Killed by Cliche
As the title of this review suggests White Knight Chronicles is not one of my preferred games. It is a game with several problems, the most obvious of which is that its story is so hackneyed that only the most neophyte of gamers would fail to see the "twists". Beyond that there are problems with the childish nature of the characters and the dire dialogue and the fact that it's almost painfully easy to play.
Given that run down you might ask why as high as two stars? It's a fair question. Well there are a few saving graces. One is that it looks gorgeous. The lush scenery and transformation sequences are beautiful to watch. And while the battle system is painfully one side in favour of the player, it can be engaging with a complex set of skills to learn.
The part of the game which, I suspect, will most divide gamers, is the multi player focus. Personally I hated it. I felt that the work that went into trying to make this a co-operative experience would have been much better spent on writing a decent story and less hideous dialogue. Others though might enjoy that aspect. And at least in multi-player you don't have to worried some of the game most egregious flaws.
The sound design is, okay, but nothing more than that. With the voice acting being the weakest part and the effects the strongest.
All in all this game was a pretty big let down from Level 5, a studio with many fine games in their stable. It could have been their best rpg since Dragon Quest VIII. But it's weaker in almost every respect than that and a weaker effort than even the flawed Rogue Galaxy. A great shame as the central mechanic of transformational magic could have been epic.
