Platforms: IOS, Android, Windows, Mac, PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Playstation Vita
Developer: Cornfox & Bros.
Publisher: FDG Entertainment
Price: $14.99
Poor imitation or spiritual successor?
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale exists as a poor imitation of Super Smash Bros. Yooka-Laylee is seen by many as a mediocre spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie and other similar collectathon platformers of the era. Partia: The Broken Lineage exists as a great spiritual successor to Fire Emblem even though I’m probably one of the select few on this planet to have heard of it, let alone play it. Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas’ quality is somewhere between the level of quality for Yooka-Laylee and Partia as it takes inspiration from titles like The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy with some great success, and some disappointing failure.
One of these disappointing failures is the game’s handling of travel. Primarily inspired by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Oceanhorn’s method of travel is by boat. However, every time you decide to go out sailing, you’re going to be met with a lot of disappointment as Oceanhorn denies you the ability to freely explore the ocean. Instead, it takes a page out of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass’ book and limits you to selecting the island you wish to go to and being taken along an automated boat ride that only lets you have the luxury of shooting a cannon at an enemy and mines in order to prevent dying. I understand that this game was released on the IOS, Android, and Vita, comparatively weaker devices to the more powerful PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. But, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was released on the DS-a much less powerful system than any of those previously mentioned-and managed to offer players an admittedly limited, but still more free open world than that of Oceanhorn, leading to the affirmation that this game should have no issue having a larger open world to explore on modern systems considering that a game on weaker hardware accomplished it years prior.
The failures do not end there as Oceanhorn also falls victim to awful bosses and repetitive puzzles. While these factors of the game are not directly related to Zelda, a complaint could be made that the boss fights and puzzles fail to recreate the same sensation of encountering epic/perplexing obstructions along a grand fantasy adventure. If one would desire to see these elements of the game recreate similar experiences to that of Zelda, then a complaint such as that would be valid. However, even though I believe that to be defendable, I’m also going to focus on the issues Oceanhorns’ puzzles and boss fights have when not being related to Zelda.
For starters, the puzzles of Oceanhorn mainly consist of sliding boxes. If utilized sparingly, this type of puzzle would actually be a standout as a minute amount of them have well thought-out solutions. Sadly, that aren’t used that way. Though, this isn’t to say that there aren’t some diverse puzzles included in the game. For example, one puzzle requires you to light different torches across a dungeon with the main problem to overcome being the discovery of how to light them. Puzzles such as these are varied and fair. Yet, some puzzles forget to abide by these two words and are instead examples of how, in dungeons such as the Grand Core, they can be varied, but also unfairly difficult, forcing players to get assistance from a walkthrough in order to solve them. On a side note, in relation to Zelda, Oceanhorn improves upon its inspiration in one way by using spells and items in puzzles outside of the dungeons/islands they were obtained in.
Getting back on track, the bosses in Oceanhorn are anti-climactic, boring, and unchallenging. Almost every single boss in this game has easily recognizable attack patterns, thus being the reason as to why they’re unchallenging and boring. Boss fights being anticlimactic are not because of repetitive attack patterns, but because you spend an entire dungeon fighting enemies, solving puzzles, and attaining a specific item only to have it be used in a bland way and promptly finding out the boss is able to be defeated like every other enemy, by slashing at it with your sword. Even though the combat is simple as you only block enemy attacks and strike when an opening appears, it’s enjoyable enough when used on normal enemies that are differentiated through the different aforementioned attack patterns they have, not on bosses who should be differentiated by something more than repetitive and basic attack patterns slightly more powerful than that of standard foes.
Despite everything this review would have you believe, Oceanhorn is not entirely comprised of negative aspects. A positive aspect of Oceanhorn would be its narrative as it places you into the shoes of The Kid, a child whose father’s disappearance is tied to that of the infamous Oceanhorn. In order to find him, The Kid must locate sacred emblems and confront Oceanhorn with the hope that he’ll find out once and for all what happened to his father. If it were just about Oceanhorn and collecting the sacred emblems, this narrative would be Ok, but forgettable. Thankfully, Oceanhorn takes themes from Final Fantasy’s plot and adds depth to its own story by including The Kid’s father, crafting a story that has the emotion of Square’s long-lasting RPG franchise and the adventure of The Legend of Zelda. Resulting from this is a plot that is not only great but equally unforgettable.
The greatness of this narrative is furthered by the soundtrack. This is due to Oceanhorns’ soundtrack also falling victim to mixing the themes of Zelda and Final Fantasy what with music that sends chills down your back during an emotional/epic moment and enhances your will to explore. Although not bad, the graphics cannot compare to the quality of the soundtrack and narrative. On phones/tablets and the Vita, the visuals for Oceanhorn are impressive and decently polished. On consoles; however, the visuals are not upgraded, making animations look stiff and models/textures seeming slightly unpolished.
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas openly admits its inspiration from The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy. It waves this flag loud and proud, which it should as it is definitely not a poor imitation as it knows what makes people love these two franchises. Though, that doesn’t necessarily make it a good spiritual successor either as even though it knows why individuals like those games, it doesn’t know how to implement elements from them in a quality way. Because of so, it has generally bad puzzles and exploration mechanics with untapped potential to be great. How would it be able to reach that potential? Well, take a look at the game’s soundtrack and narrative. What makes them great is the fact that it resembles Oceanhorns’ ability to find a sweet spot where it could flawlessly mix elements from Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda in a way that felt respective to those games, yet original at the same time. Due to that and its failed attempts at taking elements from the two series, Oceanhorn, as of now, is a game which is a little better than mediocre that can easily grow to be a fantastic franchise if it manages to apply that “sweet spot” to all of its aspects.
*This game was reviewed courtesy of a download code sent to me by the publisher
No comments:
Post a Comment