4/20/2023 0 Comments Ultratron ps4 controlsIt’s simply not fleshed out enough to recommend.Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+ You can see the genesis of a good idea here. The story is interesting enough, and the art style/soundtrack are good, but controlling Moonchild just isn’t much fun. Unfortunately, what I experienced didn’t come close to those games. When I fired up Toren I’d hoped for the next Journey or Ico. There are also some technical shortcomings and too much backtracking on those rare times when you’re defeated. Instead, you’ll be tasked with dull chores like pouring sand on symbols and, if you’re anything like me, pacing back and forth over the same ground repeatedly trying to figure out why the game won’t read it as fully covered and trigger the next event (just wait until you’re doing it in the dark!). Had they been paired with better pacing and some more interesting filler, Toren would’ve been a greatly improved game. These fights, while hardly scintillating, at least require you to think one or two moves ahead and use some environmental puzzle solving. That might be an issue if there were more than a small handful of enemies in the entire game, none of which pose even a moderate threat - you can literally jog slowly past pretty much everything.Ībout the game’s only memorable gameplay moments come when squaring off against the dragon, which you’ll do on several occasions. Sure, you can acquire items that make you tougher or strengthen your sword, but there’s no reason to.Ĭombat is equal parts simple and awkward. It also manages to offer the least rewarding progression system I can remember. Even with a short run time - roughly two hours - the mix of awkward platforming and simplistic puzzles fails to innovate or even stay fresh. Whatever its shortcomings, however, the story towers over the actual gameplay. It has a cryptic, reflective way of telling its tale that works to a point, but eventually the vagueness and use of implying events rather than showing them wears a bit thin. Told in a series of dreams that explore emotions, Toren has you grow from baby to child and on up through adulthood, experiencing reincarnation in the process. Do it and the moon will return to the sky, allowing life to flourish once again. In it you play as the Moonchild, a girl destined to ascend the tower and grow the Tree of Life for a showdown with an evil (?) dragon that can turn its enemies to stone with its cries. Toren‘s story is perhaps best classified as a dark fairy tale with inanimate objects like the moon and sun portrayed with human characteristics. The narration, told completely in a made up language, is solid as well. The music does a really nice job of setting the mood and imbuing your adventure with some emotional gravitas. Probably the game’s highpoint is its sound design, especially the musical score. It does score some points for its artistic style - one that invokes a sense of tribal mysticism - but seemingly for every strong piece of level design there’s something equally disappointing such as the darkened abyss that only lets you see via infrequent lightning strikes. There doesn’t seem to be much technical power behind Toren, which has a muddiness to its textures that suggest the game would be better suited on the PlayStation 3 (if not the PS2). As a result swinging your sword is incredibly loose. Once again there’s a noticeable disconnect between when you issue a command and when it’s actually followed. Moving around is sluggish and jumping is imprecise, frequently not responding to the input and instead allowing you to run over the edge and automatically hold on for dear life. In spite of its simplicity, Toren is an unwieldy beast to handle. It’s an interesting attempt, but there are a number of issues that hold it back. Developed by Swordtales, an indie group from Brazil, the game aims to meld gameplay with a unique fantasy experience driven by human emotions. While I knew next to nothing about Toren when it released in mid-May, it exuded an adventurous yet artistic vibe I found alluring. Dragon fights are the highlight of Toren’s gameplay.
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