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Dungeon & Dragons Tactics
Finally a Dungeons & Dragons game on the
PSP which is faithfully to the latest incarnation of the D&D rule-set
and boasts powerful new characters such as the Psion and the Psychic Warrior.
Like the original pen, paper and die game, Dungeons & Dragons Tactics is
a turn based game which will lead the gamer and their party of six on a
variety of Dungeon type quests in order to rid the world of malevolent
evil and of course, bring home a healthy hoard of gold.
Faithfully utilizing the Dungeons &
Dragons 3.5 rule-set, Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics allows players to take
a party of six adventurers into a wide variety of dangerous environments
to experience deep and exciting turn-based action. All of the core races
and classes are available to the player, including two Psionic classes,
the Psion and the Psychic Warrior. Players can customize their
characters and store as many as their memory stick can handle. Battle
many different types of monsters from the Dungeons and Dragons universe.
Play with your friends wirelessly in both cooperative and adversarial
game modes. Extend the gameplay experience with downloadable content.
[From Atari]
Before engaging in the game, the player has
a choice of either selecting a pre-generated character or create their
own. As with the original game, the player is awarded a number of points
which they must then allocated to their statistics which include
Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity and Constitution
that all allow for different attributes.
For instance, Strength is used
to determine how much damage you do against characters with melee
weapons, whereas Intelligence is used for the number of spells you can
memories and how powerful your spells are.
In essence, D&D
Tactics is the original granddaddy of role-playing games which hundreds
of games have used as a template. Another interesting aspect of the game
is that alignment (good, evil or neutral) does impact on the gameplay
and your quests which is great for those people who wish to walk on the
dark side.
Once your characters have been created or
chosen, you are ready to venture into the gaming world where you
characters can go on a variety of quests and visit strange new places
where you can discover strange magical artifacts and weaponry.
The template of each
mission is rather similar as the player generally starts near a town
where they can stock up on items before entering the unknown. This is
done through a main map which will display the places you can go to such
as towns, temples and dungeons.
When you select adventure, the gamer is
prompted to select their party which may comprise of 2 - 6 characters,
depending on the adventure you are about to embark. As a general rule, a
fighter, cleric and mage are the best combinations with your other
characters powers and abilities used to assist.
It should also be noted
that in Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, your characters start at a lowly
level one and as you find treasure, defeat enemies and complete
missions, you are awarded experience points that will assist you in
leveling. When a character level ups, you can select a variety of new
attributes to power-up your character. Classic RPG!
Once in adventuring mode, the game is
basically a turn based strategy game where you have a variety of options
such as move, attack and magic etc. Although these games have generally
disappeared from the market and initially I found this method quite
frustrating and slow but after awhile, you actually start to enjoy the
slow methodical pace of the title which allows for great strategy rather
than run and fight. There is also a mode to speed things up which will
increase the pace of the title, rather than you waiting around for your
characters to maneuver.
They key to the title is the combat which
gives your character access to a plethora of ways to dispose your
enemies. The basic method is to use swords and arrows, however your
mages, clerics and psychic warriors have access to a variety of spells
of powers which will devastate your enemies.
Something more akin to the original pen and
paper version of D&D is that the game offers wireless play which means
you can join other gamers in adventuring cooperatively. There are also
adversarial game modes to!
Graphically, D&D Tactics is a rather
impressive game on the PSP with realistic animations and detailed gaming
environments. The magic effects and lighting is great and match that
with some sound effects and a great ambient soundtrack and its easy to
spend countless hours playing this title. The storyline of the title is
nicely progressed through cutscenes that display your characters profile
with a wad of text. It would have been nice to have some voice acting in
the title but nevertheless it does not impact on the gameplay.
In conclusion Dungeons & Dragons Tactics pays true homage to Gary Gyax's
original D&D game and all lovers of D&D will probably enjoy this title
or for those that like that slow paced action of Yi-Gi-Oh and the like.
The unfortunate aspect of this title is the slow nature of the game
which will turn many gamers away, however if you can get past this
aspect,
you will discover a very enjoyable game. |
