PoPoLoCrois for PSP Reviews by Gamers

I am not a big gamer but I have a psp for business trip travel. I suck at most games. They are hard to control with analogue stick and battling is not fun when you always lose. They just move too fast for me. I was addicted to this game for months. It was cute and fun and easy for entertainment value. Easy to start and stop and actually took me over 50 hrs of game play to beat. Load time weren't bad either. I was sad when it was over. Wish there were more games for slow paced gamers like me!

Like many others out there i have been patiently waiting a solid RPG/SRPG entry on the PSP. I had hopes that PoPoLoCrois would fill this need, and was very disappointed. The game almost attempts to include elements of the SRPG by having a "grid" based combat system. However what you actually get is a very weak and simplistic battle engine. Yes there is a "grid" present, in that you can move your units during combat a set amount of squares in whatever direction, but there is a minor yet irritating flaw. The game is oriented at a 45 degree angle, this makes swiftly moving your units into the right positions counter intuitive since you must move them diagonally instead of up and down. This sounds like a small thing, but battle after battle it will begin to annoy you and you may find yourself fleeing a battle simply because you don’t feel like fighting. Which leads to another issue, the games lack of difficulty. Put simply its almost impossible to die. As long as you have a moderate understanding of the RPG basics, and carry a few minor healing items with you, you will not lose a single battle. This is a trend in games today, especially RPG's. Making them far to easy. The reason that people pour 40+ hours into an RPG is because they feel like they are accomplishing something, fighting the tough fights, beating the impossible bosses. When things are this easy your enthusiasm for a random battle or even a "boss" battle is very low since there is almost no chance of you losing.

Bottom line: While not actually a terrible game, PoPoLoCrois is just weak in every area, suitable perhaps for someone who has never picked up an RPG before, but if you are an RPG/SRPG fan stay far away.