Search found 2 matches for ArtDink

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Discovery of The Year!

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Developed by Studio Artdink and published by NIS America, Neo Atlus 1469 is a simulation game that tasks you with exploring and mapping the entire world as well as creating trade routes with other nations and more in this thrilling strategy title, but is it worth checking out? We think so and here's why:



Neo Atlas 1469 is a remake of the 1999 classic, Neo Atlus II with an enhanced audio-visual presentation and a bit of extra story content, but is otherwise the same game. The gameplay is fairly straightforward, you must explore the vast and mostly unexplored world and create trade routes while trying to survive natural hazards such as storms, sea monsters, and tsunamis as well as pirates and vessels from enemy nations. This is not easy, but is thoroughly enjoyable despite being somewhat repetitive. The world is randomly generated as you explore it, but luckily if you don't like what generates during a voyage, you can retry to get a desired outcome which is a wonderfully useful feature!

The amount of micro-management in the game is pretty deep, but not to the point of being hardcore in this regard so it's a little more accessible for newcomers or players who aren't used to the genre, than say, Civilization 6 in this regard. The game's length is literally infinite, though once the world is fully explored it's actually much more fun to start a new game. In-terms of a single playthrough most players will probably take between 30 to 50 hours to fully explore the world, perhaps longer if the RNG isn't in your favor which is a reasonable length in our opinions!



The controls work amazingly well so there are no complaints from us there, and the audio-visual presentation is fantastic for a game that is over 20 years old, even if it's a remaster! The visuals are definitely better than the likes of Civilization II, and Sim City 2000 that were released in the same time-frame. The soundtrack is great albeit a bit repetitive as well, but it has aged gracefully!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, excellent controls, and a fairly large amount of content, Neo Atlas 1469 for the switch is a superb strategy title that's deep, but not too deep and is accessible to newcomers of the genre! The audio-visual presentation is also superb for a game that was released 20 years ago. For these reasons and more, we give Neo Atlas 1469 for the Nintendo Switch a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #ArtDink #NISA #Switch #Retail #Strategy #Simulation #Exploration

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Fairy Good Song! Sorry For The Dreadful Pun...

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Developed by Artdink and published by Bandai Namco, Sword Art Online: Lost Song takes place in Alfheim in the SAO mythos and is a gorgeous looking Vita game to say the least, but how does the gameplay hold up? Continue reading our review to find out!



The gameplay in Lost Song is vastly different from that of Hollow Fragment and in many ways it makes the game much more accessible and enjoyable than its predecessor. There are two HUGE differences between Lost Song and Hollow Fragment, the first is obviously the flight system which is very fun, but sadly is only used in the open fields of the game, and the second is that your characters can use magic to dominate the battlefield! The magic you can use depends on your character's race. Some characters such as Rain even have original sword skills that only they possess.

Another new feature is that you can choose to play as any of the 20+ included anime characters and Rain or a original character you can create, be warned that the character creation is extremely limited and disappointing. Much like Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, Sword Art Online: Lost Song takes place in an alternate reality to the anime series and light novels. Basically the anime and light novels occur in Timeline A while each of the games take place in let's say Timeline B. There's a definite continuity to the games so the storylines do compliment one-another.



The difficulty in Sword Art Online: Lost Song can be brutal at times unless you spend alot of time grinding levels, and weapon/skill mastery. Also the controls can be fairly daunting at first until you get used to the spellcasting and flight engine in the game. The game is much shorter than Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment so don't expect a single playthrough to take over a hundred hours this time around. Sword Art Online: Lost Song is also PSTV compatible which is always a good thing in our opinions!

The audio-visual presentation in this game is leaps and bounds better than those in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment. The PS4 version shown in the images is basically an upscaled version of the Vita game so expect to be be impressed! The character models are gorgeous and highly detailed, the world is beautiful beyond expectations, and the game's handful of CG cutscenes are a sight to behold! The music is generally better than Hollow Fragment's, the only downside to the audio presentation is that there is no option for English voice acting.



Bottom-Line:

With excellent gameplay that is both unique and highly enjoyable, a superb story, and top-notch visuals, Sword Art Online: Lost Song will be an instant hit for any fan of the franchise, while the unique gameplay mechanics and PSTV compatibility will appease hardcore gamers to their core! The soundtrack is also improved over that of Hollow Fragment. The only two things we found disappointing was how short the game is for a JRPG and that once again English voice acting isn't available in the game. Still the game is a fantastic addition to any Vita or PSTV owner's game library and as such we give the game a good to great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

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#Review #SwordArtOnlineLostSong #Vita #PSTV #PS4 #BandaiNamco #ArtDink #JRPG #Action #Gaming

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