to what it looks like. I suppose from a certain view, I can see it, but that was really shooting for the stars. Its a sandbox style of gameplay, and they make it well known from the title screen. Basically, it means that you don't have to follow the beaten path the whole time if you don't want to. You're free to do what you will.

Gameplay consists of playing musical instruments, which all have a neat way of going about it, to maneuvering in the Trotmobiles: vehicles of mass customization. I mean, everything on these things are interchangable, from the most useless things like the license plate to the more essentials like the body and legs. They're a nifty little thing, and kind of give off a Mechwarrior feel.

The controls are perfect for the game, but I think they could have made them a little more comfortable, mostly for the Trotmobiles. You use the two joysticks, pressing both forward to move forward, one up and one down to turn, etc. But there will be times when you are fighting someone and you'll not be facing the foe completely. It tends to get a little frustrating, but you can get used to it. Also, Vanilla is SLOW without a Trot, so make sure you have yours readily available. He becomes even more slow when he's hungry.

The visuals are great. Everyone is beautifully colored and drawn, the towns look great, coming alive at nights, and busy worker people running around during the days. Its really quite awe inspiring. Also, all of the main scences are done with voiceovers, which are synched extremely well. The voices also fit the characters properly too, so none of that "he should sound more like this".

Other little quirks are the mini games to earn money, the album collection for your records, and two player pool and trot battles give the game a little icing on the cake. I wouldn't not recommend the game to anyone, I just feel that slapping Miyazaki's name on it was a cheap shot. :P Atlus makes wonderful games, they don't need tactics like that to sell.

Rating:
7.5 / 10
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