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Dark Cloud 2

Score: 8.0 / 10

After playing this game the first thing that jumped to mind for me was the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  This could not be truer in regards to Dark Cloud 2.  Visually the game is absolutely stunning with its use of cel shading in comparison to the presentation used in the first game.  A longer quest, and a plethora of mini games also help to give the sense that this is a very different experience from the original Dark Cloud.  But not so, as the core, fundamental way in which the first Dark Cloud worked is still the core, fundamental way Dark Cloud 2 works.  That’s just fine, however, as the end result is more fun hack and slash action through randomly generated dungeons with engaging puzzle-like town building on top.  

 

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The story itself is a wonderfully lighthearted affair.  A villain by the name of Emperor Griffon is making points in history disappear and it falls upon the game’s heroes, Max and Monica, to set things right by rebuilding the world and traveling through time.  Along their journeys there’s a number of little stories in each town that are quite entertaining, not to mention large portions of the story’s plot is told as a letter from Max to his long missing mother.  The story never tries to take itself too seriously, instead simply trying to provide a fun ride and succeeding in this task.   

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Once you sink your teeth into the game and log a good number of hours on it, the potential depth and scope of what players can do is truly impressive.  The main quest itself is already a long, involved affair, but with a number of mini games thrown in the size of the game gets a whole lot bigger.  Just like the first game players have the option to go fishing for fun and profit.  Once you get a handle on managing the tension on the fishing line pulling in a catch becomes very easy.  Adding a new element to the whole fishing experience is the ability to keep your fish and raise them in aquariums as pets or for racing.  It’s not too simplified, nor is it overly complicated, landing it right in a happy middle ground for those who just can’t get enough of these animal/monster/you name it raising games.  Most hit and miss of the mini games, though, is Spheda, a golf game, which can be played on a floor of a dungeon upon clear it of all the monsters there.  Some of the dungeons are an absolute nightmare to navigate as they are more course hazard than they are golf course with all manner of difficult obstacles out to make it nearly impossible to complete the course.  Even more frustrating is that the prizes won for getting the ball in the whole vary an awful lot.  For the sheer trouble it takes to win a round of Spheda it is a huge let down to get some sort of potion or another equally lackluster item.  If the prizes were largely new weapons, gems, and the like it would make the game a lot more pleasurable.  But despite the downsides, there’s a lot of satisfaction to be had when you win at Spheda if only for completing such arduous courses.  Not so much a mini game is Max’s ability to invent things, then build them with raw materials.  Near the start of the game Max is given a camera which he can use to take pictures of things that may give him some ideas for inventions as well as collecting scoops for one of the games characters, Donny, resulting in various goodies as rewards.  There are lots of items to invent with hints at items scattered throughout the world.  You can try guessing at things to make, but this is a real crapshoot and likely to wind up being a huge waste of time.  Nonetheless, learning how to make new things is very useful, especially if your out in the field and need a specific item, don’t have it, but you do have the materials to make it on the spot.   The best thing about these mini games is that they don't distract from the main quest, they're there if you want them, but easily ignored if you want to keep on plunging ahead.

Navigating through the game is generally straightforward.  The controls are very intuitive, feeling natural at all times.  Players can lock onto individual enemies to attack, and switching between close up melee and ranged attacks with ease.  The one problem with the game’s controls comes from being able to switch between Max and Monica by pressing down on the L3 button.  Unfortunately this is also the directional lever on the Dual Shock 2 that controls the characters’ movement.  There have been many times in the heat of battle that I’ve accidentally pressed down on the L3 while trying to dodge enemies resulting in a character being called up that I didn’t want to use.  This problem could have been easily avoided by assigning this character switching hot key to one of the shoulder buttons, but that isn’t even a choice in the options menu.  It’s a very unfortunate, and glaring fault in the Dark Cloud 2’s control scheme.

Still, it isn’t enough to ruin the core gameplay of the title.  Searching through one random dungeon after the next, hoping to find treasure of one sort or another, all the while hacking and blasting away on all sorts of enemies is great.  More importantly, it’s very challenging.  The enemies in Dark Cloud 2 won’t go easy on you for a minute so it becomes important to learn their attack habits early on or you’ll be restarting from save points frequently.  Blocking, dodging, and carrying lots of healing items are key to performing well in combat here.  When going through the dungeons players can also choose from branching paths at times, but unfortunately they don’t provide any non-linearity since you’ll be forced back to complete the other path in order to perform some mandatory task or another anyway.  The selectable fighting characters all bring something useful to the table.  Max has a slow attack, but it does a good job of penetrating armor and dishing out high levels of damage, while Monica is all about the finesse with smooth, flowing sword strokes.  On top of this players have access to the Ridepod, a large robot piloted by Max capable of dealing high amounts of damage against larger enemies.  There’s no real set order to use these characters in, but they each serve a distinct purpose and devising a strategy as for how best to use them is very rewarding.  We also see the return of the highly addictive leveling up of weapons, building them up into newer, shinier bringers of destruction.  A big part of the fun in Dark Cloud 2 is building up a weapon to see what it turns into.  

The Georama portion of the game (aka the city building) is thankfully a lot more forgiving than it was in the original.  Unlike the first game where you needed to fulfill very strict guidelines in order to make everyone in the town happy, in Dark Cloud 2 building and item placement is a lot more open to interpretation.  However, adding a degree of challenge is the need to find the raw materials to make the different things that must be planted in the city you’re trying to rebuild, be it plants, buildings, landmarks or whatever.  Thankfully these materials can be found in the dungeons, but for those who want them quickly a few characters in the game sell the them so you can get back to fixing a city right away (assuming you have enough gold for the materials).

What we have here is a sequel that retains all that made the original an entertaining romp, while adding a whole lot more to fatten it up.  There are a few sticking points that prove to be nuisances, but they aren’t nearly bad enough to ruin the game.  There isn’t a lot of action RPGs on the PS2, so if you’re looking for a new game in the genre Dark Cloud 2 is definitely one to check out.

- Mr. Nash

(April 6 2003)

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