Here are my impressions of the game as promised earlier. Caveat: I've just played a couple of hours (6-7 hours), so this is a based on the first part of the game (I have currently cleared 4 towers / stages).
When the game starts, A couple of short cutscenes are shown in which the premises for the story are set. (take a look at the video in
Maxim's post if you want the details). These cutscenes have some big omissions in what has happened up until the, but these gaps are filled throughout the game with flashbacks.These flashbacks slowly reveal what has happened upon the day of the harvest festival, how Aeron and Elena met.
The story so far is that Elena is cursed on the day of the harvest ceremony. Chaos breaks loose (i currently do not know the exact reason, I hope this is told during one of the flash backs) and Aeron and Elena have to flee the town while being chased by the army. Elena's curse slowly changes her to a beast, but according to Mavda (I have a hard time trusting her) a cure can be found at a remote area of the continent, i.e. at the thirteen towers that are suspended above a deep valley. Your task is the ascend each of the thirteen towers and bring back the necessary ingredients to lift the curse.
You start the game at the observatory near the towers. As mentioned before, You'll need to ascend each of the thirteen towers in a hack 'n slash fashion while battling through a pack of monsters and beating bosses to get the necessary ingredients for lifting the curse.
The curse also has a central role during your play time in the towers, as the curse slowly consumes Elena thus providing a time limit in which you have to clear the tower. This time limit can be extended by providing Elena flesh from defeated monsters. This means that you're not only trying to quickly climb the tower, but also looking for shortcuts to descend to the exit when time is running out. For me it means that i have to at least ascend the tower twice to complete it, because I fear that I'll run out of time when facing the boss.
The combat is based around melee attacks combined with a long range grappling hook/chain. The chain can be used in different ways during the combat, e.g. you can bind enemies (limit their mobility or stop their attack), swing them around (only the smaller ones), rip off armor,... . The chain is also used as a grappling hook to tear out items, money or flesh of a defeated foe. You'll have to be carefull when fighting enemies, because if you take to much hits, items or equipment can break (which make them almost useless). Although repair is available in the observatory, it'll cost you some money (hint: it's not cheap).
Aside of the combat the dungeons also features puzzles which must be solved to progress through the towers or to get to new items. The chain plays a central role in these puzzles as it's used to move boxes, active switches or just to get you to a different floor. It can also be used to grab some items or money in hard to reach areas of the room.
At the top of the tower a boss awaits you (strangely, the guardian does not attack unless you attack. I hope this is explained further in the story). To defeat the boss you'll need to attack the glowing orb. This fight mostly uses the chain to bind and to weaken the boss. When you've depleted its life, you can yank the orb (master flesh) out of its body.
After defeating the boss, you'll return to the observatory to offer the master flesh to Elena. When she consumes this meat, the curse is weakened a bit and you'll be set off to the next tower to repeat the cycle of ascending the tower, solving puzzles and defeating bosses.
Aside of the hack 'n slash combat mechanic, the game also provides some RPG elements. Experience is gained from defeating monsters, allowing you to level up and gain more health, strength,... . Items found in the tower can be used as starting materials to create usefull items, link potions, armor, amulets, ... or to upgrade your weapons. You can always visit previously cleared towers to get some more materials. Killing monsters can earn you money, but Mavda pays you also for manuscripts found in the towers or excessive flesh. This money can be used to buy items or gifts.
An aspect of the game is to give Elena gifts to strengthen your bond between her and you (I haven't noticed any effect yet). An added bonus of these gifts is that Elena can use some of them to upgrade your pouch (allowing you to carry more items) or the decorate the observatory.
The game uses the strengths of the Wiimote + nunchuck to provide a good controller scheme (classic controller is supported, but I haven't used it). Movement is mapped to the analog stick, most of the actions (attack, defend, dodge, open inventory,...) are mapped to buttons and the pointer is used to aim the chain. The only motion controls that I've encountered are to rip out items/flesh with the chain by flicking the remote upwards and swinging chained monsters around, by wagling the nunchuck.
In conclusion: This game is geared towards people who like action games with some RPG elements incorporated. If you're a pure RPG player, this game is probably not for you. Also this game is packaged in a black box for a reason, do not let you fool by the 12+ rating (IMHO 15+ , were the guys at PEGI sleeping?) it has some disturbing (although more implied) content.
Topic: Pandora's Tower - Video Trailer (Read 29898 times)
