Game Mechanics - 1.5/2
Story-line - 1.5/2
Graphics - 1.5/2
Soundtrack - 1.5/2
Replay Value - 2/2
Total Score - 8/10
We are here again for another video game review with your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo_Cometh. It's been a while since we reviewed a PSVITA game I think so this game came along just in the nick of time during the usual summer drought of new releases. I'm gonna try to make this short and sweet for the most part today cause got a hectic work schedule dealing with while the second video game-play video is uploading to YouTube. So lets look at Dokuro...
Dokuro is a video game developed by Game Arts and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the PlayStation Vita. The player is Dokuro, a skeletal worker for the Dark Lord. One day, the Dark Lord captures a princess and forces her to marry him. Dokuro sees the princess crying which breaks his heart and he thus decides to help her escape the Dark Lord's castle. Dokuro can flip switches to open up paths, carry the princess after drinking a potion, as well as others. The game's levels grow steadily more complex as the game progresses. The game uses a graphical style that imitates artwork in a children's storybook. The game's director, Noriaki Kazama, previously worked on gory video games such as Ninja Gaiden Sigma under Team Ninja. Kazama said that after he had a baby, he browsed through children's books at the bookstore and was inspired by the art style.
What’s Good:
Replay value: This is here in spades as most puzzles have a variety of ways they can be solved as I came to realize while playing this game. Also you can replay levels for faster overall times or to collect coins as you progress through each level or to find the optimal solution to each level's puzzle.
Game Mechanics: Simple and very intuitive controls make for a fun and easily enjoyable game-play experience. Also worthwhile mentioning is that the touchscreen and overall integration of a PSVITA control system feels nature and smooth overall while playing this game.
Graphics: Overall design scheme and art style seems very fitting to the nature of the game and the PSVITA brings forth a certain crispness and level of subtle detail that can be appreciated in this handheld title.
What’s Bad:
Only fault I could come up with which isn't much of a fault as it seems intentional as a part of the challenging game design is that you can't do much to control the actions of the Princess. She just aimlessly walks forward and only turns away for fear of enemies that approach her.
What Should Have Been Added:
At times I found myself wanting the princess to stay in a certain position away from danger so maybe a stop/follow command would have been a nice addition. Another idea that came to mind was maybe getting a special power from each boss defeat that would help you along the way in your fights against other bosses and regular enemies.
Final Thoughts:
Even though it is a well documented fact that I suck at and despise puzzle based games I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Dokuro. At times the going got rough and I faltered, but it was never a case where I was just totally and utterly left feeling defeated like there was no solution in sight. The puzzles strike a fair balance between challenging and straight forward; the onus just lies with the player an dhow fast they can figure it all out to move on to the next one.
