Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Neopets is an internet phenomenon similar to the Tamogatchi craze in Japan.  At the Neopets site you create a virtual pet that you interact with.  Some of the Neopets look cute and cuddly, almost too cute for their own good.  Others look a bit devilish and demented, while still having a cute factor to them.  The site has games to play and merchandise to purchase.  Now they are branching out to the PS2 and PSP.

In Neopets: Petpet Adventures – The Wand of Wishing, a Gypsy has found the Wand of Wishing, a wand that will grant any wish to the holder.  As she is running to the location of the wand, she is chased by villains intent on capturing the Gypsy.  As the Gypsy grabs the wand, the leader of the army chasing you knocks the wand into a secret portal.  The Gypsy’s Petpet rushes through the portal to retrieve the wand.  You play as the Petpet that must find the Wand of Wishing.

The graphics in Neopets are rather simple.  The characters are all in 3D, and while the characters are well animated, they aren’t composed of many polygons.  The textures are fairly bare, with most colors looking solid with few details.  In a way, this does give the game a more cartoonish feel which is appropriate for this kind of game.

The backgrounds of the game look similar to the characters.  While there is more detail in the textures, you won’t see that much of a difference between the main characters and the backgrounds.  Most of the textures use similar patterns and colors, but you will see changes in the environment depending on if you are in places like a forest or a cave.

There are a few bright spots.  Water and spells all have some nice particle effects around them.  Spells sparkle when cast, and waters in certain areas mist.  Lighting a barrel is actually satisfying, with sparkles around the fuse, the barrel’s remains flying all over the screen, and a could of smoke remaining for a second after the barrel has exploded.  These little effects are nice touches in an otherwise bland game.

The music in the game is whimsical, lighthearted, and upbeat.  They almost have a jungle beat to them, with percussion driving the main theme and some occasional howls accenting the melody.  It actually feels appropriate for an action game.

When talking to the characters in the game, the characters talk in gibberish.  While this doesn’t exactly match the text on the screen, it gives you an idea how they might say their dialogue.  This definitely helps in making you remember the characters within the game, giving them personality.

Enemies make sounds depending on their attack.  Arrows whoosh by, while melee attacks thud against enemies.  As you or your enemies get hit, they will grunt from the attack.  This gives some feedback to the game as far as when you are hit or not.

The controls for Neopets are surprisingly simple.  Movement is handled by the analog nub, while changing the quick items and toggling weapons are handled with the D-pad.  The X attacks with your Petpet while Circle blocks attacks.  Picking up items is done with the Square and using the quick items is done with the Triangle.  Select goes to the Character menu and Start pauses the game.  Using the L or R button rotates the camera so you can see different areas of the field easier.

Movement is simple, but sometimes blocking in the right direction is difficult because of the sensitivity of the analog nub.  Also, attacking can either be done with button mashing or a mix of attacks and blocks.  If you forget about the block, you can wind up hitting the attack button constantly, almost like clicking your mouse in Diablo II.

At the start of the game you select your Petpet.  Four distinctive Petpets are able to be chosen.  One is balanced, one has a strong offense, one has a strong defense, and one has enhanced magical powers.  Each of them also has different resistances.  However, the differences between the three are rather minor, so you wouldn’t consider replaying the game with a different Petpet.  Once you have your Petpet you need to name it.  The interface for typing in your name is very intuitive, and Sony would do well to take a look at it for text entering in other applications.  Eight zones hold four different characters.  You move the analog nub to the area with the letter you want in it and hit one of the four face buttons.  It works surprisingly well.

In the game you travel around fighting enemies, using brute force or magic.  There is a nice variety of enemies, but each area doesn’t have many new enemies.  As you defeat more enemies you’ll gain more experience for your Petpet.  Sometimes enemies or broken containers yield Neopoints, the currency of the game.  At first, you won’t be able to buy much, but after a little while you’ll be able to purchase improved armor, weapons, scrolls, food, and potions.

Magic is handled by using scrolls.  Once you have a scroll readied in the Quick Item belt, you can cast that specific spell.  To use more powerful scrolls, you need to have your levels in a particular alignment raised to the level the scroll requires.  This is done by using Magical Orbs that can be found or bought from sellers.

As you go around talking to the characters in the city, some of them give you quests to fulfill.  You can have several quests going at the same time, and each is stored in a journal in the Character menu so you don’t have to worry about keeping track of them.  Most of the quests you’ll get are of the Fed Ex variety and get old fast though.  It does have a nice number of side quests though.

Training increases your stats.  In the towns, you’ll meet characters who are willing to train you in different areas.  To do the training, you need to pay for it with Tokens earned in the Battledome.  These encounters are fights against CPU creatures or over the PSP Ad-hoc mode.  The Battledomes get increasingly difficult as you progress through the game, and you are charged an entrance fee for going into one.

Items such as scrolls, potions, weapons, and armor can be purchased or sold at different stores.  These are found within the towns as well.  Once you have purchased an item, it goes into your inventory.  From there you can equip it or put it in your Quick Item Belt.

The game’s battles are fairly easy, as this game was designed with the younger mindset.  While it is possible to get killed early on, with a little strategy the enemies are pretty weak so it’s easy to kill them. Your health can be restored eating food, drinking potions, or staying in one place for a while.  Your mana bar is also restored by not using magic spells for a period of time.  Once you gain better armor and weapons, the game gets even easier, making the game less balanced than it should be.

The biggest issue with the game is the camera.  The overhead camera doesn’t give you a large enough view of your surroundings because the camera is so tight to your Neopet.  This means that you can have an enemy in the same area as you but not be able to see it.

The load times in Neopets are relatively good, but when entering a brand new area, it can take a while for the game to load.  However, the loads are less frequent than other RPGs on the PSP system.

Neopets can be completed rather quickly.  If you take a weekend and concentrate on the game, you’ll be able to complete it.  Beyond that, there isn’t any real replay value unless you want to go through the game again as one of the other starting Petpets.  There really isn’t much to do since the other characters don’t differ that much from the other starting characters. Neopets: Petpet Adventures – The Wand of Wishing looks like it has a lot going for it at first.  However, delving deeper into the game, the issues persist.  Neopets could have been a fun game that introduces younger players to the action RPG genre.  Instead, the game becomes boring because of balancing issues.

Gaming Trend Score

71

1. Graphics: 72
2. Audio: 80
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 68
5. Value/Replay: 55
6. OVERALL:71