Liam Pritchard Writes:
" Rising Star Games finally brings Atlus' Growlanser: Heritage of War to the UK, almost a year after it was released in the US, and while I would love to say that it has been worth the wait, a derivative, largely confusing story, frustrating gameplay mechanics and some truly awful PSOne-era graphics make it hard to recommend to anyone but the most ardent of RPG fans.
There is a huge amount of content to be found here, with up to sixty hours of gameplay for those who wish to search out every nook and cranny, along with the usual epic themes of war, love, revenge and betrayal all present and accounted for, but the story's disjointed nature and the script's inability to create any kind of bond between you and the many characters found throughout the game's lengthy running time means that you are left with a title that is big on content but severely lacking in quality or coherence. You traverse the game's five lengthy chapters from numerous characters' points of view, although the main story arc revolves around Haschen, a young man who was orphaned as child and is critically wounded when the town where he was raised gets attacked by the altogether unpleasant water-based Screapers. Haschen is saved by an operation that for reasons neither logical nor explained gives him an array of abilities that are very useful for when the Screapers inevitably make their return."
Atlus' Growlanser series was well received, however little seems to have come from it since 2006's Growlanser: Heritage of War.
A new listing shows the Atlus JRPG is scheduled for re-release on PSN.
With the recent re-release of Ogre Battle 64 -- one of Mike Gingras's favorite games -- on the Wii's Virtual Console, he got to thinking about good games that aren't well represented in mainstream gaming. The "hidden gems," if you will. Here are his favorites.
