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PS2
Rogue Galaxy
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NCS
Game Synopsis
©NCSX▪
Level-5's latest adventure takes a departure from quaint
fantasy worlds and heads for the heavens. The hero
in Rogue Galaxy is a 17 year-old named Jester Rogue who
stares at the sky and wants nothing more than to
travel between worlds. Jester
gets his chance when he joins a group of space pirates led
by an eyepatch-wearing swashbuckler named Dorgengore who just
happens to have a daughter named Kisara who takes a
liking to Jester. The action starts off slow at
first with introductory battles and cinemas which
slowly unwind the storyline. At the outset of the
adventure, Jester is completing an assignment in a
town when he meets up with a stranger...
Bonus Schwag
* We received a small quantity of a beautiful and
glossy 20-page Rogue Galaxy booklet which measures
12 x 8.5" and contains commentary from Akihiro Hino
and Kentaro Motomura. There's also information on
the game, character profiles/artwork, storyboard
artwork, vehicles, weapons, and interviews with the
voice talent: Hiroshi Tamaki who plays Jester and
Aya Ueto who provides spirited vocals for Kisara.
Unfortunately, we did not receive enough to include
one with every preorder but early preorders will
receive one.
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NCS Game Notes™
(AVERT YOUR EYES NOW to
AVOID SPOILERS)
* In the title screen, cinemas from the game appear
in the four quadrants sequentially. Watch them to
get an idea of the scope and majesty of the
adventure.
* The introductory sequence shows a desert floor
where dust blows across the landscape and Jester
soon appears in the distance, mounted on a
skeletal-looking beast of burden. He unscrews the
cap from a water flask and chugs a bit before
pouring some water on his bony beast's head in an
apparent attempt to cool it down. He nudges the
beast on and in the distance, a city appears.
* In the next sequence, the camera pans in on a view
of a robotic humanoid named Steve and a squat
creature known as Simon who appears to be a
completely circular alligator in a cyborg suit if
such things existed in the universe. The humanoid
robot is reminiscent of C3PO with an easy-going
personality and a quirky manner while the squat, fat
alligator appears to be the leader of the duo.
Jester enters the town while mounted on his steed
with two beasts that trail him. He dismounts, gets
paid by two guards, and enters a temple of some sort
where a cleric is praying at the altar.
* While seated in the church, an earthquake shakes
the ground and Jester runs outside to investigate.
He witnesses a huge monster flying away away above
him. While standing there, he is surrounded by
skeletal beasts with horns and cow-skull heads who
emerge from the sand. Just before the battle starts,
a hooded nomadic warrior jumps into the fray to
slash a few of the skeletal beasts away. The cinema
then transitions seamlessly to action sequence where
Jester has to slash boney creatures alongside his
new friend.
* Controls
Movement is controlled through the L-analog pad and
the R-analog swivels the camera around. The D-pad is
only used for menu selection.
X = JUMP
O = SWORD SLASH
SQUARE = FIRE GUN
R1 = BLOCK
Jester responds to L-analog controller tugs with ease and attacks
foes in smooth linking fashion. Multiple blows may
be enacted in quick sequence.
* At the end of the battle, the game tallies the
skills earned and items won from the skeletal
creatures. The nomadic warrior follows Jester
afterwards.
* Cel-shaded stylings in the cinemas are sharp and
impressive to look at and don't look much different
from the beautiful in-game graphics. The voice
acting is also superb for all-around high production
values. Level 5's Akihiro Hino directed the game and
his aim was to make loading times miniscule during
the adventure. The game is nearly perfect in this
regard and Akihiro has succeeded for the most part
but we did notice loading times where the flow of
the action broke, if only for a millisecond.
* Whenever an encounter is about to start, a siren
blares and the words, "Warning" appear on screen.
Soon after, skull creatures, rocky beasts, and other
creatures emerge from the desert sand to mount an
attack.
* A map of the local area is superimposed on the
lower-right area of the screen. Jester is shown as
an arrow which shows orientation and direction.
* There's an area in the town where Jester and
friend have to dunk themselves into the water, swim
across a channel and then climb up on the other side
to continue their exploration.
* Soon after investigating a house and obtaining a
silver trinket from a chest inside, the Jester's new
friend takes his leave and gives him a sword and a
device. As soon as friend leaves, the earth shakes
and two one-horned rock creatures appear from the
sand and immediately attack. Their bodies resist all
damage from sword attacks since they're rocky. To
destroy them, jump up and slash to slice their
pointy heads which are their only vulnerable parts.
Jester can jump up and then slash thrice while in
midair before gravity takes hold to impart multiple
hits.
* After defeating the two creatures, Steve the robot
and Simon the alligator beast from earlier spot
Jester and quickly assess that he's perfect for
joining their gang. They invite themselves into
Jester's party and follow him obediently afterwards.
Steve slashes with a sword while Simon blows out
fire from a flamethrower and launches missile
strikes. Jester's cohorts have autonomy and they
attack when monsters are afoot but there are times
when they'll just stand there as if waiting for
Jester to take charge and do all the slashing
action.
* Save points in the game are indicated by a portal
on the ground with 3 blue jewels swirling above it.
Once multiple save points are encountered, Jester
may teleport from one save point to another save
point to traverse distances.
Loading Times Banished?
We've only had an hour this morning to check out the game but from
the church scene to running outside, engaging in
battle, and then exiting from battle, there are few
delays or breaks in the action and Jester strolls
from area to area in the town without many pauses or
tics. There are black screens that are spaced between the
action and cinematic cut scenes but these may be
construed as directorial edits to show scene changes
in order to distinguish them from the gameplay
action. When entering a targeted building, the
moment the door opens and when hero walks in, there
are occasionally microsecond pauses that may be seen
but we're nitpicking here. So, the game is not
perfect in extinguishing perceptible loading but
given the level of detail and action on screen, the
amount of loading is small and very kind to
impatient gamers.
If you're the retentive type who takes Akihiro's "no-loading" goal
to task and will be embittered by any sign of disk
accesses, you'll have quite a few very short loading
times to look forward. |
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This document is ©NCSX 2005. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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