Wild, Weird and Wacky
Given its release date many people have compared this game to Final Fantasy XIII. You really can't, it would be like comparing an apple with a banana, and Resonance of Fate is definitely a banana.
The game has an odd structure, peculiar characters, a complex combat system which drops you in right at the deep end and says sink or swim and a plot which seems to make ever less sense the deeper you get into the story. For a casual gamer this one is never going to a winner. If you preserver however... ? Yeah the game gets to be a lot of fun and even somewhat addictive.
So what about it is worthwhile. Well, the afore mentioned combat system while complex and having one of the least friendly tutorials in recent memory, is, once mastered, fluid, stylish entertainment which never gets old. At its heart is a reasonably straight forward mechanic, which equates to having one type of gun to knock down shields and another to do damage. It's the extras on top of this which can make fighting in RoF rather intimidating to master.
Then there are the characters. You need to have a degree of empathy with Japanese humour, or a great deal of patience, as they act in ways which, let's say Anglo cultures, will at times find bewildering. This particularly noticeable as the protagonists are all, visually speaking, blonde haired blue eyed western Anglo stereotypes. If you can either enjoy, or at least look past, this peculiarity, you might end up finding them rather endearing.
I'll not even try and dissect the plot of RoF as it's too ridiculous to bother, suffice it to say that the very oddness of it will either put you off entirely, or sucker you into laughing at it frequently.
The rest of the gameplay mechanics are a mixture of standard RPG dialogue, side quests and collection modes. The one exception to this is an odd tetris like puzzle shape gimmick which you need to play to explore new areas. It's not bad, it's not good, but it does get somewhat old, long before the end.
Technically RoF is a bit of a mixed bag, as graphically it's nothing special, particularly outside of combat or the cut scenes. When you are just walking around the world it looks somewhat bland, even washed out. The animation during these portions is also mediocre. During the fights though the game comes to life, with a brighter pallet and fluid and even elegant combat moves. The sound design is an equal mix of the barely adequate and solid, with the voice acting being for the most part well done, but the score being utterly forgettable.
All in all, Resonance of Fate is an entertaining and original title which, if you can get past its steep learning curve and overt oddness, will give you hours of fun with its gun wielding mayhem and WTF story.
