RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Things started off promising enough. Fights with dragon-like beings are rarely dull. I think this particular part of the demo would’ve come off a lot better had it not been passed off as a tutorial/minigame though, or really the only combat I saw in the 20-30 minutes that I was able to play before our next appointment.

It’s a little difficult to give the game a fair assessment of gameplay with so little combat, but if the town exploration portion is any indication, then a lot of the way the hero interacts with his environment – be it barrel, NPC, or enemy – has to do with pointing the Wiimote at whatever the player wishes to manipulate and clicking the trigger button, B, to get a lock. Some objects require a bit of charge time before they can be manipulated as well. Once control is gained, they can then be thrown around by shaking the Wiimote. The controls so far seemed pretty good once you get used of them with the exception of the scene that involved guiding an airship, but that was likely more of a mini-game than an indication of the gameplay as a whole.

As far as the visuals go, it looked alright though unspectacular. There were also quite a few noticeable white specks that would appear here and there. The music, though drowned out a bit by E3’s background noise, seemed decent enough, and the voice acting as a whole wasn’t as bad as it seemed like it was going to be from the trailer.

Overall, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers seemed decent enough, though nothing really blew me away or impressed me enough to make me want to put it very high on my to-play list. Part of the reason for that might simply be that the 20-30 minutes that I was able to spend with the demo weren’t reflective of all the aspects of the game though. A more balanced demo might have made for a more favorable impression.