AbstractIn the future, a rebellion inspires an evil madman to travel through time to eliminate the origins of a growing threat. In the present, a world is dying and a single town remains. An inventive young man, with the help of a visiting time traveler, discovers the secret of the outside world and its effect on the future. This is DARK CLOUD 2!!!
ESRB rating
 |
Violence |
Full descriptionTaking place 100 years after the events chronicled in the original game, Dark Cloud 2 continues its predecessor's combination of dungeon-crawling action and world-building adventure with a new visual style, time-traveling storyline, and two playable characters. The game's visuals make use of cel-shaded characters and 3D backgrounds to create a presentation not unlike Japanese anime. Max is a young boy with the talent to create mechanical inventions, including a robotic battle suit he can control. Monica, on the other hand, dabbles in sorcery and has the power to transform into animals. The majority of the game takes place in randomly generated dungeon levels where players hack-and-slash at their enemies in real time using a lock-on targeting system.
Players have the ability to switch between characters at any time to take advantage of their distinct traits. Both characters can pick up and throw items found along the ground as well as perform moves, such as back flips, blocks, jumping attacks, and more. Unlike most traditional role-playing games, experience points are awarded to the weapons used in combat rather than the character. As a character's weapon becomes more experienced over time, it can absorb the powers of certain items to acquire new abilities or attributes. Max can also invent different weapons to use in battle, and Monica's power of transformation means her animal alter egos will gain new powers over time as well. These powers must be used to stop a time-traveling sorcerer, who plans on taking out those who oppose his command by destroying their cities in the past.
Between dungeon battles, players can help shape a town by using Max's robotic creations to position trees, bodies of water, houses, and other buildings found during their travels. No longer restricted by a grid system as in the original, players are free to design their town however they see fit before getting a chance to explore it. Since Dark Cloud 2 also involves time travel, certain puzzles can only be solved if a particular building is present during a specific time period, which may mean returning to the past to make sure it has been built. Once players have acquired the necessary items in their dungeon battles, they can advance to the future and continue the story. Mini-games include fishing, watching fish race each other inside a tank, golf, and taking snapshots of characters met along the journey.
Dark Cloud 2's story currently appears to have little or no connection to the original, other than its general "rebuild the world" theme. While specific plot information is rather hard to find, from what I can gather it starts with a time-traveling evil madman who is sneaking into the past to destroy the origins of a rebellion in his own time. He apparently goes a bit overboard, though, because when you assume control of your hero, Yuris, there is but a single town left. The young hero, the smarty that he is, discovers the plight of the rest of his world with the help of a friendly time traveler named Monica. Together, they set out to rebuild the world that the madman has disrupted.
Editorial reviewSource:
AmazonWhat's creepier than a sinister clown? Nothing, as it turns out, which is probably why the makers of
Dark Cloud 2 made their evil villain a member of the circus family. After all, a clown who lifts the town's friendly mayor off his feet--with a strangle hold--is not to be messed with.
Welcome to the world of Dark Cloud 2. Stylistically, it resembles a Holly Hobbie Colorforms set. All the characters are of childlike proportions, and the village's Tudor buildings seem pried from a Yorkshire hamlet. While Maximillian, the preteen hero, wanders around his hometown, Parisian accordion MIDI music serenades him. Though this is not a kid's game (it carries a Teen ESRB rating), gamers who are put off by kitschy/cute nuances should beware--this game is loaded with them.
But at its heart, Dark Cloud 2 is a wonderfully solid RPG. Its story has three main elements: Max's lost mother, the secret of what's going on outside the village, and why the evil clown wants Max's red stone pendant. Fighting takes place in real time, unlike the turn-based fighting in the similar Final Fantasy series. This was a good decision on behalf of the designers, as was the attention to weapon customizing. And if you love to manage inventory (there aren't many RPG fans that don't), this is your game. Not only can Max's weapons be upgraded, but by taking pictures and tinkering, he can create tools from scratch, in seemingly endless variations.
There's so much more to this game than can be described in any review. Along the way, for example, Max meets up with Monica, a princess from the future. He may build a village using the Georama system, or he may just want to do a little fishing--to say more would be to spoil the fun, but you get the idea. You'll just have to discover it all--and there is a tremendously rich world here--on your own. --Jennifer Buckendorff
Pros:
- Multi-layered world with strong replayability
- Intuitive game controls
- Strong inventory management and interesting items
- Great, playful aspects, like Steve the "ridepod"
Cons: - Painfully slow, almost hour-long introduction
- Some repetitiveness in weapon upgrading and dungeon maps
- Hokey gestures and dialogue
Play as two unique characters, each with their own special abilities
Rebuild your world by travelling through time
- Portions of content provided by Rovi Data Solutions, Inc. and IGN Entertainment, Inc.