Manga & Anime Comics

Some of the highlights among the console games coming next week to Japan, courtesy of Famitsu magazine's review pages:

- Keroro RPG (8/8/8/7, 31 points): "Basically it's Tales of Keroro," one reviewer wrote -- in other words, an RPG in the vein of Namco Bandai's Tales series with Sgt. Frog characters thrown in. "The took the charm of the [anime] series and built the Tales system around it, creating a very orthodox but still well-made game. the battles are a little tough, but the combos are fun enough that you don't mind trying as often as it takes. It's also nice how you can change the difficulty level at any time."

On the negative side, "the menu controls are a little annoying, and the field map seems a tad unfinished [...] the battles are so well done that it's a shame the story is so obviously a series of fetch quests."

- the Eye of Judgment Legends (8/7/7/8, 30 points): "The PlayStation Eye gimmick will be missed, but the strategic action is just as deep as ever," wrote the editors. "It's definitely nice that they added a story, one that's accessible and easy to get into. a single match also takes just the right amount of time, never too long."

On the other hand, "editing your deck is harder than it needs to be," and "there's no way you're going to fully understand the rules with the tutorial alone."

- .hack//Link (9/8/8/7, 32 points): the PSP RPG based on the manga series based on the PS2 video games (whew) gets a pretty decent welcome from Famitsu's crew: "The story, which puts a final period at the end of the long saga, is extremely engaging. It's nice how you can experience the story from all the previous games right in here." the battle system isn't perfect, though: "The unison combos are fun, but occur so frequently that you get a bit sick of them."

- Pokemon Ranger: Path of Light (9/9/9/9, 36 points): High praise all around for the latest from this series. "The capture system and controls are easy, addictive, and all-in-all superb," one editor wrote. "It's a standard update to the series and there's little very fresh here, but the Pokemon-centric world is still engaging."

- BioShock 2 (9/9/9/8, 35 points): yes, BioShock 2 got outscored by a Pokemon spinoff title -- but don't grab your pitchforks yet; there's a perfectly valid reason for this. the editors had a lot of good things to say, besides. "The unique world they've built is just as beautiful and artistic as ever," wrote one. "Being a big Daddy and attacking with your drill is fun and oddly addictive." Another agreed: "The game unfolds largely in the same way as the previous one, leading to few real surprises, but you do get a deeper, more detailed view of the world of Rapture."

The biggest complaint? the Japanese localization. "Since the dialogue isn't dubbed, you miss out on announcements and other lines, which is a shame," explained one reviewer. "At least the subtitles are large and easy to read." Another editor was a little more annoyed: "The main conversations are subtitled so it's not like you have no idea what's going on, but if you really want to enjoy this game then you're going to need some English skill."

Japan Review Check: Keroro RPG, .hack//Link, BioShock 2

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