Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny for Wii Reviews & Ratings by IGN

Despite some delays, we finally have our retail copy of Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny here at IGN. While I'm not the one doing the actual review, I thought I'd tide you folks over with some of my initial impressions.



I already played through the beginning of an early version of the game a couple of months ago (check out my preview here), and today started romping through the retail version. Below you'll find some things that impressed me, and a few things that have me worried. Take a look, and keep it close to IGN Wii for the full review, headed your way soon.



So far, the best thing about Tides of Destiny is the visual style. The graphics look great, with nice environmental touches like sunlight dripping through the treetops and other small details that really lend to the atmosphere. The anime style of the characters works really well for the system, which means the anime cutscenes fit in nicely as well.





The story is kind of bizarre - a mysterious force merges two friends together in the same body, which then awakes in some sort of parallel dimension. With a crazy plot like that, I'm expecting some cool twists and turns ahead, and with the variety of colorful characters at the story's disposal, there should be plenty to keep me interested.



Although not unheard of for a Rune Factory title, the opening of the game is still a bit too slow. It takes forever to get to any real gameplay, and touring the town and doing other mundane things just isn't interesting enough to make up for this. Still, the pace seems to quicken after a bit, so hopefully that continues for the rest of the adventure too.





Another concern is that the character's animations seem really limited. Considering how much effort went into the backgrounds, this comes as something of a surprise. It's not the biggest deal, but paired with the abundance of invisible walls, it does make it feel like a few too many corners may have been cut. The combat could also be deeper (right now it amounts to spamming the attack button). While you can choose which weapons to equip - including wielding dual blades - I'm hoping there's a little more to it as the adventure progresses.



If you're a Rune Factory fan, you should certainly be excited for this title. While it already has some issues, ultimately it looks like a full, enjoyable world that fans of the series should delight in getting to know. As mentioned, the complete review is already in the works, so keep a close eye to IGN Wii for our full thoughts on this game and more.




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