Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Only a few strategy RPGs have graced the market lately, and most of those have been done by Nippon Ichi.  Fans of the genre have been lucky to have titles like Disgea: Hour of Darkness, La Pucelle: Tactics, and Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome. However the PSP has gotten a strategy RPG from an unlikely source, Idea Factory.  Idea Factory’s last foray on the console was the lackluster Black Stone: Magic and Steel, an action RPG.  Now they are taking the strategy route with Generation of Chaos.

In Generation of Chaos, the Dravanian Revolution left the country in ruins.  After this time, Minister Zeo worked his way through the political system and turned the Dravania nation to a powerful military force.  Now Dravania is out to restore peace and bring prosperity to all of the Lost Grounds.

Strategy RPG’s like this usually have fairly simplistic graphics.  Generation of Chaos isn’t any different.  The sprite-based characters on the screen do look slightly better than those found on the PSOne, but you won’t see that much of a difference.  The character animations appear to have only a few frames for each movement.

Six landscapes populate the game, and you can see some differences with the different landscapes.  There isn’t much detail at all in the backgrounds though.  All of the flatland tiles look the same, all of the water tiles look the same, and all of the desert tiles look the same.

Generation of Chaos has a lot of reading because of the abundant number of statistics, items, and spells.  The PSP features one of the largest screens on a handheld system.  That doesn’t mean that the game is easy to read.  While some of the larger on-screen items are easy to read, much of the text is smaller and difficult to make out.

The graphics in Generation of Chaos do have a few nice touches.  Skills and super moves are available from the general.  These moves often involve particle effects that swirl about on the screen.  Each of the generals has their own portrait picture.  These are rather detailed and sharp, a contrast to the rest of the game.

The music in Generation of Chaos is fair, but it’s typical of what you would expect from a title like this.  The sweeping sounds of a majestic string and trumpet chorus fill the background.  Battles increase the tempo, with more percussion making the battles more intense.

Over the top voice-acting makes an appearance in Generation of Chaos.  While this might be a turn off in some games, it actually adds a bit of well-needed personality.  Unfortunately the voices can be interrupted by a disk load, which really breaks up the immersion of the game.

Control of the game is simple enough since most of the game is menu-driven.  Using the D-pad or analog nub you highlight the menu options.  Selecting an option is done by pressing the X button, while hitting Circle cancels the current option.  Using the L and R button changes the camera on the screen.  Anyone familiar with this style of game shouldn’t have any issues selecting the menu options.

Generation of Chaos is a complex game.  While this might sound like a good thing on the surface, if the game doesn’t provide a good learning curve or a slick presentation, all that complexity is lost.  This is the case with Generation of Chaos.

The game plays by sending your generals across the map fighting against enemy armies, constructing buildings, and resting at bases.  The entire map is a square grid, and each general is allowed to move a certain number of squares each turn.  During this time you are also able to buy and sell items, check the map, save the game, load a saved game, check on your base and commanders, and pay commanders and assign one to be an Advisor.

Each faction has a base.  Each base has the ability to command movement of the generals, conduct research and development to change the landscape or build architecture on open land, modify your politics to change commerce, check the status of prisoners, appoint a landlord to the architectures, recruit and sell soldiers, increase the commander’s loyalty to the faction, and check your current status.  Similar commands are available when a commander has snuck into an enemy base.

Each turn you have the ability to move your generals over the map.  When you land on a square with an opposing general the screen changes showing a strip of land with the two armies facing each other.  Then you are given the option to choose a formation for the army and what kind of tactics to use for the battle.  Each of these battles can feature up to 30 soldiers on each side.  Once these decisions have been made, the battle begins.

Success depends on more than just the formation and the number of units in each army.  Each weapon, skill, and super move has a type.  These types are Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Holy, and Dark.  Certain types are stronger or weaker against others.  For example, Wind is weak against Fire but strong against Earth.  You also have Physical attacks and Magic attacks.  These attacks are based on different statistics for your general.  You can also have different resistances from accessories bought or won.  Even weather and the time of day can affect the strength of your units.

Your interaction between the commander and the army is rather limited during battle.  You can change the strategy of the battle mid-stream, but the super moves and skills have a much greater effect on the battle.  Super moves can cause major damage to the enemy army or boost the health of your own.  These super moves require a super move gauge to be filled to perform.  It increases by taking damage or by having units killed in combat.  Skills are special moves that are either specific to the general or are bought by buying a skill book from a shop.  These require skill points to perform.  Items can also be used and equipped during battle.

If all of this sounds complex, it is.  In fact, the game is slow.  The manual is inadequate in explaining all of these complexities, and the game has a steep learning curve because of it.  There are a few cutscenes that help develop the story, but the story isn’t very deep and you never really care about the characters in the game.  It’s worse because the game is so difficult at first that you need to be incredibly dedicated to the game, prodding through it.  You have so many armies on the map that it’s hard to keep them all straight.  If the game had a bit more of a learning curve and more in-game help, Generation of Chaos could be an enjoyable game.  Most gamers will probably be ready to punt their PSP in frustration long before the game clicks.

Generation of Chaos has a lot of replay value to it.  The campaign has two ways to advance.  You can move the story along chapter by chapter by defeating a single enemy.  You can also do a “Leader Rivalry” mode where all ten factions have their head commander on the map.  It’s a free for all where you protect your own bases while defeating the other factions.

After completing a campaign, you can select KOC mode.  In this mode you select a general and relinquish the land again.  Your bases and supporting commanders are chosen randomly, so each time you start this mode, your game is going to be different.

The strategy RPG market is largely untapped, especially in the handheld world.  While the complexity of Generation of Chaos could have been a positive for the game, without a gentle learning curve and in-game assistance, the complexity turns out to be a negative factor for the game, restricting the fun that can be had with the game.  Fans who are dying for a strategy RPG might find this game enjoyable with a lot of time and effort put into it.  If you are easily frustrated, stay far away from this game.

Gaming Trend Score

68

1. Graphics: 68
2. Audio: 70
3. Controls: 74
4. Gameplay: 62
5. Value/Replay: 74
6. OVERALL:68