| Game Reviews From a Parental Perspective! | |
|
|
|
| Home | Forums | Review Archive | Columns | Feature Articles |
|
Home >
Review Archive >
Video Games
> Results: Dungeons & Dragons Tactics
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Scroll down for our Kid Factor. 
The ESRB Says
Blood: GamerDad occasionally saw blood as we destroyed all manner of fantasy beasties. Fantasy Violence: The entire point of the game is constant tactical battles. D&D Tactics is a game I am of 'two minds' about - and that is never good. It usually means that there is simultaneously something terrifically compelling and also something terribly wrong with the game. It means that while I have found that singular nugget that developer hope will hook gamers into the experience, I have found it at the expense of walking through the minefield of issues that were left lying around somewhere during the design or implementation phases of the project. The game is about as pure a translation of a tabletop D&D experience as you will find, with all of the good and bad connotations that carries. I have spent well over a year anticipating this game, and had hoped until fairly recently that this would be a game that I could tell people "buy a PSP and this game - you won't be sorry". Unfortunately, if you do that you probably WILL be sorry. At it's core it is a combination of a traditional 'tactics' game and an old-school turn-based RPG. You move characters in a grid-based world and have turn-based combat, and each part of the game is a separate 'adventure' based on a single map, just like in every other 'tactics' game. But the game world, the characters, and the general layout of the overall experience will be instantly familiar to D&D fans. The character creation and combat systems are not unlike those from games such as Neverwinter Nights and Temple of Elemental Evil. Compromises to squeeze both game types into a single game sometimes work but mostly don't - the camera control is terrible, the inventory system is annoying and confusing, and the graphics are too dark in dungeons. The bottom line is this - the game is full of issues and quirks, but it is like so many PC RPG's in that regard. It reminds me of Temple of Elemental Evil when it first came out - there were plenty of problems, but it was fun and the combat was solid. And that is ultimately what it is all about. I worked around the camera issues because exploration was fun. I adapted to finding all chests before killing the last monster because I wanted all of the loot. I figured out how to deal with the game not telling you about encumbrance issues so I wouldn't have to leave anything behind. And more than anything, I dealt with whatever inconvenience the game threw at me because I found the application of the D&D world to a tactics style game to be an absolute blast. Combat was fun, pure and simple. I wanted more in each dungeon, was always pleased when I killed what I suspected was the last monster and I didn't exit to the menu - because that meant there were more battles ahead. This game is at once like and unlike any other tactics-style game you've played, and also like and unlike many of the classic turn-based RPG's you might have played long ago. It is this combination that is the game's greatest strength and weakness. And I think that this combinations comes across as a 'style clash' in many ways, and that has caused a wide variety of opinions. While I haven't spoken to anyone who thinks it is perfect, there are many who, like me, are willing to grumble their way through the flaws to reach the meat of the adventure mode and dig in to some excellent D&D combat. Those are typically D&D fans with PC gaming roots used to dealing with game 'issues'. Console gamers experienced with more traditional (and polished) Tactics games find this game to be an unplayable and unfathomable mess. In that regard it is perhaps the 'Dungeon Lords' of tactics games, though I am hesitant to use that description since this game is better than that. Suffice it to say that you will be telling Mr Owl of the many, many licks it took to get to the solid D&D core of this game, working your way through the messy candy shell.  
As a general rule fantasy tactics games are fairly inoffensive in terms of violent content. There is always a possibility of cutscenes containing thematic elements that raise concerns for some, and also the possibility that the battle animations could contain excessive blood or intense combat action, but those are a rarity. Most play like animated chess on a grand scale with some cutscenes for advancing the story, which is exactly the case here. The story unfolds in slide show style cutscenes and some in-mission banter, but the core of the game is a series of lengthy dungeon crawl adventures focused on slow-paced tactical turn-based combat. The game is Rated T for the fact that blood is shown during combat animations, but I am giving the game a GamerDad Age Seal of 10+ based on the pacing, lack of intensity, detachment from combat and lack of ability to actually see any of the blood. The overall effect is more like watching 3D Chess with animated battles than any visceral fantasy combat.
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Dungeons & Dragons Tactics |
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
|
Please Note: GamerDad is not intended to be read by anyone under 18. We stay clean, but be warned! Content Management System developed by Redbird Solutions. |
