All for one, and one mediocre game for all. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=19937 It is common for video games to be based on a famous property or movie. The Three Musketeers: One For All! is a PC-to-WiiWare port of a 2.5D action platformer loosely inspired by Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers novel. Unfortunately, the game's archaic design and several other issues cause it to fall far short of the classic status of its namesake.
You play as Porthos in his quest to save the two other musketeers, Athos and Aramis, and the musketeer's protégé d'Artagnan from the villain, Count Xavier. Throughout the game you will encounter different types of stages, all presented in a 2.5D set-up. While the platforming is done on a 2D plane, the camera occasionally pans in a 45-degree angle, and archers occasionally fire arrows from the background to the foreground.
The game is reminiscent of an 8-bit era action platformer such as Castlevania, but isn't nearly on the same level of quality. For the most part, level design is very bland and repetitive, with the path only occasionally branching in order to have you fetch a key or unlock a door. The puzzles are limited to pushing a crate to the right place in order to access a higher platform or a ladder. It's all very simple.
The enemy AI is also extremely basic, only noticing your character when you walk to a specific spot close to them. When you move back out of their range, they return to their original location. Some enemies simply charge at you until they fall in a hole, which results in a replacement quickly respawning and doing the same thing.
Character movement is mapped to the Nunchuk. The only attack that Porthos has, an upward sweep, is mapped to shaking of the Wii Remote. While this in itself isn't a bad thing, it is not reliable. Most of the time attacks register correctly, but sometimes there is a little lag between shaking the controller and seeing attacks happen, and occasionally they fail entirely. Unfortunately there is no way to map the attack to a button, so players must tolerate this unreliability. Porthos also has a very short melee attack range, and his sweep attacks occasionally miss short enemies.
On a more positive note, One for All! has a very distinct cel-shaded look, reminiscent of a European cartoon. The characters and environments look exceptionally good. The game also has a unique story telling mechanic that has Porthos narrating the story through comic book panels in first person, and it doesn't feel out of place. The voiceovers are well done, using authentic sounding French pronunciations.
Still, there are a couple of technical issues that hinder the experience. The first annoyance that players will encounter are lengthy load times; it takes about twenty to thirty seconds to load a level, and there are other occasional loads in specific parts of a level. There is also no proper way to pause, with the only method of stopping gameplay being the pressing of the Home button to bring up the Home Menu.
Ultimately, The Three Musketeers: One For All! is a mediocre game with numerous issues, both technical and design-related. It is also hard to recommend it due to its bland and archaic gameplay design. There are much better titles on WiiWare.
Pros:
Great cel-shaded graphics Great voiceovers Cons: Old school gameplay feelsÂ…old No native game pausing functionality Inconsistent motion controls Rudimentary enemy AI Irritating load times Graphics: 8.0 The cel-shaded graphics in look beautiful, giving One for All! a unique European cartoon graphical style. The cut scenes are presented in a comic format, which looks great. There are occasionally minor framerate hiccups.
Sound: 7.0 Even though the soundtrack tends to loop, it never becomes annoying. The voiceovers are great, although it can be annoying hearing Porthos say a specific one-liner repeatedly.
Control: 5.0 The biggest flaws here are the inconsistency of the motion controls while attacking, and the lack of a pause button. At least the controls are simple.
Gameplay: 5.0 The gameplay feels outdated, and while it's similar to an 8-bit action platformer like Castlevania, it doesn't retain the same charm.
Lastability: 5.0
The game lasts approximately five to six hours, and there isn't any incentive to replay the adventure.
Final: 5.0
The Three Musketeers: One for All! contains several flaws that prevent it from being a quality action platformer title. Its inconsistent controls and uninsipired, outdated gameplay make it a title that most Wii gamers can safely pass on.
Topic: REVIEWS: The Three Musketeers: One for All! (Read 2074 times)
