A fun and short game.
posted by Silviera (SHELBY TWP, MI) Jun 19, 2006
Member since May 2006
2
out of
3
gamers (67%) found this review helpful
Gameplay: 5
As far as games go Atelier Iris 2 is pretty traditional. You walk around and collect items while fighting off random encounters and progressing to the next point in the storyline. As in any Atelier game there is a huge emphasis on item collection and creation. There are hundreds of items to create and varations on many items that can be made by deviating from the normal recipe. The traditional battle system has been spiced up a bit by borrowing some elements from the Grandia series.
Storyline: 7
You've pretty much heard all of this before. Orphans wielding swords, evil empires, parallel worlds, all the usual RPG cliches are present here. There are no plot twists or any real surprises throughout the game. The good news is that the cliche story is well told, with interesting characters and fairly good voice acting. The dialogue is believable and often humorous, to the point where you'll be more interested in the interaction between your party members than the storyline behind their actions.
Graphics: 6
The anime inspired graphics are as vibrant and colorful as ever. The characters are well detailed, and the backgrounds are gorgeous. The main problem is that the game still looks like the last five Atelier games did. The dated graphics show up most in combat, where the frames of animation for each movement are quite low. Sometimes you feel as though you're watching a flipbook rather than a fluid moving character.
Music/Sound: 5
The only way to describe the music in this game is average. Most of the time you won't notice it, as few songs are memorable and many songs are frequently interupted by the boring battle music.
Overall: 6
Atelier Iris 2 is a fun little adventure, but nothing epic or groundbreaking. Fans of anime style games will likely enjoy it, while others might squeeze a good weekend out of it. It's worth a rental if you've exhausted your supply of RPGs or liked the previous game.
Was this review helpful?
Report
Abuse
