DarkPrince   29 May 2012

There are 3 games that have come out this generation that truly captured what gaming is for me, those 3 titles where Mass Effect 2, Dark Souls and Bayonetta, I am happy to say that this game has now joined that group.

From the moment you start this game an epic journey begins. You are the Arisen and with the aid of your trusty Pawns you aim to defeat the Dragon that has awakened in your age and retrieve your heart which the Dragon has taken from you. This is where your Journey begins.

The map is massive, one does not simply run around Gransys there are enemies everywhere ready to jump out and attack you, from the start of the game you can go wherever you please, if you can see it in the distance you an most likely get to it. This is both a positive and negative thing, while the game does give you direction in terms of quests it will not tell you where to venture out. You could easily run into a Drake at lvl 10 and be killed in one hit or run into a little orc that you can dispatch with ease. This always keeps you on your toes as you will never know what might e lurking around the corner. However can can chose to run away from battle, some enemies will only chase you a short distance or you can opt to take it on and get some really great items very early in the game. Because enemies are not scaled to your level it makes every step challenging and rewarding, it actually feels as if you have accomplished something. What's even better is the world totally changes at night, enemies are tougher, more aggressive and found in abundance, if you fight 12 wolves in a pack during the day this can easily double at night. Items are different at night and flowers and ingredients grow at different times of the day, it truly makes the game feel fresh and at night you will be scared to wonder at for fear of what is out there

Enemies are varied and distinct, wolves will hunt in packs where as Ogre's are usually alone, Chimera's wonder the plains and Griffons soar in the sky ready to swoop down and take your life.

You have many classes and weapons at your disposal all with their own unique stats and abilities. Your class is extremely important to the type of game you want to play but is even more so in how you choose your pawns, your pawns will help you by strengthening the team and covering the weakness that your class has. It adds more depth to the game, only you and your main pawn will level up however so make sure to hire new pawns along your journey.

Hiring pawns is rather simple and easy, you use the rift stone to enter a pawns world and select your pawn based on level, class, abilities etc. If you are playing online you can specify to choose pawns from around the world or just those on your friends list.

Combat is responsive and very very fun. There are a few hiccups with the framerate when wondering the lands especially if you are online, when you are online the game continuously loads and syncs new pawns along the roads which can cause framerate in some area's, I've found that this is only really a problem outside of one place, playing offline does seem to help at times though, but for me it's totally worth it as it doesn't interfere in combat or my journey. If you play online other players can choose to take your main Pawn with them on their journey, this not only earns you rift crystals which you can use to hire other pawns but your pawn will come back with knowledge of quests you have not yet done and will instruct you on how to complete this and the easiest path to take.

If there was one game that has come out this year that is worth getting it would be this, I would recommend this to any gamer in a heartbeat, it's a true masterpiece and I hope Capcom keep this alive with either future DLC or a sequel at some stage.
Pick up this game as there really isn't much out at the moment that could satisfy a gamer quite like this game, it's an amazing game and experience and I look forward to hundreds of hours with this title. Do whatever you have to do in order to get and play this game.

+ Soundtrack is amazing
+ Combat is responsive and varied
+ Each main class is very different and hybrid classes add that little extra
+ Day and Night cycle keeps things interesting and challenging.
+ Notice boards are easy to operate and finding and clearing missions is shown clearly on your map.
+ The world is vibrant and huge
+ In-game screen capture and uploader
+ Pawn system is so cool and such a great idea especially since it works properly and Pawns never get in the way.

- Some framerate issues in some area's especially when you are online

Overall 9.5/10

Amazing amazing game.