On a technical level, Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled is a bit of a disaster. The game gives you a random battle every three or four steps, it is prone to locking up and freezing your game, costing you minutes, or even hours of gameplay, and there is almost no variety to the random encounters, giving a gamer a constant sense of either deja vu or boredom. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, Black Sigil also boasts the best story I've encountered in a game this year, Kairu is a shoo-in for a "Character of the Year" nomination for us come the end of the year, and even with all the engine issues, Diehard GameFAN was more than willing to overlook them as they just wanted to see what would happen next. If gameplay is the most important thing you look for in a title, stay the hell away from this. If STORY is the most important thin, than you're going to need to track down a copy of this hard to find title. As such, call Black Sigil a game right on the fence with the bad balancing out with the good.
"Remember how awesome it was to get up early on Saturday to play Chrono Trigger for eight straight hours, and still want more?", writes Meteo Xavier.
Gamertell has posted its DS game recommendations for the 2009 holiday shopping season.
The list is divided by ESRB ratings.
TRB writes: "Old school role playing games seem to be the sure hit on the Nintendo DS. The simple gameplay is easy for portable gaming and the time to complete these games is either double or triple the length of modern games. Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled offers the style of gameplay that fans of the most praised game on the SNES will jump right into and find plenty to love."
