A wealth of riches await fans of role-playing games these days. RPGs come from most corners of the world and with different styles. This can make it hard for gamers to makes sense of the multitude of games. But take heart! This monthly column breaks down each month's new RPGs, including gameplay descriptions and word on the street about a game's quality.
It’s the slowest month yet for RPGs this year. Only two truly new releases means fans have a breather to catch up on the past few months of RPG insanity. But there’s still potential this month, so let’s take a look.
Most Promising:Hexyz Force (PSP)
Release Date: May 25
Sting is a developer to pay attention to. They have proven time and again that they have a knack for approaching JRPGs in radically different ways with games like Riviera: The Promised Land, Yggdra Union, and Knights in the Nightmare. Even more lighthearted fare like Dokapon Kingdom differs from the norm, which mixed Mario Party with JRPG mechanics. Looked at in this light, Hexyz Force is probably disappointing given this is a more traditional take on the genre. It seems to follow the JRPG formula of making an ordinary turn-based battle system and spice it up with a signature twist, in this case the Hexyz Charge, a gauge that is shared between your party and enemies that either can use. Still, Sting is one developer that knows how to make a quality product and this game looks like a deliberate throwback to the 32-bit days, which the visuals seem to capture beautifully. If you’re looking for a solid JRPG on a portable system that calls to mind a simpler time for the genre, you could probably do worse.
Biggest Risk: Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow (DS)
Release Date: May 18
Blue Dragon just can’t catch a break. The original game initially garnered a massive amount of hype as the comeback of Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy. When the game finally came out, however, it did not meet expectations, though it still found an audience. Removed from all the hype, it’s actually a decent B JRPG. What comes next is where things really go wrong. A DS Blue Dragon game, Blue Dragon Plus, quietly came out in 2009, only this time sporting RTS-lite gameplay similar to Final Fantasy 12: Revenant Wings. Unfortunately, that game was critically panned and roundly ignored. It’s a little amazing, then, that we have a brand new game in the series come out here. The genre is switched up again here, as the gameplay is by-the-numbers action RPG with a player-created character instead of the usual plucky cast. Taken at face value, it sounds a little like what Dragon Quest 9 was going to be before they went back to turn-based battles. However, the amount of care that went into the last DS game does not paint that optimistic of a picture. This is a game where you should definitely wait for solid impressions first.
The Rest:
Sadly, the only other thing coming out this month is a new Age of Conan expansion. Rise of the Godslayer provides some new areas with an Eastern theme as well as a new race known as the Khitans. It looks to merely provide more new content rather than change the game like with Cataclysm. It is what the game needs, as most Age of Conan players moved on once the content dried up. The question is whether it’s too little too late.
Delay of Game:
Last month, we detailed Dawn of Heroes, a 3D SRPG from a relatively unknown developer. It was supposed to come out last month, but was quietly shifted to May 25. There’s still not a lot else to say about it, but you can read what little we know about the game in last month’s column.
