A Tiny Step Upwards
Code Lyoko for the NDS is the first foothold from the franchise to the video game market. As I’ve noted twice already (one actual review on this site and another re-reevaluation piece), there are some good moments but the package feels average overall. Not very long after, our old friend The Game Factory published another Code Lyoko game: Quest for Infinity (which will now be referred to as QOI), a third person action/platformer for the PS2, Wii and PSP (I’m doing the PSP version). QOI is developed by Neko Entertainment, the same group that created Charlie’s Angels, one of the worst video games in the eyes of reviewers. To Neko’s credit, QOI is a step up from that abomination and to some extent the first Code Lyoko game. However, as a sequel, the game still has some noticeable flaws.
The biggest plus I have found in this game is its presentation, like last time. Thanks to the more powerful PSP platform, the overall look and hear of the game goes up a notch. 2D sprites outside the virtual world Lyoko is nice, but the 3D levels in Lyoko are great; they translate the source material pixel for pixel, so fans will be in for a good memory lane treat. MY favorite part of the game is when characters are inside replikas (virtual worlds that look like Lyoko); there’s a very defined cel-shading that looks very unique and artsy. Cutscenes also look as if they’re taken straight from the show. What’s even more impressive is that there is actual voice acting! The voice acting is spot on in terms of mimicking the accents of each character. The only problem is that the characters themselves don’t do very much emoting. I’ll get to that issue later.
In terms of gameplay QOI is similar to the first game. There’s a lot of fighting to be had, and there are also some moments when characters must use their powers in context-based situations. Odd can climb walls, Aelita can fly long distances, along with other rarely used abilities. Combat as a whole is similar to the first game; there is not much to do besides spamming an attack. But with much more assertive enemies there is a sense of challenge that is largely absent from the prequel. Boss battles are largely a positive. Some might be too repetitive and tedious, but there are others that look cool and have intricate attack patterns. To break up the tedium, there are some rail-shooting sections where you control a mini submarine and shoot up some more monsters, but those moments are largely forgettable.
In order to get from one battle sequence to the next, the protagonists of the game will have to do some platforming. But there’s one major hurdle with that process: A lack of a good camera. You the player will not have any control of the camera whatsoever, and it provides you terrible angles for traversing the disappearing or moving platforms. You’ll fall to your death many times because of a design flaw more than a legit challenge. The only solace I have from this issue is the infinite lives the game provides.
Character balance is also an issue in a way. Only one character, Ulrich, uses close ranged attacks. The other three, Yumi, Odd and Aelita, bomb from long range, so these three get more time in fighting. Thankfully, there are some enemies that only permit Ulrich to destroy them, but that’s a minor bandaid to a problem of imbalance. On a related note, there are some monsters that only Yumi can destroy via telekinesis; when she does that it really reminded me of Force Lift from Star Wars, especially her hand brushing motion that sent monsters three times her size plummeting right towards a cliff. Could’ve sworn that she was doing a Jedi impression.
Yeah, that’s probably the coolest thing that has happened in the game.
A more fundamental problem is something I’ve harped on in the last review; the characterization of the characters you’ll be controlling. Once again, the people behind the game did not craft an engaging narrative; the story overall boils down to the boarding school protagonists stopping XANA, the malicious computer program. There are indeed tidbits of exposition for players to explore from other supporting characters that linger around the school, but that’s a cheap way to describe them. Why not let the characters speak for themselves and let players discern their personalities? In the end the protagonists once again come off as bland and uninteresting, a big lost opportunity for the game.
QOI is without a doubt a better game than its prequel, but I think a lot of that improvement has to do with a step up in terms of consoles rather than a positive design change. The improvement of the presentation, especially the graphics and voice acting, are what you would come to expect when one transitions from the DS to the PSP. However, major hurdles such as a lackluster story, a poor camera and middling combat are fixable issues that weren’t addressed. There is potential for the game to crack double-digit hours, but because most of those trinkets are meaningless, you would probably get around 6 hours in this game. In the end, it’s an average game that I would still recommend a rental for both Lyoko fans and non-fans.
Final Verdict: 3 stars
There are major issues with the story, but at least the product is just as good as the first entry when it comes to being a game. Bonus marks too for the above average presentation