Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie The Battle Pentagram (the review)

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie The Battle Pentagram (the review)

    Second Madoka game, first one was a dungeon crawler on the PSP, this one is an action game on the Vita.

    This game positions itself between the several timelines of the anime series, though Madoka is an active magical girl. The first missions serve as a tutorial and are based around important episodes in the series,

    like Mami getting eaten, Sayaka turning into a witch and killing her, and the Walpurgis destroying the world;

    the latter is the starting point for the game, as Homura promises Madoka that all five girls will face

    Walpurgis

    together;

    then Homura kills Madoka before she turns into a witch.



    Madoka TBP is divided into two main parts: during daytime you can chose one event with one or more of the girls to improve their friendship. During nighttime, it's all about witch hunting.

    Daytime activities are nothing more than dialogues, with the usual half-body portraits talking over a static background. This is possibly the most interesting part of the game, as from what I've saw it perfectly fits into the Madoka universe (though limited to the anime series, no Pleiades Saints or movie characters) and lines are delivered by the same actresses of the anime series. Unfortunately, if you don't understand Japanese, this part is completely lost, and grinds down to choosing the event that could be the most beneficial toward improving relationship between two or more girls.
    (digression)
    Now, this game will never reach US or European shores. NamcoBandai don't port Gundam games here, let alone a game based on an anime series featuring five magical girls that has a huge following outside Japan and has a movie scheduled to be released in theaters.
    Really, NamcoBandai, why do you only push Ace Combat, Souls, and Tales outside Japan?
    (/digression)

    During the day, and just before night missions, it's possible to check the relationship between all five girls, and equip each one with up to three magics and up to three skills.
    After those are set, it's possible to choose the Puella you'll control directly and one partner. The Puella under your control will receive the highest amount of experience points and Grief Seeds, while both girls will see a big boost in their relationship.
    Grief Seeds are collected only if the mission ends with a battle against a witch, and with enough seeds, a girl will gain one extra use of her Soul Gem. All girls starts with ten uses of their Soul Gems, and one shot replenishes all magic points or brings a Puella back to life when dead. Soul Gems are restored to their maximum usage after a mission.
    Experience points are, of course, used to level up a girl, and with levels come new magics and skills.
    The Battle Pentagram uses all buttons on the Vita, including select: left analog stick is used for movement, right analog stick for camera and lock-on control; triangle attacks, circle is used for dashing, x for (double) jumps, and square for magic; magics are selected via the d-pad and each consumes magic points and has a recharge time. L is used to lock/unlock targets and finally select is used for the Soul Gem.
    Controls work decently most of the times, though movement and jump seems a bit floaty, while the dash is somewhat stiff. Camera and lock controls are the biggest headache, it's hard to quickly switch targets when rooms are full of enemis and every time you are knocked down, any lock-on is cancelled, making it more cumbersome than it should be.
    The whole battle system could have used some more refinement: with only one attack button, offensive options are limited to modifying attacks by moving the left analog stick and jumping. There's also no clear indication when you're hit: no flashing, no staggering, no voiceovers, only your health decreasing or dying altogether.
    As all rooms, including boss fights, swarm with enemies, it's kinda hard keeping track of every enemy, and in boss fights, everything becomes way too chaotic, especially when you have to deal with the scenery obstructing your view. Partners know how to keep themselves alive and will also come to your help if you're down, but don't expect them to be particularly helpful during most fights.
    Missions themselves are the standard sequence of rooms and corridors, the next one sealed off until you defeat all enemies. Environments are flat, with very few objects around (except for boss fights); rooms usually have a time limit (something that's easy to miss if you're playing on a large screen), though it's hardly a problem staying within it.

    Graphics are a mixed bag. On one end, illustrations and 2D portraits look great, but it's a shame listening to the excellent voice acting and soundtrack with just static images...the daytime events scream "please animate me!" and a lot of the impact a scene has, is lost due to the absue of portraits with stock expressions. While environment look flat (probably a compromise between the Vita hardare and to make the action understandable on the handheld's screen), they totally look out from the twisted witch worlds seen in the series, as are the enemies. Puellas received the largest number of polygons and look good, though they look "flat" in comparison to the rest. Animations are very stiff, and often don't look as dynamic they should be: for example the dash is nothing more than the character leaning to one side; hitting an enemy lacks the visual feedback the action should have and everything looks way too "composed", once again lacking strenght.
    Witches and enemies animation look very convincing, however, in their peculiar style.

    The sound department is great: the sountrack is excellent, as are the voiceovers. Sound effects are rather standard, but enemies and witches sound as they should.

    So, The Battle Pentagram looks like an interesting game, though its action parts don't look particularly deep, and the story section is lost if you don't know Japanese.

    #2
    Tonight is update time...about The Battle Pentagram, I mostly confirm my first impressions.

    The battle sections are rather shallow, with the AI partners quick in showing of their inability to support you, limited enemy variety, and recolours that abound during the last part of the game. The latter is probably the biggest letdown, as the game is happy to throw at you the same witches you thought before by just swapping their textures and nothing more.
    Environments are sometime based around simple teleport/switch puzzles, and nothing to write about, except for their lack of variety, a huge problem with this game. There are four endings, attainable in multiple cycles where you keep everything but the rest resets to the starting point. The best endings are only possible by grinding relationship levels, which in turn are improved with battles, and if there are recolours during the first cycle, it's kinda easy to see that the game will drag on.
    The combat is not a complete failure, however, as the five Puella Magi all play differently, especially in their magical attacks; what really hurt is that all normal attacks are centered around one button and nudging the analog stick, really limiting the amount of stuff you can do. Attacks are also modified by dashes and jumps, but there's little to no incentive to stop mashing buttons for a more aimed approach to combat.

    Story sections fare better, but of course if you don't speak Japanese, a lot is lost. Most events are linked to the series and/or easy to understand in the general idea, and only special events triggered when girls reach a certain level of friendship expand on characters and universe in addition to the original material.
    The voice acting is top notch, but as mentioned in the opening post, the portraits have a very hard time in supporting the story and the voice acting, creating a huge difference between graphics and audio.

    Madoka The Battle Pentagram is to be played by fan of Madoka able to speak Japanese; the story might be known, but it's a good story, and there's enough to keep fans going despite the obvious pitfalls of the action part. Others might want to start spamming BandaiNamco about porting the game to the west.

    Comment

    Working...
    X