Jade Cocoon 2 - 6/10
Okay, I only paid $50 (for a non-platinum game), so I wasn't expecting the best game ever, okay. I didn't get the best game ever. What I got was a fun little game that is amusing and entertaining. And fun. You are Kahu, a young boy who arrives at the Temple of Kemuel with one goal - to become a Cocoon Master. Why, we don't know. Soon he learns, they no longer exist, what he wants is to become a BeastHunter.
Enter Levant. He guides Kahu through his orientation into the world of BeastHunting - travelling through the four Wormhole Forests, killing the parasitic kalma that plague divine beasts. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. On his very first journey, tragedy strikes - Kahu is attacked by an unseen force and infested with a kalma. There's only one way to save Kahu before he turns into a fully-fledged kalma - are you, with your 'fairy friend' Nico, up to the task?
I think I did a pretty good job of completely botching that storyline. There's a lot more to it than that, though, and a few twists and turns (as always) that you won't see coming.
Sounds is an... interesting point. I like the battle theme of the game, it's not cartoony like some other RPG battle themes, and adds to the tension of the battle. Believe me, when your opponents beasts are wiping yours out, the last thing you need is a repetitive low-pitched battle theme to really grate on your nerves and add to the stress. But it's a good one.
The music tracks of the actual wormhole forests are basically non-existent. Which is actually a good thing, as you spend so long going in and out and around the ogrevines (more about them in gameplay). If it was a noticeable theme, you'd get pretty darn sick of hearing the first part of it over, and over, and over again.
As for voice acting? Aye, sadly it's laughable. In an attempt to make all the characters with voices sound unique, they've come up with some ridiculously funny voices to match up to people like the two guys working at Kikinak and Co, the Sweet Knights, and basically any other BeastHunter. I bet one (or very few) people did most of the voices in the game, which is why they had to stretch the voices so far, to make most of them sound completely unrealistic. Good thing about the voices is, they're fun to impersonate =P
Graphics are good, but not spectacular. The amount of Divine Beasts you can find and hatch is staggering, and every one of them looks unique (in their final form anyways). All the characters look good, anime-style, especially in their subtitle graphics. The game comes with subtitles, you see, and each subtitle is accompanied by a picture of the character speaking. The really cool thing (well, I think it's cool) is, the pictures change depending on the character's tone of voice. If Kahu is mad, he'll have an angry picture. When Nico laughs, her picture is all cute and happy and smiling. I've seen it replicated several times since, and it gets me each time. It's a nifty little feature, I think.
As for in-game graphics, each level of each wormhole forest has a different look to it, but not by much. Ogrevines and princessvines are pretty much standard through all forests, also. (And lemme tell you, a bright blue open princessvine stands out like anything in a fire forest, where most things are red.) FMVs are awesome, not realistic (nothing in this game is realistic, it maintains a nice anime/kiddy feel throughout) but they are still impressive.
One gripe I have about the graphics is that Kahu runs too fast. By that, I mean, his little legs pump faster than they should, for the speed he travels. It's noticeable right from the start, but the effect really gets irritating as the game goes on. Ah well. Not important. Minor complaint.
Gameplay is where this game stands head and shoulders above any other RPG. You don't control a party of people like in most standard RPGs, but you have a BeastAmulet, in which you can place different divine beasts do to your fighting. All fighting is done with the beasts on the amulet, not actually with Kahu himself. The system is still turn based, but unique, and fascinating.
It also lends to the idea that you can manipulate your divine beasts, and their arrangement on the amulet. The amulet has four sides - fire, for sheer brute attack power; wind, for status attacks; earth, for defense; and water, for healing properties. It has eight places to place divine beasts, however, you can only place two at first, and much pass 'achievement tests' to allow Kahu to house more.
Of course, as the game revolves around the divine beasts, there is lots of breeding to be done. As they level up, you can merge them with seed beasts you get from defeating kalma, to create new and more powerful beasts. If you're the type of person that loves spending endless time creating an invincible army, this game is for you. As it says on the game's label, there's something like a billion different combinations of divine beasts that can be created (I think that might exaggerate, but who knows...)
In terms of actually playing the game, Kahu explores the forests by searching through ogrevines (large planty-things that house rooms inside) until he finds the keyspore. Swallowing the keyspore allows him to travel through the princessvine to the next section of the forest. Each level of each forest has four sections, and Kahu must travel through all the different levels in search of a cure for his infestation. (No, not Cure, cure.) Each forest has levels, and, of course, each level is significantly harder than the last. Once you get to the third level of each forest, battles get very tough very fast, which is why proper preparation of your divine beasts is essential.
In terms of replayability? After you defeat the game, further levels in each forest are unlocked, for your playing enjoyment. I haven't the RPG smarts to get this far yet, but I've heard they're tough. Real tough. It would be worth replaying the whole game again, just to conquer these extra forest. No-one can claim to be a master of the game until they've unlocked all it's secrets, which may take a couple of trips through the game. After all, you can collect medals as well, from BeastHunters, and action figures of the Sweet Knights. It's all good fun.
It stacks up well against any other RPG I've played, but has a different flavour entirely. Worth the money? Seeing as I got this off the budget rack, I'd say it's definitely worth it.