Neopets
is one of those games that came out of nowhere. It shouldn’t have – the
official Neopets Web site has more than 30 million users. But prior to E3 I
wasn’t even aware that Neopets existed. I’ve yet to become obsessed with the
franchise but am increasingly interested in the action/adventure being
developed exclusively for PlayStation 2.
The
Darkest Faerie centers on Tormund (Tor for short) and Roberta, two characters
with similar controls and attacks but different strengths and weaknesses. My
previous experience with the game brought Insomniac’s classic, Ratchet &
Clank, to mind. Now that I’ve been playing a more complete version I can see
that there are also elements taken from the recent Zelda games. Tor can target
his enemies and maneuver around them in the same way that Link does. Roberta
shares that ability, but her combo attacks are different. With Tor you may
come in close and strike three or four times with your sword, jabbing the
enemy until it disappears. Roberta, on the other hand, has the ability to use
a magic wand, allowing her to attack from a safer distance.
Both characters are important to the story and must be
utilized to complete the game. Switching between them is easy, and if Tor or
Roberta loses in battle, the other will step in to continue the fight.
Battles
feel a little stiff, but there’s still time to correct that. One feature I
hope they’re able to add is the ability to attack multiple enemies more
easily. It’s hard to react to attacks from more than one direction. That might
have been on purpose, though I believe they could change it without losing any
of the game’s difficulty. Believe it or not this is a challenging game, not
the kiddie franchise it appeared to be. The worlds are cartoony, some even a
little bland in their current state of development. But the initial challenge
is far more expansive than other child approved action/adventures (Croc, Tak,
Banjo-Kazooie, etc.)
The
worlds/game areas are big and fairly linear. Movement is not restricted to a
linear path – no Crash Bandicoot-style gameplay here. Neopets is good at
making the players feel like they’re in a world with few boundaries. There’s a
lot to do and many of the areas are blocked or may not be completed until
other requirements have been met. This falls in line with other
action/adventures, giving us an indication of what’s ahead before every
environment has been seen.
However, this isn’t solely an action/adventure; it’s partially an RPG with
magical motes. Equip a mote in the same way that you’d equip any piece of
magic. Apply them to your weapons and/or to your armor to increase their
power. Neopets follows the fire-burns-flesh, water-puts-out-fire rule, meaning
that each mote has a positive and a negative that could save your life in
battle, deal extra damage to your opponent, or do nothing beneficial to anyone
if your opponent’s spells are from opposing magic.
The
title implies that Neopets is a game with virtual animal friends who play all
day in the sun. That might be the dream that Tamagotchi had for its pets, but
in Neopets they are more of an aid than a rodent that has to be raised. You
have to feed them and take care of them to keep them near, but in return
they’ll help take care of you by replenishing your energy, your power, things
like that.
I
haven’t seen any original enemy concepts yet, but it was fun tackling
fictitious creatures that appear to be one thing but are really another. One
of the first is quite ferocious: it’s a book! It opens up as a book should,
but instead of revealing a story about a Hobbit or a Jedi (or some crazy love
story us gamers wouldn’t be interested in), it reveals large, razor-sharp
teeth!
Music
is a hard thing to judge in preview builds because developers don’t always
finalize it until the last minute. Regardless I’m going to form an opinion of
what they’ve already implemented: wonderful fantasy sounds with a hint of
Harry Potter. It’s a lighthearted soundtrack, and while I usually prefer dark
and/or more emotional themes, it was impossible for me not to love what the
composer had done. The indoor locations seemed to have a more upbeat sound,
almost in preparation for whatever dangers lurk outside (which is funny
because the indoor dangers are usually more severe). Twelve bosses are being
planned for the final version and I wouldn’t be surprised if each of them had
their own unique theme, too.
It
looks like a kiddie game and sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon, but in
reality Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is a promising adventure with several
familiar game elements. Most of the games that inspired Neopets’s direction
are loved by teens and adults, which is why the game has the potential to be
successful with the hardcore crowd, not just young Neopets fans. Personally I
can’t say I am a fan since I’m not one of the 30 million people who belong to
the
Neopets.com community. Do you think that’s going to stop me from playing
this game when it’s released next month?
