Welcome to This Is Not A Review. In these articles we discuss general impressions, ideas and thoughts on any given game, but as the title implies, it’s not a review. Instead, it’s an exercise in offering a quick recommendation (or dismissal) after spending enough time to grasp the ideas and gameplay of a thing without necessarily playing it from A to Z.

The subject of this installment: Pathologic 3: Quarantine, developed by Ice-Pick Lodge and published by HypeTrain Digital.

The original Pathologic is a survival experience that challenged players to withstand twelve days in a small town of the Great Steppe that’s been wracked by a deadly (and possibly sentient) plague. The task is to contend with infection, obviously, but also with the societal decay that such an epidemic invites, all while searching for a possible cure and making difficult choices about whose lives to prioritize along the way. It’s survival horror in perhaps the most literal sense and a singular experiment in storytelling through mechanics and systems.

The premise is unique enough that the series’ trajectory since has been to revisit and expand upon the same setting and themes. Pathologic 2 was essentially a remake of the first entry, and it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played, but it only features one of the original three playable characters. Developer Ice-Pick Lodge originally intended to add the other two as DLC, but that project appears to have grown into yet another standalone entry in the series.

So, later this year we’ll be returning to the Steppe once again in Pathologic 3 to see how the updated engine affects the Bachelor’s side of the story. In the meantime, a free prologue, subtitled Quarantine, serves as an appetizer.

A full Pathologic campaign takes a couple dozen hours to complete and adheres to its own schedule, allowing players to largely travel where they want, when they want, even if it means missing key story events. Quarantine, which takes only a couple of hours of complete, is a much more rigidly guided experience. We’re given pieces of the story as we jump to various points on the timeline – before, after and during the outbreak – and we’re introduced to some new mechanics that differentiate the Bachelor’s path from that of the Haruspex in the previous entry.

Since the Bachelor is a doctor, his methods are more scientific than those of the Haruspex, who divines by examining entrails. As such, the standout sequence of Quarantine has us diagnosing patients by compiling lists of symptoms through both interviews and physical examination, giving us a glimpse of how we might save lives in this particular rendition of Pathologic.

The rest of Quarantine reminds me of the shortform Marble Nest that was released in the lead-up to Pathologic 2. Many of the strengths of the full game are evident here – particularly the script’s sharp wit, bolstered by an exceptional translation – but they feel somewhat muted without the chance to see Pathologic‘s systems evolve and interact on a large scale over an extended period of time. Pathologic being fatiguing is part of the experience, and it’s something we just don’t get in a prologue that can be completed in a single sitting, which is why it’s hard to judge Quarantine as a complete work.

Given that it’s short and free, though, it’s worth a look for anyone interested in Pathologic 3, if only as a vibe check — and if the third entry is successful enough, perhaps we’ll finally be able to play as the Changeling again in a prospective Pathologic 4.

Play Pathologic 3: Quarantine now for free – PC

The post This Is Not A Review – Pathologic 3: Quarantine appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Captivating visuals and great build variety.

LOW Pretty short overall.

WTF That golden boss…

It’s not often that a cartoony game grabs my attention — let alone holds it from start to finish — so I’m happy to report that Cat Quest 3 is one such gem. The strong artistic direction and the sheer absurdity of watching cute, furry sprites smacking each other with medieval weaponry while pretending to be pirates, kept me keen to see this adventure to the end. En garde!

Cat Quest 3 is a realtime action-RPG featuring 2D characters roaming a 3D world. The adventure begins with a short intro setting the stage for the main character’s goal of tracking down a legendary pirate treasure hidden by certain esoteric (yet fluffy) forces. This brief foreword was just enough to introduce the premise, preparing me for an adventure brimming with magic, cat puns aplenty, and a vibrant map full of legendary pirates.

Following that, I immediately took note of the eye-catching camera perspective Cat Quest 3 implements, where we observe things from a tilted overhead angle, allowing a clear view of the world’s islands, mountains, caverns, castles, taverns, towers, and seas as they pop into view as if being “discovered”.

I found this to be a neat solution for the mixed-dimensional presentation, as Cat Quest 3’s combat demands quick reflexes and purr-poseful legwork, since enemies usually appear in groups and operate on different movesets. So, while we direct our feline hero across the map (the world is a literal map, featuring cartographic lines and symbols) we clearly observe the area and any opposition nearby. This kingdom is brimming with dastardly pi-rats, supernatural entities, and a handful of eldritch surprises, all wearing era-appropriate apparel like feathery hats, eye patches, sabers, wands, shields, and a selection of ranged weaponry to boot.

Regarding the on-foot combat, as soon as Cat Quest 3’s few introductory bouts ended, I had a weighty selection of several types of armaments, including claws, swords, and axes, as well as pistols and double-barreled contraptions, presenting me with many choices of build. The items also carry ‘deeper’ RPG-stat-boosting purposes yielding maximum health increases, stronger armor ratings, faster attack speed, and so on. While I could swing the melee weapon of choice in prolonged fashion, ranged options were hampered by cumbersome reload periods, forcing me to learn how to use them strategically when surrounded by foes. While Cat Quest 3 definitely gets easier with play due to plentiful money for upgrades, the first 30 or so minutes were indeed rough.

However, while the aesthetics are on point, it’s safe to say that this isn’t the most optimized structure for combat. As all enemies are 2D sprites darting around a 3D world, their attack animations tend to overlap and become visually tough to parse (especially within narrow dungeons) and it gets even more chaotic when enemies start throwing fireballs. For instance, it’s hard to tell whether an enemy’s color change was due to my axe connecting or because the enemy was initiating a magical attack. Some instances of Cat Quest 3 were memorable simply due to how many sprites were present on screen at once, but they were reduced to being exercises in mayhem where I happily resorted to mashing buttons in the hopes of dwindling their health bars ASAP. Such im-purr-fections aside, I doubt many players will have a hard time getting on board, especially as the difficulty curve quickly boosts the player into a comfortable zone.

Between bouts of combat, Cat Quest 3 offers entertaining, pun-filled dialogues which are short enough not avoid interrupting the joy of slowly becoming the most fearsome purr-ate around, and I always cheered upon discovering yet another seemingly uneventful corner of the map that served as a starting point for an epic quest to thwart newly-introduced adversaries. The world’s rapid expansion was a highlight for me, and Cat Quest 3’s flavorful homages to other videogames and real-world celebrities made things that much sweeter. (Crank up the Meowtallika!!!)

As such, everything contained within Cat Quest 3 added up to a satisfying, fulfilling romp — and while I never encountered an obstacle that I couldn’t overcome within five minutes of trying, I did feel like I had accomplished something at the story’s conclusion, which only serves to show how expertly knitted-together the experience is. I found it to be utterly irresistible and, dare I say, purr-found!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was developed by The Gentlebros and published by Kepler Interactive. It is currently available on Switch, PS4/5, PC, and XBO/X/S. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch Lite. Approximately 7 hours of play were devoted to the game, and it was completed. This game supports local co-op multiplayer for up to two players.

Parents: This game has received an E rating from the ESRB and contains Comic Mischief and Fantasy Violence. The game features medieval aesthetics heavily influenced by pirate legends akin to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series. However, it also borrows from more complicated IPs like H.P. Lovercraft’s writings. Still, even if the story hints at a deeper overarching plot with giant cosmic creatures at the forefront, Cat Quest 3’s cartoony 2D characters and playful tone are the primary impressions players will be left with in the end. As such, I doubt that younger audiences will think twice about the game’s influences even after witnessing clear references to more serious material in a few of its dialogues.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue in this game is shown via textboxes, so they’re easy to keep track of at all times. All enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed on-screen with enemies signaling when they will strike next and in which general direction. There are no audio cues needed for gameplay. This experience is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game doesn’t offer a controller diagram and the controls are not remappable. However, the controls are fairly straightforward — on the Switch Lite, we use the left stick to move the character, the face buttons to strike and roll out of danger, and the bumpers are for magic attacks.

The post Cat Quest 3 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Elegant card system, lots of charm.

LOW Not enough depth, gets repetitive too soon.

WTF How does the little bird steer the body?

SteamWorld Quest is the latest in developer Image & Form’s shared universe series populated by autonomous robots. Like the other entries, it features common themes and imagery, but nearly every one is a reboot of sorts, essentially unconnected from the rest and offering new spins on genre, gameplay and ideas. We’ve already seen tower defense, 2D turn-based strategy and platforming action. This time, the team has crafted an RPG-style adventure with a card-based deckbuilding combat system. If nothing else, they gets props for never getting stale.

The story in Quest is lightweight stuff — it begins with a group of heroes being kidnapped, and a rookie who’s been wanting to join their ranks gathering some friends to rescue them. It’s fine enough to get the gameplay rolling, but at no point should anyone come to Quest for the story. No, the meat of the game is the deckbuilding and turn-based combat, and it’s both elegant and clever.

Quest asks the player to put together a party of three characters and each one has eight cards equipped, which means the player will have access to 24 cards (total) when in a battle. This tight, reasonable number keeps things simple and while also giving flexibility in role and function.

For example, the froglike Galleo can function as a potent healer, but can also deal bruising amounts of physical damage. I didn’t find that mixing both functions worked well since focus and careful card selection is needed to get the most out of him (and of anyone, really) but with each team member having at least two roles, the mixing and matching in team composition is great, and Image & Form get a lot done with a small number of moving pieces.

Unfortunately, while the devs have nailed the elegance and approachability of the deckbuilding, SteamWorld Quest isn’t as strong in other areas, and it starts to feel repetitive and tiresome before the adventure is over.

The levels are bland-looking hallways and doors, and if I blinked, I couldn’t tell which way I should be going since one room is indistinguishable from another, and nothing eventful happens — they’re just a series of battles to get through before getting to the next series of battles without sidequests, puzzles, or anything significant to break up the combat.

While the characters are charming (the colorful visual design does a lot of the heavy lifting) there isn’t much to them apart from their cards. I was hoping for skill trees or other nuanced aspects that might add just a bit more depth to Quest. The simplicity is great, but it’s perhaps too simple and feels like it’s missing a layer or two.

Also, it’s not a major thing, but it was disappointing to see characters who are not in the active party earning less experience than those that are. That’s a bad habit that many RPGs have learned to avoid these days, and I was surprised to see it here, especially considering that it’s possible to play for long stretches without a reason to switch characters.

SteamWorld Quest is cute and colorful, I’m a fan of the developer and their IP, and the deckbuilding is a genuine strength deserving of praise — something this polished, restrained and approachable is a joy. On the other hand, the overall experience doesn’t offer enough variety or depth, and I struggled to stay engaged before even reaching the halfway point. I’d love to see an enhanced sequel, but the current iteration just runs out of… Well, you know.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Image & Form and published by Thunderful Games. It is currently available on Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 8 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Language. This game is utterly harmless. The violence is gore-free sword-whacking of robots, there’s no sexual content, and I have no idea what language the warning refers to. This one is safe for players of any age.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue is subtitled, the subtitles are not adjustable, and there are no audio cues necessary for successful play. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post SteamWorld Quest: Hand Of Gilgamech Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

As Destiny 2 quickly approaches, one of the talking points that game director Luke Smith has repeatedly returned to is Bungie’s desire for this installment to “unhide the fun.”

I have played approximately one hour of the first Destiny–and downloaded, then deleted the sequel’s beta without opening it– so there are certainly gamers who have a better grasp on what that idea means for that series.

But, generally, it’s a good idea, right?

Sometimes that responsibility–to unhide the fun– should fall to the developer. In the case of The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind, a little help from Zenimax Online Studios would go a long way to making ESO:M’s PvP more easily accessible.

The biggest criticism that I leveled against the game in my review a couple weeks ago was that, for me at least, the multiplayer was essentially broken. I waited for 10 minutes multiple times, only to not get placed in a PvP match. Same deal for the dungeon finder. For those kinds of basic features, a more obvious on-ramp would be much appreciated.

But sometimes the fun needs to stay hidden. Sometimes the fun being hidden is why it’s fun to begin with.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is filled to the brim with examples. It’s a massive game (the maps from Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time and Skyrim all fit pretty neatly inside the borders of BOTW’s post-post-apocalyptic Hyrule), but one that showcases an unparalleled attention to detail, brought to life with mischievous flair by Nintendo.

There are no obvious markers to draw the player to the mysterious dragons that flicker through the “open air” adventure’s open sky. There’s nothing but swirly markings on the map to indicate that three of the game’s 120 shrines are hidden at the center of labyrinthine mazes. In fact, I can pretty safely say that I would not have discovered the game’s most involved and rewarding side quest, “From the Ground Up,” without detailed instructions from Mike Diver over at Waypoint.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind similarly hides its best side quest, “The Memory Stone.” I’m going to tell you how to find it, and then spoil it. If you own ESO: M, I would suggest you hold off on reading this and go play it for yourself. It only takes about 45 minutes, and you won’t regret it. Otherwise, read on–“The Memory Stone” is a master class in narrative quest design.

“The Memory Stone” is excellent, in part, because it refuses to form its narrative in the depths of Elder Scrolls lore. Tamriel is a world that is constantly mid-sentence–and, often, better for it; it makes the world of ESO feel real–but, as a player, I was constantly bogged down, unable to escape the feeling that I was trying to parse the syntax of a centuries-old run-on sentence.

But “The Memory Stone” is entirely self-contained. Instead of telling the story of Tamriel as a whole, it tells the story of one man’s tragic life.

I found that man, Gilan Lerano, on the western edge of Vvardenfell in Balmora– a city halved by the Odai River, a tendril of blue that snakes its way inland from the Inner Sea, coming to a halt a few miles after passing through.

On the northwestern side of the Odai, the player encounters an elderly dark elf named Gilan Terano mid-argument with his son, Mils. As the player approaches, Mils storms off, and Gilan explains that he and his son have been estranged for many years. He has a daughter as well, Neria, though she doesn’t harbor the same anger.

Gilan won’t explain the cause of this estrangement beyond saying that he has spent his years slaving away for his employer, Master Drenim, and he will spend what little time he has left in Tamriel doing the same.

“I will serve him until I die, no doubt,” Gilan says. “But that will not be long now.”

As the player probes the fault lines of Gilan’s fractured relationship with his children, we see that he is heartbreakingly aware of his longstanding faults.

“I failed them as a father, but… they are safe, aren’t they? I kept them safe,” he asks, obviously not entirely convinced.

Gilan hands the player the titular memory stone–a magical artifact that causes ghostly reenactments of memories to play out when the player enters the areas where the memories first took place (think the pensieve from Harry Potter, but with an enchanted built-in GPS). Gilan asks the player to go to the locations marked on their map, and experience his memories.

“You will know soon enough [why I didn’t spend more time with my children],” Gilan says. “As will they I hope.”

The player has the option of speaking with Gilan’s children before they embark on their quest. I decide to speak with Mils first. I find him on the dock across the river from his father. He wants nothing to do with the me. Either he is still fuming from his fight with his Gilan, or he is truly damaged. I suspect both.

“I have nothing to say to that man,” he hisses. “What is it about ‘I don’t want to talk about my father’ that you can’t understand?”

I leave him to his work and head to his sister’s waypoint. Neria works with guar–a reptilian creature that the denizens of Tamriel keep as pets/livestock– at a stable in town.

She is kinder than her brother, but still, their is obvious daylight between her and Gilan. She tells me that she knows nothing about her father’s work.

“All he’s been able to tell me is that part of his contract with Master Drenim forbids him from disclosing any of his master’s business, even to his children,” she says. I leave her to her work and head out to in search of the memories that I hope will help me understand.

Wisely, “The Memory Stone” places its markers close together; all four are just outside Balmora. Their nearness allows the player to move through the quest quickly, and, as it becomes apparent that all four represent important moments in Gilan’s life, it gives a sense of the nearness of his distance. He may be estranged from his children, but in terms of sheer mileage, he was never far away.

The first marker finds a young, red-haired Gilan proposing to his wife, and the mother of his children, Bravora Faren. The young Gilan is nervous and sweet–it’s obvious that he’s spent most of the day trying to figure out how to pop the question. Bravora is affectionate and confident; you get the sense that her adventurous spirit is helping Gilan grow to be more confident himself.

The next marker finds Bravora with a secret of her own. A nice little double entendre plays out as the couple stands on the edge of a canyon. Gilan, looking at Bravora, suggestively tells her that he’s enjoying the view. She segues into talking about viewing bigger houses; she worries they’ll soon run out of space. Gilan doesn’t get it– Why would we run out of space?

Then it clicks: “You’re pregnant!”

“That’s what happens,” Bravora quips back, “when one enjoys the view.”

They fade out; his ghost takes a beat longer than hers to disappear.

I follow my compass to the next marker. When the memory starts, Bravora is on the ground; bleeding out. She has been gored to death by a monster as the pair traversed the wilderness.

“Take care of the children,” she tells Gilan.

“We’ll take care of them together,” he insists.

She whispers, “You’ve made these years so wonderful,” and fades out of Tamriel.

His ghost fades out too, just a beat later. I run to the next marker, on the northern edge of town. When I arrive I’m introduced to a character that I’ve heard about but never seen: Master Drenim. We learn that Bravora has been working for Drenim; Gilan has been helping her. Due to Bravora’s death, the couple was unable to claim a precious crystal and Drenim lost it to a business rival. Drenim demands that Gilan work the debt off.

“I understand you have some aptitude for magic,” Drenim says, cutting a cruel deal. “You will serve me.”

Gilan asks what will become of his children if his entire life is spent in service to Drenim.

“You will see them when I have no need of you,” Drenim says; a low-level super villain. “Or you will see them on the streets.”

Gilan acquiesces and I’m back in the present. I return to the old Gilan, still standing where I left him, tending to business outside his home. He is pleased that I have completed the task and asks me to go find Mils and Neria and ask that they come back so that he can tell them something about their mother. If Mils won’t come, Gilan adds, tell him it’s about his inheritance.

“I feel like I can finally leave them with answers I’ve never been able to provide,” he says.

I go to Mils first and tell him his father wants to speak with him about his mother. He still isn’t interested. I tell him it’s about his inheritance. Now, he’s insulted. “I don’t want his money any more than I want his apologies! Does that man really think that he can buy me off after ignoring me my entire life?”

I leave him alone, and go find his sister tending to guar on the other side of town. She says that she’ll come see her father and, helpfully, that she’ll convince her brother to come, as well.

I head back to Gilan’s house, and as I enter, Mils and Neria are ahead of me, mounting the stairs. Neria is attempting to convince Mils that this is the right thing to do. It isn’t working.

When they arrive upstairs, Gilan doesn’t respond as Neria calls his name. The siblings turn and walk to his room. Gilan is lying dead on the ground. Neria is distraught. Mils, no less venomous now than when his father was alive, spits, “Couldn’t avoid disappointing me one last time. Good riddance.”

But suddenly Gilan rises from his body, as ghostly after death as he was in his memories.

“Soon, I’ll be able to share the truth with you,” he explains. “To share everything with you. Thanks to the efforts of this kind traveler, I have archived my memories on this stone. I hope one day… you will find it in your hearts to forgive me… And find the father, and mother, you never had here. I love you. I have always loved you. You’ve both made me so proud.”

Mils is angry: “Why couldn’t you just fade away like you always do? Why couldn’t you just let me forget you?”

Neria tells him that it isn’t just about him; that it’s about their family finally being together.

After their exchange, I approach Mils. He is finally willing to talk.

“I thought I knew my father. I always thought he hated me, and that’s why he was never around. I came to terms with that long ago. I had a father, and I hated him. Now he’s gone. How am I supposed to face what’s in that stone knowing I was wrong.”

And then the quest is over.

That final moment caused in me, as a player, a feeling of melancholy that I haven’t felt since I finished The Last of Us. “The Memory Stone,” like Naughty Dog’s high-water mark for storytelling in games, doesn’t give us neat resolution. It finishes with the restoration of the Lerano family still unfinished. Mils hasn’t seen what’s in the Stone. He knows only that he was wrong.

Interestingly, this turn cannot happen until Gilan is dead. The arc of “The Memory Stone” is bookended by death. The Lerano family falls apart when Bravora dies in front of Gilan. The Lerano family cannot begin to come back together until Gilan dies in front of his children.

As Mils angrily questions his father’s ghost, he gives us a key to understanding the problem at the heart of the family’s estrangement. He asks, “Why couldn’t you just fade away like you always do?” Gilan has been missing from his children’s lives for so long that his presence only causes harm. The healing can only occur when Gilan is somehow removed–a ghost, or a phantom trapped in an enchanted stone. Gilan became estranged without ever being far from his children. In a funhouse mirror twist, the healing can only occur if he is present, but somehow, far away.

“The Memory Stone” makes excellent use of foreshadowing. It instills a sense of mystery in the player early on–Why did Gilan, who clearly cares for his children, spend so much time away from them? Why can’t Gilan tell his children about his work for Master Drenim? It introduces these questions–and the fact that Gilan will die–early on, and then lets them gestate in the player’s imagination for the next 45 minutes.

And, wisely, the mechanics of the quest allows for that kind of reflection. While many open world side quests find the player trekking to a waypoint to kill a horde of enemies or fetching an object for a needy NPC, “The Memory Stone” allows the player to be passive; to observe the pivotal moments in the arc of a man’s tragic life. We don’t fight, we don’t fetch. We watch.

“The Memory Stone” succeeds because in our quest to help this family heal, we are as passive and helpless as they were as it fell apart.

— Andrew King

The post Morrowind and The Memory Stone appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

The aesthetics and design of the piece are remarkable in their quality and consistency, with the music being a particular high point for myself. The real strength of the aesthetics of Knight Of Lodis is not their quality, but their consistency. The developers have done a beautiful job in creating a world that, though lo-fi, is more coherent than some modern 3D games that confuse fidelity with quality. The design of the game is also well-done, with the class system having less dead-ends than similar games as well as providing a more focused sense of character.

Yet for all it does well, the whole of the game feels like it is less than the sum of its parts. This is not to say that the game is not enjoyable, but the player is unlikely to feel especially excited by the game, precisely because it does not do anything new. Those who have never been exposed to an SRPG will have a treat in store because this is a fantastic game, but likely those players who are interested in Knight Of Lodis are the same players who have played many SRPGs. For them, this is the same old thing. Sure, there are new game mechanics, but nothing that changes the nature of how SRPGs usually work, nothing that quickly separates this game from its peers. The plot, although well done, is also fairly clichd, adding to the experience of dj vu one experiences when playing this game.

But this just means that the game is not perfect. Instead, it remains an outstanding example of its genre, especially on a handheld, bogged down only by a few flaws (already brought up by Mike) and the fact that it doesn't offer anything new to the experienced RPG gamer. Along with Golden Sun, Knight Of Lodis is a blast to the past for those who remember the 16-bit era and an enjoyable history lesson for those who missed it the first time around. The game is rated 8 out of 10.

The post Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis — Second Opinion appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

One of the more impressive RPGs to appear recently has been Atlus' Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis, a strategy role-playing game that serves a gaiden (or side story), separate from the main game's story arc (which spans multiple chapters).

For those who are unfamiliar with the Ogre Battle series, here's a brief breakdown: Ogre Battle is comprised of two different kinds of games–the Ogre Battle titles, and the Tactics Ogre titles. The Ogre Battle games have appeared on the Super Nintendo, Playstation, and Nintendo 64. The games are essentially real-time strategy games where the player commands units in battle. Rather than control the individual characters, the player spends most of his time micromanaging or issuing generalized battle orders. Battles are turn-based, waged on large maps, and require a great deal of strategy (and time) to win. Basically, they're medieval war simulators filled with fantasy elements like magic and whatnot.

The Tactics Ogre games are slightly different. The titles in this series have appeared on the Super Nintendo, Playstation, Sega Saturn, and now the GBA. These titles are strategy RPGs, much like other games in the subgenre such as Shining Force, Vandal Hearts, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Battles are waged on small isometric maps, and instead of commanding units, the player controls each individual character. Through a series of menu interactions, the player manipulates his characters around the grid-based map, commands them into action, and tries to fulfill a preset condition of victory (which generally vacillates between 'kill everything' and 'kill the leader'). Both series require a great deal of thought and strategy as well as a fairly serious time investment.

Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis is your standard strategy RPG, complete with the isometric battlefields, the labyrinthine plot (full of political intrigue, backstabbing, and more), and the slow paced game mechanics. However, it does have the distinction of being one of the first truly deep strategy RPGs to appear on a handheld–which is part of what makes it so impressive as a game.

Boasting some nicely detailed 2D graphics (which are on par with games from the SNES era), Tactics Ogre is certainly easy on the eyes. Character sprites are small, but not impossible to see, and animate nicely. A few more frames of animation might have been nice in spots, but overall, there's not a lot to complain about in terms of the game's visuals.

Environments are also quite nice, and feature a fair degree of variation. Players will wage battle on a variety of different maps, including rivers, fields, towns, and more. This keeps the game feeling fresh by not forcing the player to continually fight on the same maps. Granted, everything on the maps is a little blocky overall (which is necessary because of the isometric movement requirements), but that's a standard in this kind of game.

While the graphics are certainly pleasant, the gameplay is the real draw of Tactics Ogre. Battles are the equivalent of a chess match; the player has a certain number of characters that he can use, and the computer has some as well. Strategy is vital, because choosing a team will generally determine the outcome of the battle. Characters are all ranked by class and level, and each distinction is important when choosing troops. Characters gain levels by earning experience points in combat; earn enough and they gain a level. They can also earn emblems, which are rewards for committing certain deeds in battle. Earning emblems and levels will allow for characters to change classes at certain points. Sometimes changing class can be looked at as an evolution, other times it's merely a side-step. Planning ahead and considering each move is vital even outside of battle.

Each class has strengths and weaknesses. Ninjas can move about quite freely, but they don't have good armor. Hawkmen are tough against knights and the like, but archers can take them down from a distance. The player has to learn what classes work best against other classes, or end up restarting battles with regularity.

One of the game's more interesting touches is that for much of the game, reviving characters is a difficult undertaking. It can be done, should one of the soldiers fall in battle, but if it's not done before the victory condition is met, then that character is lost forever. It's a great idea, really, and ups the ante of each battle. Losing a powerhouse character that's at a high level is enough to have gamers hitting reset and fighting the battle again.

Because characters can be lost forever, the game has several ways of making your army stronger. First off, characters can be purchased in shops. Buying soldiers seems like the way to go, at least until you get higher in levels. Any soldier bought is at level one when purchased. There's an option to increase his level, but unfortunately, the price goes up for each increment. The easier approach is to persuade enemy soldiers in battle. A successful persuasion means that the enemy character will join the player's side and become a usable character from that point forward. This is the better way to increase the number of characters available to you, particularly because the characters are already leveled up.

Unfortunately, the gameplay is not without a few flaws. The most notable is the amount of time a battle can take. Some of the game's battles can last for well over an hour, which makes playing on the fly quite difficult (luckily, the player can save at any point, as long as it's his turn).

The reason the game seems to take so long is because the actions take forever to execute. There's no option to skip the game's animations, so the player must watch each character move out to their new location, execute their attack, and suffer a counterattack as well. Do this for eight characters and it takes awhile. It's even worse because the player will have to sit through the computer doing the same thing. I could literally put the game down, walk to the kitchen, poor myself a drink, and come back to the game before the computer's turn was over. This is part of the reason Tactics Ogre can take 40 hours to beat.

The other flaw is that the missions themselves rarely change the conditions of victory. Terms are almost always 'kill all the enemy soldiers' or 'kill the leader'. It would have been nice to see the game offer up some more imaginative objectives for the player–something like the scenarios in Vandal Hearts where the player was supposed to keep the zombified townsfolk alive or prevent the enemy from escaping the screen, for example. As it is, the game gets a little repetitive as the player progresses simply because he's always doing the same thing.

Still, even with the flaws, this is a very good game. The sheer number of battles, along with the multiple endings (the story branches at several points based on the gamer's selections), extra maps with hidden treasure not found in the main quest, and the multiplayer function that allows players to put their squads head-to-head make Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis a game with a lot to offer in terms of gameplay. That they managed to cram it all into one tiny GBA cart is impressive. Rating: 8 out of 10

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Parents shouldnt find much to object to with Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis. The violence is innocuous and Im struggling to recall even an instance where the language might be objectionable. Younger gamers will most likely be bored by the slow pace of the game and the complexity of the battles, but children around ten and up should be able to pick up the game and enjoy it without any major difficulty.

Fans of the Ogre Battle series should run out and grab a copy as soon as possible. This title features the standard Tactics Ogre style of gameplay, story, and execution–all factors that will no doubt please hardcore fans of the games in this series.

Fans of strategy RPGs would also be advised to pick up the game as well. While not quite on the level of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre comes much closer to emulating that game than the much-hyped (and ultimately disappointing) Hoshigami.

Collectors will want to grab a copy as well–the games in the Ogre Battle series always seem to have small print runs, meaning they become rare collectors items once they go out of print. This game hasnt been out for two months yet, and its already hard to find. Grab one now before the price on Ebay goes through the roof.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers have nothing to worry about since this game features no voice acting.

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