Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

With the recent announcement of the PS4, you might think that the era of the PS3 is over. But it isn't - yet. I hadn't owned a gaming console for several years when I found out about Ni no Kuni. Now, I played my fair share of games back in the day, but the video game market in recent years has just seemed... dull. In large part that's because I don't care for first-person shooters or fantasy sports games. I don't begrudge anyone who does, but I play games for the same reason I read books: to escape into a story. Online shootouts with trigger-happy 14-year olds just doesn't do it for me. Of course, the gaming studios mainly make games for those 14-year olds, not me. So instead of original content and new stories, we get Call of Duty sequels. So when I found out Studio Ghibli was involved in production of a video game, I was only cautiously optimistic. It seemed too good to be true, and it was hard to imagine that their first video game collaboration would be a resounding success. Then I saw the screenshots... and that was when I started poking around eBay for a second-hand PS3. Because, you see, the game art is astounding. It's really a step above any video game world you've ever seen. Ni no Kuni is simply a Studio Ghibli anime rendered as an entire walk-through world. As you play, you'll come across a scene and think it's the best-looking shot in the game. And then, a few minutes later, you'll come across something better. One of my favorite visuals comes late in the game: a character's backstory told with haunting, comic book-style sketches. It should go without saying that this isn't a game you want to play on an old CRT TV: an HD screen is the way to go, the larger the better (mine is a 100-inch projection system - I was worried about quality, but the game looks great.) Also, turn up the volume: I'd be denying the skill of Joe Hisaishi if I didn't mention the music. In my opinion, it's the best score he's done since Spirited Away. Now, if the game just looked and sounded great, it would still be worth playing. But the other half of the game's development was done by Level 5. Level 5 has been building critically-acclaimed JRPG's for over a decade. And they've been getting better at it. The story builds throughout the game, is clever and amusing, and seems to make an effort to avoid cliches while also making fun of them (your first major objective in the game is to find the king's red herring). As a resident of southeast Michigan, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this is certainly the first time Detroit (or a throwback to a 50's era Detroit suburb, rather) has been featured in a JRPG! There's even a "To I-75 North" sign on one of the streets in the neighborhood. The battle system in Ni no Kuni is the best and most fun I've ever used - a clever hybrid of live-action and turn-based attacks. Basically, most actions have a time-out period after you use them, but you're still free to move around the arena, or cancel an in-progress attack if you suddenly need to cast a spell instead. But that's not all - like most games involving physical battle, there are defensive moves (usually overlooked in favor of repeatedly pressing the attack button!) In Ni no Kuni, you must learn when to defend, when to attack, and when to use provisions/spells if you're going to beat the game. I played the game all the way through and completed all the side-quests. In the end, it took me just over 100 hours spread across January to April, but you could certainly do it in less, and I could have easily spent more. A big factor in this game is how many familiars you want to collect and battle with - I only had about 30 total. There's also an entire in-game book (the Wizard's Companion), of which I've read only bits-and-pieces. If you think the game is expensive, think of it this way: if you buy the game at full price and a used PS3 for, say, $200 total, you're paying $2/hour for entertainment for a few months. My only real complaints are the click-through dialog text, which gets to be repetitive, and that most of the side-quests weren't very hard. But really, these are small complaints in a masterpiece game. Quite frankly, if you're on the edge about playing the game, you should go do it. You won't regret it.