There's a little tonal whiplash where these two halves meet, as a high-pressure dash across town to catch a fleeing villain can easily be interrupted by a visibly lower-budget sidequest (seldom featuring voice acting or cutscenes), but it's a formula that has worked for ten games already, and will continue to do so. On the other hand, it's a slightly rough-edged man-about-town simulator, setting you loose on a small but incredibly dense city full of weird locals, minigames and distractions, linked through lightweight RPG mechanics-levels, skill trees and loot. It's full of compelling (subtitled Japanese) performances and dramatic twists and punctuated with real-time brawler combat similar to Shenmue. A murder mystery to be precise, set in the tail end of the samurai era. On one hand, Ishin is an episodic period thriller. What newcomers are getting here is a game of two halves. Thanks to starting small and focused and offering a glossary of terms for reference, Ishin works as an easy starting point for the series, as it's an entirely standalone, self-contained story. Ryoma himself may share Kiryu's heart of gold, but he's a more worldly and focused figure, less naive and confused by his surroundings than his modern-day counterpart. The differences in characters are interesting too, with Soji Okita (a historical reimagining of Yakuza favorite Goro Majima) getting to play a far more menacing and violent role with familiar stab-happy glee.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |