Genre: Action/RPG
Developer: From Software
Publisher: Activision
Released On: May 13, 2003
# of Players: 1-2 Players
Memory: 3 Blocks
ERSB: Teen
Supports: DDPL-II
MSRP: $49.99
Also On: None
Website: LostKingdoms.com
The fate of a kingdom at war (again) against an evil conspiracy lies in the hands of a lone heroine (again) ready to battle against an army of darkness in Lost Kingdoms II, the sequel to the highly underated real-time action RPG for the Nintendo GameCube. Propelled by a dramatic storyline (yeah I said dramatic), players take the role of a new young heroine with the ability to summon powerful creatures using magical Guardian Creature Cards. Kinda like Yu-Gi-Oh without the popularity but better.
Presentation
200 years after Princess Katia’s apocalyptic battle with an enigmatic force, a new evil threatens the Kingdom of Argwyll. With the Kingdom on the brink of destruction, all hopes lie in the hands of a new heroine – Tara Grimface (what a horrible name). She must travel through the Kingdoms, summoning magical Creatures to battle the invading force while uncovering its terrible origin.
"Tara Grimface (what a horrible name). "
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Enhanced Card-Based System: Collect and power up over 200 Guardian Creature Cards that can be used to battle more than 200 enemies. Creatures range from fighting skeletons and fire-breathing dragons to new mechanized beasts, each with unique attack moves. Use unlimited battle areas and expanded RPG gameplay to fight enemies anywhere in an environment. Transform into Creatures and use their abilities to launch multiple methods of power attacks and overcome obstacles. Each quest features new elements such as hidden quests, puzzles and magical items to collect. In addition to single-player Story Mode, you can pit your card collection against a friend’s and battle to the finish in head-to-head two-player Versus Mode.
Graphics
Lost Kingdoms II is visually pretty clean and definitely superior to the first title. The art style is dark and fits well within the fantasy realm. The large 3D environments are moderately textured and have a clean look to them. Users can control the camera, varying the level of zoom, so the crispness of the world will vary slightly according to that. Character models are still kinda blocky and unimpressive when you really break them down. But if your eyes don’t tear over under developed graphics you should be fine. Get too many monsters on the screen at once, and the framerate will st-st-st-stutter. Fortunately, it’s pretty rare and won’t interrupt gameplay.
Audio
The biggest addition to the audio in Lost Kingdoms II is the voice work. It’s nothing spectacular but it nice and gets the job done. Battle music is nearly always the same, so the tune gets old very quickly. You may even grow to despise it in the later stages. They can get pretty long. Equally, sound effects are very standard and none too impressive. Lost Kingdoms II does support Dolby Surround, but the effect is hardly noticeable. It’s nice to see From Software at least used the available tools to try to help us enjoy the game more.
Gameplay
First off for those who don’t know you fight with a deck of cards. These cards represent one of three types of creatures, weapon, independent, and summon. On top of that, each card/creature belongs to one of four elements, wood, earth, water, and fire (each stronger than the one that follows it, wood > earth). Weapon type creatures may often be used more than once before they are burnt, and they consist of a single attack emanating from where Tara stands. This is most akin to a regular action RPG and often appears as a sword slash or a fire beam or a claw swipe in real time. Summon creatures are called upon for a specific service and actually replace Tara on the battlefield for a brief moment. They are very much like Final Fantasy summons where they will appear and perform an attack or heal and then fade away. These are burnt after one use. Finally, the most intriguing, Independent cards are thrown down on the terrain and spawn an ally creature. These creatures are computer controlled (so you can go on playing other cards) and perform actions such as attacking the opposing monsters, providing protection, or boosting strength. Independents have hit points, so they can actually be used across a span of battles before they are completely burnt. New to the game are the transformation cards. As the name states the cards can transform Tara into different creatures to fly, climb, fight, and do other things she can’t do on her own.
The biggest difference in gameplay is now instead of having a bunch of random battles. You can now see enemies as they trample around the stages looking for prey. But don’t think you won’t be surprised in battles. Sometimes being the evil things that they are baddies spawn outta thin air to kick your ass.
Lasting Appeal
First time through it should take the average gamer about 20 hours. There are many cards to collect. So after the first run through you should get a good 5 more hours to complete the game 100%.
"I can’t recommend Lost Kingdoms II for the mainstream gamer."
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Other than that there is nothing to do. And I doubt anyone would want to play it over.
Conclusion
Pound for pound Lost Kingdoms 2 is better than the predecessor. But the thing is it should have been the first to hit the GameCube. LK2 is everything the previous game should have been. Lost Kingdoms would have been more suited as a Nintendo 64 game. Don’t get me wrong I highly enjoyed both Lost Kingdoms games. But it’s an acquired taste that many don’t have. Therefore I can’t recommend Lost Kingdoms II for the mainstream gamer. But if you feel any kind of interest in this game do rent it as fast as possible.
~ditto~
The Good
+ More cards to collect.
+ Well done voice work.
+ Summon cards are nice to see.The Bad
- Visuals are outdated.
- Needs better music.
- Non-exsistent replay value.
The Stupid
? Tara Grimface?
