Developer: (Platinum Games) Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action, Adventure, Collectathon, 3D
Gameplay Stats: 52 hours, 51/51 Steam Achievements
This game was recommended to me several years ago and I was captivated by the art style. It took me along time to actually get around to playing it, but I wish I hadn't slept on this game as long as I did. I'm gushing, so lets just jump in.
Visual: This game is gorgeous! The entire art style mimics the Japanese, watercolor, screen painting that has historically been used for their art and writing. The game was originally developed for the PS2, but was re-released with higher resolution for modern platforms. The art style is completely in tact and is looking better than ever. If you haven't seen anything about the game, the title picture I chose could've been a screenshot. It's a very unique art style that I am honestly bummed hasn't been copied. The language of the game is also conveyed really nicely. The only nitpick I have is that they didn't update the draw distance when they re-released the game. What was a normal distance for the PS2 seems really near in modern times. Especially considering how quickly you can travel through the world.
Audio: Again, this game is gorgeous. The music is reminiscent of what I feel like I Japanese themes. I'm no expert here, but I really enjoyed the music. It's all beautiful and orchestral. I'm not sure if they remastered the background tunes, but they are beautiful either way. The sound effects in the game are a bit repetitive, but by turning down that particular volume slider, I was able to get around that particular annoyance. I'm quite certain I will pop this soundtrack on in the background while I work on something else at some point in the future. The voices in the game remind me a lot of Banjo Kazooie which is definitely a dated thing, but it's not a bad thing.
Plot: The plot here isn't really anything new, it's the trope of having to seal away the big bad after it has re-awakened after 100 years of slumber. Recently seen again in Breath of the Wild! It's presented simply and is rather enjoyable even though it is a treading very familiar ground. The twists are foreshadowed far in advance and comes across as a little hamfisted, but overall I pretty enjoyed the plot here. My only annoyance was that the text boxes had to scroll to display all of the text and it was kind of slow. Sections of the game are text heavy, but overall it wasn't a huge irritation. It WAS weird that your sidekick through the game is a particularly horny tiny man. It seemed like it was added to appeal to young boy gamers? I didn't like him much.
Gameplay: Pretty solid! Quite good controls from a PS2 era game, the platforming was nice. The big gimmick of the game is that you can freeze time and draw with a brush that would've been used for the art style of the game. I had some minor annoyances with these drawing sections, but I think that was more learning-curve than error. I was able to get the hang of the limitations of that system. I think having stamps for some of the powers instead of having to draw them over and over would have been nice, but it would've broken the theming of the game for sure. There wasn't too much randomness in the game which was nice, but I would've liked a completion page for more of the aspects in the game. It would've made the end game cleanup a lot smoother.
I really enjoyed this game! It's a refreshing take on the Zelda formula for certain. I think the way that your "gadgets" don't need a complicated inventory screen was actually brilliant. The player actually learned the designs to draw at the same time the character was, so it was very nice. There was even some creative problem solving required in some sections. I highly recommend this game [9/10]
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