Faery Legends of Avalon Impression

Downloadable role-playing action waits on PSN

Role-playing games are not for everyone. They usually require hours of gameplay with tons of character management and customization and days of turn-based battles. The hook is usually a deep story where gamers know and care for the characters and settings during the course of such a long journey. Faery: Legends of Avalon looks to crack, no break, but crack this mold as an RPG download experience on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade. The first biggest change is the hours invested, usually clocking in around 10-15 hours (main quest) but what else? What should RPG fans get excited about and does Faery offer enough to hook new non-RPG gamers? Let’s take a look.

Gameplay – Gamers make the choice, become an Elf or Fairy and begin a journey to take on evil in the land. The chosen character will advance and evolve in battle and gamers make the choice on how to strengthen their main character and party members. Standard RPG formula here with a story seeing the magic of the fae world fading and gamers tasked with finding out why. Battles are turn based with the story being advanced through tons of reading. This is old school RPG as there is no voice work in-game. Conversations determine relationships so tread carefully on who you alienate as it could come back to haunt you later in-game.

Graphics – A very pretty looking game but don’t expect to see tons of unique characters. Heroes and baddies alike recycle look and feel. The environments look nice with bright visuals mixed with dark and gloomy settings. The over world detail is solid and continues into each battle sequence, very well done. The game will not hurt the retinas and is a solid effort as a downloadable title.

Sound – It’s not Final Fantasy in scope but the music matches the look and feel. Soothing and gentle, guiding the gamer is the core of the music but enter battle and the beat steps up. In an RPG good music is expected and Faery gets the job done

Design – The conversation relationship tree is well done and the leveling up / customization for each character is deep. The overall RPG formula hits on almost every cylinder with the one exception being the caring for characters. For a downloadable RPG Faery is solid but there is no connection forged with these characters and their story. It’s a fun tale but not a memorable one.

Miscellaneous – Episodic games are a mixed bag. There is price to consider but also time invested. With more Faery to come will gamers find enough in Legends of Avalon to make that next purchase at the same price?

Overall Faery: Legends of Avalon is one solid RPG that sports a decent price point and shows new gamers what RPG’s are all about and will feel welcome and familiar to fans of the genre. Gamers can go the route of looking for older RPG’s being made for download or they can take a fresh approach with a title that offers good customization and an interesting conversation tree for relationship building. Go with something new gamers.

Catherine on PS3 and Xbox 360 from Atlus

Get excited, get very, very excited for the mature, psychological and downright gorgeous looking game Catherine from Atlus U.S.A.

Catherine looks amazing but it’s the story this Atlus U.S.A. title brings to both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that should get gamers jazzed. The screenshots and teaser video show off a game that sports a mature romance thriller story wrapped in great looking HD animations. The few game sequences seen don’t disappoint but it’s the story that is exciting to see. The tale of Vincent and his love triangle with Katherine and Catherine is mature, seductive and quite thrilling in its look and content. A truly mature title that’s not over the top for the fun of it but rather to make this a truly unique experience. The game looks naughty and should make gamers blush a bit in content, but this is all based on the game description, image and video. Keep an eye on this one, it should be quite interesting.

Check out the images and video and here is more from Atlus on Catherine …

“About Catherine: Vincent likes his girlfriend. Katherine's pretty, smart, and successful. Trouble is, she's starting to talk about long-term commitment, something Vincent's spent his entire life avoiding. Since romantic complications are the last thing he wants to deal with, Vincent meets his friends for their regular night of drinks. Little does he know that he's about to be blindsided by a beautiful, seductive, irresistible freight train named Catherine. Suddenly, he's hung over in bed next to the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, unsure about the previous night's events. Was it just making out, he wonders, or did something more serious happen between them? Should he tell Katherine? Will he ever see Catherine again? Vincent's about to find that a stumble on the staircase of love can turn into a horrific, fatal plummet...”

… And here’s more on the gameplay features …

• The Horrors of Love - Vincent's waking fears, doubts, pressures, and growing guilt about commitment and fidelity now gleefully follow him into his dreams, manifesting as horribly disfigured monsters and a ticking clock. 
• Between a Rock and a Soft Place - The player must navigate Vincent through heavy moral decisions. As in real life, hardly anything is black and white. What is the value of honesty? What is the right thing to do? Either way, someone's going to get hurt. Worse yet, someone could die. 
• The Nightmare of Your Dreams - Under the watch of producer Katsura Hashino, acclaimed director of Persona 3 and Persona 4, famed character artist Shigenori Soejima and master composer Shoji Meguro create sights and sounds unlike anything else. As unforgettable and original as the game's narrative, Catherine's visual direction and musical score define and perfectly complement Vincent's terrifying ascent into the dizzying perils of love. 
• Escape With or From a Friend - Local competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes, in addition to leader boards, ensure that the many thrills and horrors of racing through twisted stages can be enjoyed by more than one player and add hours of extra gameplay to the overall experience.