MagnaCarta 2 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Take every role-playing cliché ever created, toss them in a bag and shake it up. Pour the contents out on the floor and you have your design document for Magnacarta 2. While there isn't anything outrageously bad in this sequel to a mildly received PlayStation 2 title, neither is there anything that hasn't been done to death before. Without anything new brought to the table, this Japanese role-playing game lacks the excitement and fanfare needed to compel players through the two-disc epic.



Stop me if you've heard this one before. Magnacarta 2 begins with a young boy named Juto who has lost his memory. He wakes up on a remote island and is nursed back to heath while a civil war rages on the mainland. When the war spills over onto his new homeland and his mentor, Melissa, is defeated in battle, Juto sets off on a quest for revenge. Along the way he'll meet new friends, question whether his motives are pure, and even grow in strength towards the ultimate unlocking of a special power inside of him.



If you've played more than a handful of Eastern role-playing games, you've already heard this story before. Even the requisite twist that comes about two-thirds of the way through the game isn't original or clever. It's a shame, because early on several intriguing plot ideas are teased before ultimately falling back into the same stale story this genre clings to. Even the characters are cookie cutter, from the pedophilia-friendly 12 year old busty girl in skimpy clothes to the burly ogre-like humanoid that wields an axe. And, naturally, the magical force called kan has been materialized into crystals named kamonds which can be used to enhance weaponry.



You won't find much originality in the quest design, either. In fact, the vast majority of side quests lack more than a sentence or two of context and are carried out simply by fetching a nearby object or killing a set number of monsters roaming the adjacent field. A few introduce small mini-games tailored to the skills of one of your six party members, and later in the game you can follow a string of missions that lightly delve into the back stories of these friends. But for the most part there is very little thought put into these time wasters. The only real reason to do any of them is to mindlessly level your party up in advance of the next boss fight.



For much of the game, this lack of originality didn't bother me too much. I simply ignored the boring side quests, zoned out while working through some level grinding, and perked up during the more interesting story bits. The problems really came to light roughly 20 hours in or so when it began to feel like a lot of what I was trudging through was slapped in there just to make the game longer. Pointless asides are thrust in at every turn and you can be assured that even after the twist and climax, there is plenty more drudgery to plod through before the actual finish.



The combat system is the sole bright spot in this mass of mediocrity. It's all real-time and takes place on the same screen used for exploration, which keeps the pacing high and reduces the number of loading screens to a minimum. Up to three party members can be active at once, though only the leader is directly controlled by the player. The rest are managed by a serviceable artificial intelligence, though they do have major problems finding their way around little obstacles. A single button is used to dish out combos, though if you hit it too many times too quickly you'll find your character overheated and in need of a rest before they can act again. This introduces the little strategy the game offers as it is possible to overheat a character and then chain a special attack with a party member, thereby upping the damage dealt and resetting each character's stamina bar so that they can continue fighting.



As the game progresses and characters gain experience levels, new skills are unlocked including some that feature flashy summons (with little cutscenes that can't be skipped) and co-operative techniques. Characters also gain the ability to switch attacking styles by equipping different weapons, and combos grow ever longer in number. However, the combat system never dramatically changes from the outset of Magnacarta through the 30+ hours (or much more if you tackle every side quest) it takes to work through it. Once you get into the swing of overheating a character, activating a special move, and then swapping to another party member to carry out a chain, you'll repeat that same action straight through to the game's end.



The real-time combat is a nice update for this sequel, but too much about the presentation is mired in tradition that has long been antiquated. Progress can only be saved at specific locations. Extended dialogue sections that feature stiffly animated character models on a static backdrop can't be skipped, even if you've listened to them before. Death means plenty of repetition through sections previously completed, but not yet saved -- and that means more frustration than most would be willing to sit through. Boss fights from the first disc are recycled in the second, as is nearly every location. If you've played JRPGs for years and either aren't phased or even enjoy these little antiquities, then you won't find anything amiss here. This is the same game you've been playing for years. However, if you're new to the genre, be aware that this traditional design is not as friendly for newcomers as many Western games are.



The visuals in Magnacarta 2 are a mixed bag. Several of the summon spells are quite attractive and a few of the regions look pretty, though an equal number of the environments lack detail. The enemy and character design isn't exactly inspired, but it gets the job done. The major problem with the look of the game comes with the camera. The real-time combat slaps in a camera cut for just about every move. This can cause all sorts of disasters as it cuts in and out of pieces of the environment. Moves that would look flashy quite often just look confusing.



The voice acting is plentiful in Magnacarta 2 and, though the original Japanese language tracks are not present, it isn't as annoying as many other similar games. There are a few characters that will speak in ways that will try your patience, but most do a pretty good job of conveying the over-the-top emotional responses the party has to every situation without sounding ridiculous.





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