Review: Book of Legends
I don’t know if I should be thankful that these games are so short you can finish them quickly, or sad that these are actually charged $19.99 when they can be finished almost within the trial hour… Regardless, here’s another Reflexive Arcade game that I finished in the past couple of days. I guess with our luggage finally arriving, living amongst boxes makes me want to play more quickie games than usual. However, this is a good one, and I was pleasantly surprised and amused from the first minute to the last.
Graphics: The graphics of Book of Legends are more toward comic style, and you can see touches of Japanese manga style within the characters. The lines are delicate and the facial emotions are very anime-like, which makes the otaku inside me squeal in delight. The graphics of each scene are okay, since you can’t really do much with the seek-and-find type of game, but the objects tend to blend in just a little too much, and they’re not as sharp as the Mortimer Beckette game I played earlier. However, this doesn’t have the problem that Mortimer has, because all of the objects are hidden well and not in the darkest shadow of the scene so that it’s impossible to find. I just uses the hints when I get lazy or when they blend in a bit too much.
Music: Or rather, should I say, voice over. This is the best voice over game from Reflexive that I’ve ever played! The characters are quite real, thanks to the actor and actress protraying the main characters, and they made them believable. I’m not sure if they are professional voice overs, but they rock. The teenage exasperation of sibling rivalry and having to work together… It’s just awesome. I really enjoyed the voice over and left the speakers on at all times when I play this game, or at least uses the headsets. The music is quite exciting and fitting of the game, and it’s not too bad, but it’s not as well orchestrated as Mortimer Beckette’s (I keep referring back to that game because they’re basically the same thing, just with slight differences and story plots). But, this game gets a better score than Mortimer’s just because of the voice overs alone. Whoever did the voices— you rock.
Gameplay: The story plot is quite interesting, though quite early in the game you start to think the question “just how is this possible with the story from the beginning?” Not spoiling too much, but from the very start you know there are “men in black” chasing after the main characters, and then suddenly they are able to run around the globe without anyone at their tails? That fact just bugged me throughout the game. Regardless, the game play is very well made. The actual story-plot scene is quite short, but the game is made up of many mini-stages of seek-and-find, side jobs that you’re hnave to do to make money to fund for your trips. While the game says it’s optional…. It really isn’t. But they’re fun, and have about four to five different varieties (taking pictures, finding the same item of many times, or finding different items…etc.) and is a neat break from the story plot, which is mainly solving puzzles. However, because the main story plot is so short and the mini-games are longer, it’s kind of hard to get the continuity of the story and you loses momentum. Not a big problem if you don’t really mind the story, but for me it somewhat bothered me.
Overall: Personally, I really enjoyed this game. While it’s a bit short and I was having problem with keeping the momentum of the story going, I really liked this game and played through it quickly. The story is a bit out of the cliche, but not too far from the usual Reflexive Arcade style, so they’re predicable and very children-friendly. However, the voice over is very good and I would replay the game just for the voice over alone (not that I would, ’cause I still have so many games to play, but you know what I mean.) The entire game was made into a somewhat movie-style, something that I enjoyed, and the ending was interesting and a cliffhanger, I can’t wait for the next installment of the game to come out. This is a good game to play, most definitely. I’m not sure if you would want to buy it, but you definitely should give this game a try.
