Despite being a moderate Atlus fanboy, I have to admit that they’ve made some pretty questionable imports over the years. Their latest release, Baroque (PS/Wii), is likely to go down in the books as either too artsy to be accepted by the general populace, or just plain bad, joining its comrade Unlimited Saga in this hall of infamy.
Nintendo Power’s early-bird 3.0/10 score has caused some degree of controversy amongst those who were initially interested in the game. I agree that the score is too harsh – that sort of rating should be reserved for dreck like the Kriss Kross game. It’s more like a 5.5/10 on the Sea Slug scale – playable, but prone to causing death by boredom.
Staunch supporters of Baroque need to stop using the “roguelike defense,” because Rogue and its ilk were at least simple and straightforward enough to offset the extreme difficulty. Baroque piles shoddy controls, awkward camera angles, and poor game flow onto the experience, detracting from the addictive nature of the original formula. Sure, there’s a lot of ingenious ideas and game mechanics being toyed with, but they’re all worthless if they aren’t executed properly.
Ultimately, I have to give Baroque a thumbs down, simply because it fails as a game. Its unique approach to storytelling and creative artistic direction is commendable, but defending a game based on unfulfilled potential is an fruitless exercise – comparable to defending a mediocre anime based on its awesome manga corollary (yes, I am referring to you and your Gatekeepers fetish!). Baroque will seem incredibly obtuse and inaccessible to most people, but a slim few will stubbornly insist on its enjoyability. While some part of this may stem from the indie-elitist mode of thinking, there are probably a few folks out there who genuinely enjoy this game.
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8 Comments
Haha, my friend and I were thinking about checking out this game. I guess it’s good that we waited…..erm, not too!
Whoa! For once a Wii game!
It feels so cool when you have the actually magazine in your hand (yea, I have the same Nintendo Power issue you’re talking about! NINTENDO FOR LIFE!!! and NO THEIR NOT BIASED I SWEAR!!!), but yea, it does seem a little harsh.
Atlus seems like a pretty cool group. I had tons of fun playing Trauma Center (for Wii), but unfortunately, there was no abortion operation!
but they do show a little skin of the females! hurr hurr =3
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I don’t think Abortion Center would sell well…
Hey Ender, sometime would you post some of your favorite games and explanations why? Just curious what tops your list. Actually, the question kind of goes out to any of you guys (not just the local Sluggos
) who occasionally write up your thoughts on games (i.e Jeff).
Hmm… that’s a really broad question – do you have a specific genre in mind?
Ender mostly plays Hello Kitty Island Adventure.
As much as I love Atlus RPGs and want to put them down my pants, Baroque’s low scoring wasn’t much of a surprise. Even with the ‘it’s a rougelike!’ defense it didn’t seem that appealing. Needs more undead nazis, I think.
Sorry Ender. I should’ve been more specific. I was more or less aiming at RPG’s since that often seems to be the focus of your reviews. And Kabitzin is just jealous because he doesn’t have your mad Hello Kitty skillz.