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> Results: Folklore
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The ESRB says:
Alcohol Reference GamerDad frequently visited the village pub as it is a central location in the game Blood Nothing graphic, there is some blood during monster attacks Fantasy Violence The majority of the game is spent using your monster spirits to attack other monsters Mild Language Characters will utter words like "damn" and "hell", mostly in text Mild Suggestive Themes Relationships are hinted at between characters, and a "spirit guide" in the shape of a mounted deer head flirts with the lead female character A Japanese take on Irish mythology, Folklore puts you in the shoes of Ellen, a naive young woman looking for her history, and Keats, a cynical journalist who works for a paranormal magazine, and transports you to the Irish village of Doolin, a tiny, isolated coastal town. Whether you choose Keats or Ellen (you can switch over at the end of every chapter, and you will have to eventually play through the game as both of them to get the complete story) you will quickly find that this sleepy little village is not quite deserted, instead populated by a variety of mysterious characters with shared histories full of deception and death. Once night falls, Doolin is transformed into a magical place populated by "Folk", whimsical monsters and creatures that happen to be the disembodied spirits of the dead. Without giving away too much of the story, you are granted access to the Netherworld where you are thrust into a battle between warring Folk factions, all the while jumping between the real Doolin and the spirit world as the stories are intertwined. The game plays out like a role playing game, as you collect items and gain new fighting abilities as you progress. Battles are played out in real-time however, so this is more of an action-RPG. You do not directly fight the other Folk, rather you use the spirits of Folk you have captured (via some wild motion sensing movements) to perform the attacks, and much of the game revolves around figuring out which Folk are effective against each other.  It's quite a beautiful game at times with an almost storybook appearance, but it feels rather lifeless (no pun intended). You have limited interaction with the environment and other characters, and because only a few key scenes are fully animated and have voiceovers, you spend a lot of time clicking through almost-static backgrounds and text dialog. This would be more forgivable if the rest of the game had you doing a variety of different tasks, but it's actually quite repetitive, even moreso when you consider you have to do each level twice, once for each character. There are some changes depending on whether it is Keats or Ellen, but the basic flow of each level is the same. Overall, it's far from a bad game and the story will hold your attention, but it does fall short of greatness. 
While not an explicit game, Folklore does have some imagery that would be scary for younger children, particularly towards the end of the game, with more menacing monsters and a darker tone. Not that the tone starts out very light, as the "real world" events focus around themes of death, including suicide and murder, with children involved in the plot, though again there is nothing explicit. This could be considered an occult game, with all that entails.
Even though you spend most of the game in combat against fantastic and sometimes creepy monsters, your character does not attack directly, instead conjuring up wispy-looking versions of captured monsters to do battle on your behalf. An apt description would be "Silent Hill Lite" - if you're familiar with that series of more adult horror games and uncomfortable with your teen playing them, Folklore is a suitable alternative. Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "folklore mythology" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Folklore |
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