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BadWolf's Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer (GBA)
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| [February 9, 2008 02:55:00 AM]
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First off, I had technical difficulties submitting the first log, so there was a bit of a delay.
GAMEPLAY:
I got a bit farther in the game. I got to the point where I was impatient with my reading skills (or rather, lack thereof) and would just glance at the speech bubbles before going on. Also, I turned off the music for a while, because it got really annoying. I turned it back on for the battle, though.
A little more background. Angelic Layer is set in (more or less) modern-day Tokyo, but an alternate reality where Anglic Layer is a super-popular high-tech toy. It involves putting on a headset to control a doll to fight other dolls. The main character is a young girl just getting into it.
I found it a bit frustrating, since it took me a while to figure out the controls for the battle... moving the character, the doll, was easy, but the attack and defense controls are odd, and I couldn't fully understand the instructions.
DESIGN:
This game is very very linear. The player is, at least thus far, confined strictly to the bounds of the anime's story. It's pleasant enough, and it means that even with my poor Japanese I can still follow the plot, but it's a bit frustrating. It is a common choice for licensed titles, though.
The battle system is odd. I can't say I've ever seen anything exactly like it. Superficially, it does resemble Megaman Battle Network, as I said in the previous entry, in that it takes place on a similar 3x6 grid and is loosely turn-based, but the attack system is different. The doll, Hikaru, only has fairly short-range martial-arts type attacks, but she (?) has a pretty free range of movement. When you attack, a bar comes up on the bottom with an indication of what key to press, and it moves sideways. When it reaches a marker on the screen, you're supposed to press the button. If your timing is good enough, you make an attack. The guard system is similar - depending on what button you press, you can either try to guard or escape (oddly, written in English) and avoid some (perhaps all) damage. Also, if you screw up, your "concentration" score goes down, but I have yet to see this affect play, and it goes up again fairly quickly. You can win a battle either by reducing your opponent's health to nothing, or by knocking them out of the battle arena (the "Layer") which you do by hitting them with a strong attack while they stand on the edge.
I'd have to say the battle system is the most innovative part of the game. It somewhat resembles the various rhythm games (of which I know Dance Dance Revolution the best), but has to disadvatage that the button presses are not in time to the music. I may start to like it better as I continue to play, but for now it seems a bit awkward... it definitely doesn't have the draw of a game like DDR.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 9th, 2008 at 02:57:49.
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| [February 9, 2008 02:36:23 AM]
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SUMMARY:
Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer is a Japanese RPG based on the Angelic Layer animated series, though that in turn was based on a comic book. The game incorporates elements from the show, such as video and audio clips. Otherwise, it uses a super-deformed isometric visual style, similar to that found in many older Japanese RPGs. There is a combat mode that seems reminiscent of the Megaman NT Warrior/Rockman.exe games, though I'm not sure which came first.
GAMEPLAY:
I was eager to play this game finally after years of fandom and inability to find it. I played by myself in a quiet room (although a cat was moving in and out). The only sound was the game's music, which is rather repetitive and tinny, typical of a GBA game. The sound quality on the occasional clips of the voice actors is surprisingly good, though such clips are few and far between.
Honestly, I haven't experienced much gameplay yet. So far I've gone through a good bit of the first episode plot, but it's been slow going, since my Japanese is not really up to the task. Maybe this was a bad choice of game, in that way. The controls are easy thus far. The main downside is the font, which is really hard to read. It has a lot to do with the GBA's low resolution, but the kanji (Chinese characters) are nearly unreadable, and give me a bit of a headache. Otherwise, it's kind of fun playing though the plot of one of my favorite comic books.
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BadWolf's Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer (GBA)
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Current Status: Played occasionally
GameLog started on: Saturday 9 February, 2008
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This is the only GameLog for Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer. |
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