lost in games

Last Saturday morning I woke up at around 08:30-09:00, made myself some hot coffee and surfed the internet for around an hour or so.

Then I went over to the living room and disconnected my PSP from the charger, took a comfortable horizontal position on my sofa and switched it on. The familiar music was once again ringing in my ears while I was accessing my saved games. The final boss battle was about to begin.

The above ritual has been taking place for the last 2 weeks or so now. Ever since Jeanne D’Arc, by Level 5, came into my life and brought the PSP back from the abyss with it. I had never played a strategy RPG before Jeanne ‘Arc and was a bit worried that I would be over my head. In the first 2-3 stages that was in fact the case. I kept losing while I was still trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. But after that things started clicking. Admittedly the game is somewhat easy, although you do need to think about some sort of strategy. But Jeanne D’Arc manages to keep things simple all the way through. It’s a very user friendly game.

The game is at no time frustrating (unless you really hate 2 stage bosses) and keeps your interest until the very end. When a game manages to keep you hooked and loyal for as long as Jeanne D’Arc does, some considerable credit is due.

It has an interesting story to tell, with unexpected twists, and together with some great characters it always makes you anxious to find out what will happen next. The cut scenes, although not enough of them in the game, are fantastic as well.

A minor issue I had was with the layout of the stages where you can not know whether or not you completed a free or bonus stage until you actually get into that area.

One last thing about the game. It will not released in Europe so you will need to get a US copy. I got mine on Ebay for CYP15 only. I highly recommend Jeanne D’Arc not just to anyone interested in RPGs but to any PSP owner out there. It is the kind of game which gives you a nice, warm feeling inside.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 19:10 and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.