System: PS2
Dev: Atlus
Pub: Atlus
Release: Sep. 18, 2007
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: Teen
Review by Cole Smith

---

Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

Even though you can't avoid battles, they are fought in real time in the same location where you encounter the enemy. All in glorious 3D. Only one character is controllable, as the other party members are taken care of by the CPU. This expedites the battle process, making it less tedious and ultimately more fun. Orders can be issued to your party members for more control.

There is a general lack of polish to this game. It's too big and ambitious for its own good and suffers for it. Parts of the game are reminiscent of a budget game. The menus are blasé, the dialogue is rife with embarrassing cliches, the lip animations are out of synch with the dialogue, and there is a multitude of clipping and collision detection issues. When characters aren't walking through each other, they walk into one another and inadvertently push each other NPCs across the screen. Overall, the production values appear broken. Even the hand-drawn art of Satoshi Urushihara looks dated and uninspired. On the plus side, the audio is good. The soundtrack is varied and well timed to coincide with events. Even the voiceovers are well acted despite the awful lines the actors have to read.

Heritage of War can easily last you a 100 hours if you want to explore all aspects of it. There's a lot less filler than with your average RPG, but if you're the impatient type, you're still going to experience a lot of frustration. Especially when you have to level-up new playable characters. This isn't a great looking game, nor is the story very satisfying. The battle system is the focal point of the game. If you enjoy the strategy of the Plate Flow System, you'll love this game.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer

Features: