Atlus, Operation Darkness demo

So I was hanging out on the Atlus USA site the other day and saw they have 2 TRGPS slated for the Xbox 360 this year. Spectral Force 3 and Operation Darkness. Since they don’t have a European site I can only assume (hopefully wrongly) that the dates refer to a US release and not European/worldwide. While I was glad to see Atlus will be making games for the 360 (I’d feared production costs might just drive them to the DS etc after they gave up the ghost with the PS2) I did resign myself to the fact that they may not release them over here.

Imagine my surprise when I was on Live the other day and randomly saw the demo for Operation Darkness! After a stunned moment of glee and a quick prayer that I’d actually like it I downloaded the demo and got to have a quick go last night.

Hmmm. Yes.

Well the good news is I DID like it. It’s an old school turn-based strategy RPG, bizarrely set in WWII but with what looks to be odd monsters (werewolves etc) thrown into the mix. How that works I’m not sure yet but I haven’t exactly explored the demo in all it’s glory.

So yes, I did like it. Thank god. It wont be a bestseller by any means though as it is definitely old school and well, to be honest, it looks like a mid range ps2 game. The graphics are pretty poor with hand drawn sprites and text boxes for dialogue (3D in-game), though there are the usual spoken one-liners the characters spout when making an attack. It has the feel of an older game so I can’t see this selling loads at a premium price point. The camera was also pretty atrocious, panning around was slightly painful every time as it has a tendency to spring back to the default position which makes checking your enemies’ location a bit of a chore (not ideal in a turn based strategy to be frank). My flatmate who actually works in games had plenty to say about its bad points (though it was great fun to play) so I found myself in the odd position of having to defend it while pointing out issues.

If you don’t like turn based anything, let alone strategies then this game won’t change your mind, with its low-end graphics and clunky camera controls.

However, if it is actually released out here I’m 100% sure I’ll be buying it and that I’ll get many hours of satisfaction out of it.

Contradictory? I don’t think so. You see, despite its downsides I did enjoy the demo (as much as is possible with someone else haranguing it in the background anyway) and I’m pretty sure I’ll be firing up the demo again soon to get more out of it. While I expected the in-game graphics to be better and appreciate the finer things graphically it’s not a deal breaker for me. The camera is an annoyance I can see myself getting used to/putting up with and really those were the only down points for me.

I do have an oft unfulfilled love of most things turn-based especially if you combine the words ‘turn-based’ with ‘rpg’. One of my favourite games of all time is an old turn-based SRPG from the PS1 – Front Mission 3, which totally rocked in my opinion (hey it had mechs and everything!).

So it’s actually really nice to get my hands on a new turn-based SRPG on any console (I’d still get it if it was on the PS2 for instance). I love my DS but sometimes I just have more fun playing these games on the big screen and while I love hand drawn sprites I do prefer more updated 3D graphics (even if it is dated by comparison to many new games on the 360).

This game has many things I enjoy about games – it’s turn-based, has inventory management, skill management etc and various different kinds of weapons with their own ranges/properties. I was a bit unsure of the whole limited inventory for weapons and items (you get 5 slots for each) but the fact that half of these are consumable and you can loot the corpses of fallen enemies and friends add to the tactical element in my opinion.

So yeah it has its problems (show me a game that doesn’t huh?) but they’re very much minor to the enjoyment I think I’ll get out of this game. All I can do is keep an eye out for the game and hope the demo wasn’t some fluke mistake on Live and we’ll actually get the game out here! I’m a big fan of Atlus, so roll on with the next-gen games I say.