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| Suikoden IV |
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| Written by Chris Pickering |
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Tuesday, 15 February 2005
 Suikoden promises hardcore RPG thrills, but does it deliver? IV real.
The Suikoden series has to be the most perfect example of a particular series held in incredibly high regard by the hardcore majority. Whereas most people were perfectly happy to plough through the various PS1 Final Fantasy titles, with their particular style of gaming that seemed to fit perfectly with the new gamers that Sony’s original Playstation attracted to the gaming world, other’s swore by the virtues of Suikoden.
 The Suikoden games have always been based around the “108 Stars of Destiny”. The idea being (in this iteration of the series anyway) that you can round up all 108 characters to get involved in the storyline as a little side plot.
It’s always been a interesting thought as to just how much you give away in a simply game review, especially when it comes to an RPG where an intriguing storyline is one of the biggest draws to the title. Hopefully I’ve found the perfect level and I wont give too much away. The game begins with yourself an your friend Snowe a mere day away from performing the initialising ceremony and becoming true knights. After this initial section where your led by the hand each and every step until you learn the basic routines of the game, you’ll find yourself able to clamber aboard your ship and take on missions in return for monetary rewards. Unfortunately things take a huge downturn right here, both in terms of the storyline for your character, and in terms of the gameplay itself.
 Just like The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, sea-faring takes up a huge portion of the game. Again, similarly this particular feature becomes all too monotonous and tedious all too easily. A hefty portion of the game is spent pointing your ship towards the far off island you wish to reach, holding onto the R1 button. Obviously that wouldn’t equal too much of an exciting gaming experience, even for the most hardened Suikoden fanboy, so we have something that’s the bugbear of virtually all RPG fans. Random battles. Not just a few random battles, we’re talking random battles occurring all too readily. Considering the fact that very few titles have attempted another route than making bloody battle in order to progress your characters stats, you perhaps can’t blame Konami too readily for their lack of innovation.
Luckily the battles themselves are simplistic, if not a touch uninspired. Picking from an attack or defend menu, you’ll frantically hack away at your enemies health bars until it hits 0 and you achieve victory. Absolutely nothing different to the normality of the genre. However, sea battles are where the game at least momentarily picks up. As you pick and choose the number of men to have on board (more men equals more health, but slower movement. A touch f strategy introduced) and the type of weapon you wish to fire with, your dropped into something akin to a board split into small squares. Find yourself in a square, side n to an enemy, and within firing range and you can mercilessly fire at your opponent hull. Find yourself even closer and you can board and attempt to take on the ships occupants man on man. Battle styles don’t stop there, as a duel system occurs every now and again. As the name suggests, this is a one on one battle, playing out much like a rock/paper/scissors formula until one of your health bars is depleted and one character can be declared the winner.
 As always, the aesthetics play an important role, and here they only act to the game’s detriment. The entire game is so alarmingly clean and bare that you’d not be too surprised to find yourself dropped into a playing area that was previously uninhabited by man. The lack of detail would make even one of the first generation of PS2 titles blush, with textures in particular bare and uninvolving. The constant streams of solid greys, and incredibly tedious blue’s become somewhat hard on the eyes as time progresses. The characters themselves also fail to deceive with their overall lack of detail. Where they’re animated quite well, and solid as you could hope for, the lack of true personality brought by the clean and clinical appearances, and the inadequate voice acting brings the whole world crashing down.
Unfortunately for Suikoden the sum of its parts equate to a game that falls way short of what we we’re all hoping and expecting considering the reputation of the series. In no particular area does Suikoden excel, and in no area does it progress the genre one iota. The sea battles may be a novel and new concept, but even that’s quite undercooked, and is only mildly more thrilling than the massively uninspiring land battles that you’ll constantly be faced with. It’s with a somewhat heavy heart that I award Suikoden IV the score you see below. Feel free to purchase if you’re in need for a standard RPG. Just don’t expect to be either inspired, or filled with enjoyment.
Score:5 |
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 February 2005 ) |
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