If I grew up in Japan, I would have most probably freaked out in some insane way when Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King fell thought my letterbox earlier this week, but due to my Irish breeding I was rather calm upon its arrival. In fact, I was so calm that I just tossed it onto the sofa and went outside to do something which at the time, I thought to be more interesting. Upon completing said outdoor task, I came back inside and incomprehensibly muttered ‘oh, there’s that game.’ I promptly put in my PS2 and began playing’
‘now almost 40 hours later I don’t really feel the need to go outside. I don’t feel the need to phone friends or family. Why should I bother answering all these messages on the constantly beeping mobile phone’ Everyone leave me alone, dammit! I’m playing Dragon Quest. What’s that’ You expect me to review the game’ That would mean I would have to stop playing! Oh well, better get started.
The main story of Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King centres on a palace guard (who you play as) who is the only survivor of a hard hitting attack by an evil entity. This entity is named Dhoulmagusman, an evil wizard who has succeeded in seizing a legendary sceptre during the attack. After the attack, the sceptre was used to put a curse on the castle from which it was stolen, which turned the king into a toad and the princess into a horse. As you expect, these events lead you to begin your adventure through the lands to right all these wrongs (and maybe take on a few more quests if you feel like it). The story that then unfolds is an interesting but perhaps slightly clich’ one; nevertheless it is still very interesting to partake in.
The game plays just like most other Japanese RPG’s that are on store shelves, with all battles you take part in being of the turn-based kind, and many random battles occurring as you venture across the lands. Thankfully, these random battles seem spaced out quite well, so it never feels like you are being held up too often. When battles do crop up though, they are fun to take part in as the turn based options are laid out quite well. Unlike other RPGs, spells and abilities are all learned as you level up, which add to the game simplicity, meaning you won’t have loads of unused spells. Some may argue that it should be up to individual gamers to use whichever spells they want, but Dragon Quest’s approach works, as it makes each character’s levelling up feel more entertaining, and each spell/ability seems to be learned at just the right time which keeps the game interesting as you advance. The spells are also spread out well amongst the characters, meaning you won’t be reliant on one of them for healing, but you will notice some are better than others at certain tasks. Each character also has unique special attacks, such as Jessica’s "sex appeal" which can ‘charm’ enemies, making them forget to attack when it is their turn. Overall, the game plays like a very basic but highly refined RPG. As a result of the refinement, the game is an ease to play but is also challenging and fun to take part in.
Graphically, the game looks great; presenting gamers with an eye-catchingly unique style of cel-shading. From the first moment you lay your eyes on the first cutscene, it is evident that a lot of work has gone into getting the game to look the way it does. If I could choose one word to describe the game, it would be ‘vibrant’, as everything you see on the screen stands out, even some the small and insignificant items are rendered expertly in a way that gives the game a real ‘wow’ factor. Mountains, grassy plains, streams, castles and deserts are all striking, no matter how many times you lay your eyes on them. It’s not only the environments that feel alive, but all of the characters move with immense style and panache. Whether it is one of the many enemies (monsters, skeletons and the rest) or one of the games main protagonists, all are animated well and move in ways that scream ‘eye candy’.
Carrying on from the graphics, the audio also rates relatively highly. The one aspect I was slightly concerned about was the game’s voice acting, as it is a little off-putting to say the least. In my mind, cel-shaded anime characters should not talk with British accents and in Dragon Quest, almost all of the characters do. After a while though, the voices do gel with what you are looking at on screen, and end up suiting the characters well and adding a certain charm to proceedings. Next is the music, which I found highly impressive straight from the get go. There is a nice mix of high and low tempo compositions to hear, all of which are implemented at the right time to add extra poignancy to certain scenes, giving them both an epic and emotional feel. Dungeons and towns all have their own unique tunes, giving each area their own foreboding or welcoming feel respectively. The world-roaming melody is also of a high quality and even though you will hear it a lot, it never ends up getting boring too soon into the adventure. Sound effects are also well done, bringing loads of life to many areas of the game.
