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IGN Review of Mazes of Fate DS
The Nintendo DS has seen a number of ports and remakes of older games. And while Mazes of Fate seems like it's a port of an old school dungeon role playing game, it's actually only about two years old. The former Game Boy Advance title has gotten an overhaul in the dungeon department for its DS debut. Unfortunately the new 3D dungeons make the game look and play worse than it did before.
Mazes of Fate is the very definition of old school. Chances are, very few gamers under the age of 25 are familiar with the American RPG scene. Back in the day (I mean way back, before the Internet was cool!), it wasn't just Final Fantasy and other, what is now commonly referred to as "traditional," RPGs that dominated the market. American RPGs offered a slightly different approach to the popular genre. With the success of games like Oblivion, it's no surprise that developers are trying their hand at the classic American RPG style.
All the classic RPG elements are here in Mazes of Fate, including the pretty standard premise. Players start as a hero wannabe in a small village. There isn't a lot of danger to start with, so the first evil players vanquish are cellar rats. The game's story quickly picks up, progressing steadily towards epic levels. Thieves, evil sorcerers, a race of goat men, and angry gods create a pretty engrossing story, much of which is carried by dialogue with the world's eclectic cast of characters. The branching conversations are well written and sometimes pretty humorous, and most of the characters have strong personalities that come through in the writing. Unfortunately, the dialogue doesn't do much to help the story, so the plot is a little hard to follow.
The dungeons didn't look all that great in the GBA version of Mazes of Fate, and the idea of new, fully 3D dungeons was cool. Players move and strafe with the D-Pad and turn using the stylus. Plus touch screen menus make for easy item use. The problem is that the dungeons look even worse now. The actual environment isn't improved much at all, and the enemies actually look worse. And not just a little worse, they look awful. Every enemy moves like he's a member of the undead, (which admittedly was fine for the walking corpse enemies at the beginning, but nothing else). They're rigid, clunky and laughable.
What's even worse is that the enemy AI is so terrible that the game lost all of its challenge. Mazes of Fate was a pretty difficult and strategic title because it enemies didn't respond, so there was no way to level grind. Players had to know their moves, and maneuver through menus quickly in order to stay alive in the twisting corridors of the dungeons and towers. Now the enemies stumble along like they're withered geriatrics. They slowly pursue, seeming unable to turn until they've stopped and though about it for a moment.
Oh and check this out. You can attack enemies before they're close enough to hit you. And your energy bar doesn't go down much for moving, so it's easy to attack and move at the same time. So not only did I not die, ever, but I rarely got hit at all. It was freaking ridiculous.
There's still plenty of puzzle to solve in the game, and there are a number of sidequests and adventure elements, but the majority of the gameplay is pretty much broken now. The horrible battles make it so that leveling up magic and defense becomes a wasted effort.
©2008-10-09, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Mazes of Fate is the very definition of old school. Chances are, very few gamers under the age of 25 are familiar with the American RPG scene. Back in the day (I mean way back, before the Internet was cool!), it wasn't just Final Fantasy and other, what is now commonly referred to as "traditional," RPGs that dominated the market. American RPGs offered a slightly different approach to the popular genre. With the success of games like Oblivion, it's no surprise that developers are trying their hand at the classic American RPG style.
All the classic RPG elements are here in Mazes of Fate, including the pretty standard premise. Players start as a hero wannabe in a small village. There isn't a lot of danger to start with, so the first evil players vanquish are cellar rats. The game's story quickly picks up, progressing steadily towards epic levels. Thieves, evil sorcerers, a race of goat men, and angry gods create a pretty engrossing story, much of which is carried by dialogue with the world's eclectic cast of characters. The branching conversations are well written and sometimes pretty humorous, and most of the characters have strong personalities that come through in the writing. Unfortunately, the dialogue doesn't do much to help the story, so the plot is a little hard to follow.
The dungeons didn't look all that great in the GBA version of Mazes of Fate, and the idea of new, fully 3D dungeons was cool. Players move and strafe with the D-Pad and turn using the stylus. Plus touch screen menus make for easy item use. The problem is that the dungeons look even worse now. The actual environment isn't improved much at all, and the enemies actually look worse. And not just a little worse, they look awful. Every enemy moves like he's a member of the undead, (which admittedly was fine for the walking corpse enemies at the beginning, but nothing else). They're rigid, clunky and laughable.
What's even worse is that the enemy AI is so terrible that the game lost all of its challenge. Mazes of Fate was a pretty difficult and strategic title because it enemies didn't respond, so there was no way to level grind. Players had to know their moves, and maneuver through menus quickly in order to stay alive in the twisting corridors of the dungeons and towers. Now the enemies stumble along like they're withered geriatrics. They slowly pursue, seeming unable to turn until they've stopped and though about it for a moment.
Oh and check this out. You can attack enemies before they're close enough to hit you. And your energy bar doesn't go down much for moving, so it's easy to attack and move at the same time. So not only did I not die, ever, but I rarely got hit at all. It was freaking ridiculous.
There's still plenty of puzzle to solve in the game, and there are a number of sidequests and adventure elements, but the majority of the gameplay is pretty much broken now. The horrible battles make it so that leveling up magic and defense becomes a wasted effort.
©2008-10-09, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved