Turbo Review: Child of Light (XBONE)
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Entry posted by Kyoshi Frost Wolf
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Want just a quick summary? Head to the final verdict for that and my rating.
Child of Light
Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Vita
Genre: RPG
Publisher/Developer: Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montpellier
Child of Light was an unbelievably pleasant surprise. It is an RPG set in a fantasy land where you battle monsters, level up, and experience something truly wonderful. That being, this entire game.
The gameplay is a sidescrolling turn based RPG. You run and mostly fly around as Aurora, with her firefly companion Ignicolus, and find chests, gather items, battle monsters, level up, and recruit new party members. You traverse through the beautiful world and as you do, there are monsters in the overworld that when contact is made, you battle them. This is nice because you have a boost that done with the A button that can help you avoid needless fighting if you want to keep moving. You also solve some puzzles, with the help of your Firefly. Using the right trigger, he can light up switches, collect items, and blind enemies so you can surprise attack them or get past them entirely. This aspect goes into combat as well. The overworld gameplay is simple but works perfectly fine and you get the beautiful art and music to accompany you as you move about. There are also stones called Oculi that you collect and these can be combined and upgradde and they give you bonuses for combat, such as the different elements, XP boosts, speed boosts and more. This is a simplistic system that is done very well. Finding out the better combinations is a nice diversion. There isn't a whole ton of depth with the oculi system but as the rest of the game shows, simplicity can work wonders.
The battle system is heavily inspired by the Grandia series. You have a timeline at the bottom of the screen and icons that represent your party members and the enemies. These move along the timeline and you have a 'wait' zone and an 'action' zone. When your party members reach the action zone, the game lets you pick what you want to do, if you want to attack, defend, etc. If you or your enemies are hit during the action zone, it will place them back in the middle of the wait zone. Luckily you have trusty Ignicolus to help slow down enemies, as long as you have enough 'faries' to use him, which you can collect mid battle. Using the right trigger you can blind enemies which slows them down on the timeline and you can use this to time your attacks and defend. Defending prevents being sent back on the timeline and boosts the speed of your next action. This battle system keeps things interesting and prevents just pressing one button without looking. It isn't unique completely, but not many games have done it this way and works very well. Also, each enemy has an element and depending on what Oculi you have and where you have them equipped, it will grant you that element. So if you have a Blue Oculi equipped to your weapon slot, your attacks will deal Water damage and these attacks will do more damage to Fire enemies.
Story itself is relatively simple but surprisingly entertaining. The entire script is done in rhyme and this is quite impressive. I read the entire script as I played the game and I enjoyed every bit of it. Each of the characters have their own personalities that are surprisingly expressed well given that they have no voices. The story might seem a bit simplistic at times but I was fine with it and it reminded me of old fairytales. The script and music really helped to set the mood in at the right times.
The last things I want to mention are the music and art of the game. This game is beautiful, both visually and sound. The backgrounds and art in the game are such a pleasant treat for the eyes and the music is soothing, and just plain wonderful. It also shifts in intensity when it needs to depending on the situation. If you appreciate art or music at all, this game will impress you.
Final Verdict:
Child of Light is just a huge surprise. Going into it I did not know what to expect but the moment I was on the title screen and heard the beautiful theme, I knew I was in for something great. The engaging and fun combat, Oculi systems, and classic RPG elements will easily keep you entertained and when you aren't battling, you are seeing the beautiful artwork, listening to the soothing sounds of the music and reading the rhyming lines of the characters. While it might be a bit short in terms of RPG's, the time you spend is well worth the admission price. There is also a new game+ option which adds to the replayability. Don't let the rhyming script or length put you off. Child of Light, so far, is my game of the year for 2014 and I highly recommend it.
Pros:
+Fun and engaging combat system
+Fantastic art and music create a wonderful atmosphere
+Oculi system, while simple, adds depth to the overall experience
+The script is actually well done for being entirely in rhyme
Cons:
-A tad short for an RPG
Hope you enjoyed this week's review. 
Until next week,
Turbo out!
-
5
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