Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgement

DLC Review from Cav - Thursday, 11 March 2010 @ 5:30pm

This game is an awesome tribute to the original Vandal Hearts, setting itself as a prequel. For those of you who played the original on the PS1, I really don’t believe this ‘prequel’ will do much storyline/continuity wise for you if you can remember everything that went on that long ago (I know I am struggling) but the nostalgia hit is really cool. For those RPG fans who DIDN’T play this, you need to go and track it down, play it, then come back and read this review… go on, bugger off … not really, but if you can find the time to do yourself a favour, make it so.

FOR NARNIA!!!

The battles and story start immediately after the obligatory training session and you barely go past a screen without having to test your mettle. As you progress, your squad grows to contain members with different traits and weapon preferences. Each character can carry two weapon types, most of whom will have a long range and a close combat weapon. The Hammer weapon class will hit forward, back, left and right, so this is a good choice for a crowded grid battle. Not all battlefields are perfectly flat either, so this gives an advantage to ranged weapons attacking from above. One of the great things about Vandal Hearts are the team attacks. If two characters are position correctly, they will execute attacks. These happen randomly, but it is advisable to try your best to set it up.

Spell casting is divided into four main groups Hex, Damage, Augment and Heal. These spells can also be a learned through equipping Books to your Item Slots. As per most RPGs, some character’s strengths lie in spell casting, some in hand to hand. Luckily our main character is quite able in both fields. Surprised much? Nah, didn’t think so.

We all like to dream about the perfect RPG, and I can think about one element, from my all time favourite, Breath of Fire II, that could have been implemented into VH:FoJ easily. When shopping in BoFII, you had the option to switch items. Sorta of a one ofr one deal with the cash difference on the side. This cuts out the tedious task out unequipping, re-equipping, then selling of old items.

No, the grid will not light up like a Michael Jackson film clip

In the early stages of the game, the grid and turn based battle will test even the most experienced of you, as you learn how characters, attacks and spell execute themselves onto the grid. Once you have that in hand battles should be pretty easy. I will never be one of the world's greatest tacticians, so I will admit that I probably replayed about 65% of the battles. Battle sites also will often include treasure chests, containing items or gold, but are mostly out of the way from where the enemies are located. This leaves on with the dilemma of wether to try for the loot or concentrate on defeating the enemy.

Part of me was kinda hoping for new, funky, updated graphics during battles and maybe even a hexagonal grid, but VH:FoJ offers very little more than what it did in the original. The cut scenes on the other hand are nice, even though a majority of them are still pics. The sound quality is pretty good and as you will find out in the next paragraph of this review, there are quite a few entertaining lines spoken by the cast, especially when executing a death blow.

Insert Enya soundtrack

Now for something a little ‘left field’. We all know that farts are funny, it is an unwritten law. What is even funnier is when a game developer steals a sound from something called the Fart File to use for a dying enemy. There’s no actual fart sound when the enemy dies, it’s just the strain that precedes it. I first came across the Fart File sometime in the 90s and believe I still have it on disc somewhere. I suppose when you’re making a game, anywhere you can save money is a good thing. If you can track down the Fart File I recommend the German Fart and the Low Rider, very entertaining.... for some anyway.

Now I for one have always been a little sceptical at the price of download content games, on all of the 'Big 3' but I am very happy with the cost of this game. I found VH:FoJ to be a little short, I am probably, once again pining for the depths of the original Vandal Hearts from all of those years ago and you are not going to get that kinda content in a DLC game. I also love the fact that seeing I am at least fifty minutes to an hour from anything that could remotely be called a video game retailer, DLC comes to a gamers rescue once again.

Pros

A great nostalgic trip for those who played the original - Easy to pick up - The ease of DLC

Cons

Shopping and equipping can be a little confusing at first - Disappointing length and graphics