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Resonance of Fate Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Resonance of Fate Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Bullet Time

As SEGA’s blue-blur mascot, Sonic, plummets further into disrepair, the publisher plows ahead with the release of more meaningful titles. Bayonetta, Valkyria Chronicles, and the soon-to-be-released Alpha Protocol show a company determined to continue to present gamers with compelling content in spite of a few missteps. Resonance of Fate is the latest adventure to break free from their vault, and with developer tri-Ace at the helm, they add another worthy contender to their roster of blockbuster entertainment.

Resonance of Fate screenshot

Resonance of Fate puts you in control of a triad of hunters – Vashyron, Zephyr, and Leanne. Together, they eke out a living at the center of the Earth. As the story goes, mankind runs amok upstairs, causing mass pollution and unlivable conditions. Civilization now continues on underground in a world comprised of clockwork and gears called Basel.

The story in Resonance of Fate takes its own sweet time to get going, and unfortunately, the payoff isn’t “all that.” The characters and their mannerisms are cliché beyond description, and the adolescent sexual innuendo is laid on too thick. The interactions between the three main characters can occasionally be endearing, but “emo” antics and routine displays of macho coolness leave their yellow ring around the rim of this tale.

Resonance of Fate is one of those games that presents you with a baffling question, and then makes you wait hours upon hours for an unsatisfactory answer. The developers didn’t seem to deem it necessary to clue us in on the gameplay basics, either. There are tutorials and manuals, but they’re vague at best, and many features aren’t covered at all. I spent the better part of three hours just trying to wrap my head around the mechanics, and I continued to learn fundamentals even late into the game.

Now, I know the picture I’ve painted of the game thus far probably doesn’t put it in the best of lights. Sure, the story is weak, and the developers could have done a much better job showing players the ropes. If you can push past the pain and figure certain things out for yourself, however, you’ll find a battle system that’s exciting, rewarding, challenging, and fun. Imagine this: Final Fantasy Tactics meets Rogue meets Devil May Cry. Sounds crazy, right? The combat in Resonance of Fate is both familiar and like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. After muddling through a poorly presented introduction, the game was, simply put, blowing my mind.

Resonance of Fate screenshot

Combat in Resonance of Fate isn’t quite turn-based, nor is it completely action-oriented. Like a Rogue-like RPG, enemies react to your actions. Your three characters take turns during battle, but you can move them freely around battle arenas. In order to perform regular attacks, however, you’ll have to stop and charge up your assault. A charge gauge revs up, and depending upon your character’s level with a particular weapon, you can charge up an attack multiple times to do greater damage and perform special actions.

The whole time you’re doing your thing – whether it’s dodging incoming enemy attacks, moving into position for an attack, or charging up your attack – enemies are reacting to your actions. They too have a charge gauge, with an initial next to it to indicate who they’re targeting, and the entire process is wonderfully tactical and tactile. There’s immense satisfaction in charging up an attack and letting it loose before an enemy can interrupt your assault with a counterattack.

Resonance of Fate screenshot

Of course, there are those moments when you simply cannot afford to have an enemy meddle in your assault, and that’s where the Hero Gauge comes in. This gauge, comprised of Bezel gems, represents both your health and ability to perform Hero Actions. A Hero Action allows you to map out an attack route your character will run along without being interrupted by enemy fire. If you run into another body or wall, however, your Hero Action will come to a screeching halt. Each time you use a Hero Action, you’ll use up one Bezel gem, and once all your gems are gone, it’s condition critical for your team – your characters perform with nervous urgency, inflicting less damage upon enemies and, ultimately, fighting for their lives.

The game breaks the health of both enemies and your characters into what’s called scratch damage and direct damage. Guns are the tools of the day, with machine guns inflicting scratch damage, while handguns and projectile weapons get right down to the heart of the matter. The real strategy comes into play when negotiating how to best weaken an enemy’s scratch gauge, which will then allow you to finish them off with weapons that do direct damage. Sending an enemy airborne offers both the opportunity to set up bonus attacks, as well as perform Smackdowns – a fancy flying assault from above that looks cool and does mad amounts of hurt. Successfully weaving your characters between one another with Hero Actions sets your team up to perform Tri Attacks, which also play an integral role in your success on the battlefield.

Resonance of Fate screenshot

The combat is addictive, it’s rewarding, and it looks fantastic. That being said, the dungeons are bland and repetitive, and the overworld – though interesting in concept – is boring and tedious to navigate. You’ll be required to use energy hexes in order to clear the way for navigation through the game world, and as an extra element of strategy, it’s a pretty neat feature. Until you’ve cleared an entire level, however, the process of moving around Basel feels lifeless and disconnected. Lastly, Resonance of Fate is hard – brutally hard at times. Bezels aren’t earned through leveling up – they’re found or dropped by bosses – and the risk-reward factor can be maddening at times. Those up to the challenge, though, will find ample satisfaction underneath its rugged exterior.

On the production front, the game has some highs and some lows. The architecture when roaming around town is beautiful, with detailed cobble and brick etched into an elegant steam-punk aesthetic. The character models are uniquely tri-Ace, which is to say they have a doll-like beauty, but the PS3 version of the game has the unfortunate side effect of rendering terrible-looking shadows. Again, the dungeons and overworld are uninteresting to look at, with seemingly little effort put into either element of the game’s design. We never had issues with the framerate, however, and battles are exhilarating and flamboyant – an eye candy you’ll want to continuously eat up.

These days almost no big production is complete without the vocal stylings of Nolan North (Uncharted), and Scott Menville (Tales of Symphonia) also lends his acting talents to the cast. The delivery by the actors is fun and believable, though the lines they’re working with are absolute fodder. On the other hand, the musical score and sound effects are out of this world. The orchestrations are a bit Disney at times and don’t always match up well with wandering around Basel, but they’re performed and presented beautifully. Likewise, the sound effects during combat are a total feast for the senses, injecting tons of visceral crunch into the action.

Resonance of Fate is, in many ways, an absolutely incredible feat. It’s my hope that developers copy this battle system wholesale and tri-Ace further explores the many avenues presented here. It is unfortunate, however, that the rest of the experience is so utterly ho-hum. The story is bearable, if not completely forgettable; the world itself isn’t that interesting, and though the combat shines like a radiant jewel, you won’t be doing much else during the adventure. Resonance of Fate has greatness in it, but there’s still much work to be done.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
Certain aspects of the game’s visuals are stunning and picturesque, though technical flaws blemish the overall view. 4.5 Control
There’s a massive learning curve here, rounded out by crazy difficulty spikes. Those issues notwithstanding, Resonance offers one of the most innovative and enjoyable combat systems I’ve experienced in years. 4.1 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Excellent orchestrations and sound design. The voice acting is good, but the blurbs during battle sequences get old fast. 3.4 Play Value
The core gameplay – everything from character and weapon customization, to the incredibly nuanced combat – is fun and delightful. Almost everything else, though, feels pedestrian. 3.9 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Battle in fantastic cinematic action as your characters wield firearms in a semi-real-time gameplay system.
  • Unique story built around a gigantic clock tower-like machine, the story will delve deep into fate and the machinery that controls it.
  • Customize your characters and give them a unique look within the game and cutscenes.

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