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Review: Avalon Code – A Unique Concept That Falls Short
Written by Podunker: rrquinta
Before I get into the review, I thought I would fill in basic info about this unique game, because it really is unusual. The premise of the game is you play as either a young boy or girl (you get to choose at the beginning; I choose the girl) who has been chosen to wield the Book of Prophecy. The book has appeared because the current world is in chaos and will be destroyed. It is up to you to collect everything you can (by “scanning” them) into the book so that the new world can be created. Your quest is to journey through the world and fill up the book; although, of course, you have some obstacles in your path.
Thus, a majority of the game centers around the book itself, which you use to create new weapons, equip items, and manipulate enemies, among other things. Thus, there are a multitude of “codes” that give various characteristics: i.e., fire, ice, forest, lightning, ill, etc, that you can manipulate to create new items or weaken enemies. It’s a very interesting and unique game concept from the mind of Yoshifumi Hashimoto and others, but unfortunately, the game isn’t nearly as successful as it could have been.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action RPG
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone (10+)
Release Date: March 10, 2009
Publisher: Marvelous Entertainment/Xseed Games
Developed by: Matrix Software (Japan)
Gameplay: 4/10
Avalon Code is in some ways very reminiscent of Zelda titles, at least it felt that way to me, especially since most of the dungeons were more about puzzle solving/platforming than actual battle. I’d say you probably spend about 10% of the game exploring the open world, fighting creatures and discovering new recipes and flowers, 50% working your way through various dungeons, and 40% flipping through the Book of Prophecy, either looking for codes or solving slide puzzles to unlock recipes for new weapons and items.
Now that I’ve broken that down, let me explain why I gave such a low rating. First of all, as an action RPG, Avalon Code can be very fun at times as you hack and slash your way through enemy after enemy. The game gives you a variety of weapons (that you collect along the way): swords, bombs, “hammers” (pounding weapons), projectiles, and shields. You can equip one weapon to each hand and control each individually: control the weapon in your left hand with the Y button and your right with the X button. This means you can have two swords, or a sword and a sheild, etc.
You also learn a special move for each category (except shields), although I personally found the sword (spin move) and hammer (flying move) the only really useful ones in the game. The hammer move is particularly used for puzzle solving in dungeons.
Part of the reason I gave a mediocre score in this category are the dungeons themselves. You spend a lot of time in these, going room by room (think original Zelda), and each room has a goal you must achieve in order to progress. You are also given a time limit and other minor goals that can give you a better score. The score contributes to the leveling of the Book of Prophecy and is intended to give you replay value (you can go back later and try to improve your scores). However, for the most part, I found the dungeons very boring and repetitive, not to mention sometimes down-right aggravating.
For example, most rooms require you to either: 1) defeat all the enemies or 2) flip all the switches. This may require some creative platforming, use of specially coded weapons, etc., but unlike Zelda, where puzzles (except maybe some of those block puzzles) are fun, I found most of these annoying and repetitive. Another problem with the dungeon system was you often had to do backtracking because if you missed one room, you couldn’t progress to the boss. Or in one dungeon, you had to go back and destroy a certain number of statues in order to reach the boss, so you ended up having to search the entire dungeon until you found all of them.
One good thing was once you finished a room, you didn’t have to re-complete it each time. I think if you had to do that, I would have given up on this game pretty early on. Needless to say, as dungeons were a large part of the game and I did not care for them, a large part of the game was boring and repetitive for me.
Another reason I lowered the score is, as much as I love the Book of Prophecy and the way it is integrated into the game, you spend sooooooo much time flipping through it, because there is no search function or way to go to a specific page. For example, if you are looking for a specific set of codes in order to create a key that will open a door, or you are trying to craft a new weapon from a recipe, you have to flip, flip, flip, flip until you find what you need. Also, you have only four “hold” slots for codes, which means you sometimes have to do a lot of shuffling around. This can get very old very quickly.
At the beginning of the game, you are “given” your recipes straight out, but as the game moves on, you will have to solve slide puzzles to reveal the recipes for new weapons, items, etc. I have to say that slide puzzles are the bane of my existence. As much as I love puzzles in general, I have never, ever liked slide puzzles. The integration of these into the game was is even more frustrating in the second half of the game when you often need these recipes to create powerful enough weapons to defeat the bosses… Not that these puzzles are insanely hard, but at one point I kept going in circle with a puzzle I needed to defeat a boss and was so annoyed that I almost gave up on the game completely, as much as I wanted to see it through to the end.
This leaves me to a related gripe, that certain bosses REQUIRE you to have certain weapons/upgrades, so you HAVE to solve the puzzles for some of these weapons. Needless to say, I left most of the others unsolved, as they weren’t necessary. Still, it made boss battles annoying rather than fun.
Also, in general, although I did enjoy a couple of the later fights (especially once I solved the stupid slide puzzles), for the most part, boss battles were either super-easy, super-frustrating (as in took forever), or just boring.
The game also adds a little element of story where you can interact with various characters in your town and build relationships with them. You can even pick one to form a “romantic connection” with, but, like the story in general, it doesn’t have much substance. Sadly, the only way to really increase your relationship with people is by giving them presents out of the book, based on their preferences (as listed in their page), so it’s pretty shallow.
Like Zelda, when you die, you are “re-spawned” with less than full life, which was nice, considering how you can die thousands of time during a boss battle until you realize you need to solve the puzzle for the better weapon… However, you also come back with barely any MP, which means you can’t really heal yourself (the only way to heal yourself is using items from the book, something I only figured out late in the game… see below), and sometimes can’t even use the book at all… just another thing I found annoying.
Another major problem with Avalon Code, and one that has been cited in many reviews and commentaries about it, is the lack of info/insight given to the player. While you do get some basic info, and you do have the option of clicking the “?” in the corner of the book for a hint (i.e., where to go next), a lot about basic gameplay is left for you to discover yourself.
For example, I was having problem with one section of a dungeon where you need to use your special flying technique (of your hammer) to get to different areas. But I kept “overflying” and hadn’t at this point (this is late in the game) been able to figure out a way to stop without hitting a wall… I was able to finally figure out by serendipity that you could press “B” to cancel the special move… Little things like this are left out throughout the game, and could easily have been included in the Book of Prophecy. Some info is given, but it is extremely succinct to the point of being useless. I found this missed opportunity an extreme disappointment, because this feature would have given users who want the challenge of figuring everything out themselves that option while giving others the ability to consult the Book for basic gameplay controls.
Needless to say, other than the unique aspect of playing around with codes in the Book, I wouldn’t have too much good to say about the gameplay at all, as I’m afraid my length on the subject has probably shown.
I suppose I should add that one element that could be fun is what is called “Judgment Link” (no clue why it’s called that, frankly). Basically, you can toss an enemy up in the air and keep tossing and tossing… if you do it enough, you can get a little bit of your MP refilled. Unfortunately, this is the only way I found to refill your MP, and it can’t be done on all enemies or in boss battles, which could be annoying.
The game also has a lot of side quest options and mini games (i.e. judgment link tournaments), but I didn’t really do most of those as I didn’t feel particularly motivated for most of them, and I found that many of the quests had to be done at a certain point in the story or they couldn’t be done at all (i.e., couldn’t go back and get them later), which was a shame (and also something the game gave you no inclination of).
Story: 3/10
First of all, it’s not terribly original… hmm… a game (esp an RPG) where a hero (or heroine) has to save the world? LOL. However, it is possible to take a cliched concept and create a good story. Sadly, Avalon Code has nothing more than its unique Book to set it apart, and the story itself is relatively shallow. For example, you end up collecting four elemental fairies who are the guardians of the book, yet frankly, they serve very little purpose, and while you can use their powers, I never did, especially since I never had enough MP.
You also, sadly, never get any insight into your character, or even very much about the others in the town. I enjoy adventure and RPG games largely for story, especially if gameplay is lacking, and unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be found here.
There were occasionally interesting segments, including a major plot/gameplay twist mid-game that really engaged me, but for the most part these were very fleeting.
And without giving anything away, I also found the ending to be rather shallow and unfulfilling as well.
Graphics: 10/10
Definitely the graphics were the star of the show in this game… probably the best or at least some of the best 3D graphics you will see on Nintendo’s handheld. Although obviously not on par with the PSP, the character designs were very unique and the scenery was beautiful and varied, with good cut scenes.
Challenge: 5/10
It was very hard for me to come up with a number in this category. For the most part, the game is very easy (especially since you can add “ill” codes to enemies to make them weaker), and times at which it is “difficult” have more to do with gameplay constraints (i.e., not getting control info or having to collect a certain weapon info to progress) are not really challenging, but add what I would call an “artificial” difficulty. However, this game is definitely not one for the casual gamer, as it takes vast expanses of patience in order to enjoy/complete. It took me nearly a month to finish this game, partially because I would set it down for up to a week at a time because I just was sick of the gameplay.
Sound: 7/10
Overall, the game has a decent score, although I found it annoying after a while and would often turn off my sound. I also was frustrated that the voice acting that was included in the game was often so low (in comparison to “Background” music) that I could barely hear it. Although this last complaint I have found in other DS games, so it could be a fault of the system, I do not know. Voice acting, though, was actually very good, even if it was used relatively sparingly, and was certainly one of the better aspects of the game. I enjoyed the boss battle music the most of all the tracks, as it was catchy without being annoying or distracting. The opening song (that plays when you first turn on the game) is actually pretty good, although not as good as the one from Luminous Arc 2, in my opinion.
Replay Value: 6/10
Although I have no personal interest in playing this game any more, there is a significant amount of replay value for those who did enjoy the gameplay. For example, you can finish any open quests that you didn’t get to complete, and some new quests even open after you finish the game. You also get some new mini games and some new items. Additionally, you can replay through any of the dungeons to try to beat your best scores and try to get a gold medal in each, if you’d like (you can earn no medal, a bronze medal, a silver medal, or a gold in each dungeon room).
You can also manipulate codes in the Book to change the “new world” (which you can peek at), and continue to work on the friendships with people in the town. Also, you can try to “cure” (remove the unremovable codes, a puzzle in itself) of various characters, and unbind the four fairies from the book.
So if you do enjoy the game, you can easily add many more hours of game time to the experience.
When I completed the game (watched credits roll, etc.), I had about 35 hours play time… and that is without completing most side quests… but I do like to leave my game on and you do spend a lot of time flipping through the book. Still, the game is definitely not short by any means. There are 11 chapters (some longer than others), and you do have the gameplay you get after the credits roll. So I could imagine you could turn this into a 50+ hour game, if you’d like.
Overall Impression/Recommendation:
This game was one I really, desperately wanted to love, but sadly, it was lacking in so many areas. It really seemed like the publishers focused on production values and the gimmick of the book, and hoped that would hold everything else up.
Perhaps I am being overly critical, and some of you may begin to wonder if there are any games I like, especially after reading my commentaries on Theresia and Elebits 2.
I’m just telling it like it is, based on my personal experience playing the game. Frankly, I would love to see a sequel to this game, or at least see the concept re-done, perhaps improving on some of the faults mentioned.
I really admire the unique concept, and I do think that the game is worth a try, because you may really love it. However, if you find yourself short on patience, this game is definitely one to avoid. Even if you love the dungeon system, the time spent sifting through the Book will drive you mad.
A good effort, but one that definitely falls short.
Overall Rating: 5/10 – Meh. Give it a try, if you’re patient.
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