Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii, 2008)

After playing (and LOVING) the original Tales of Symphonia a few years ago, it was a no-brainer that I just had to try out the sequel. Granted, Dawn of the New World had a HUGE prequel to live up to, so I wasn't expecting a miracle. But I must say, while it certainly has some flaws, it should make Tales of Symphonia fans very satisfied...

POSITIVES:

+ GOOD STORY - One thing that engrossed me in the first was a good storyline. It's almost like watching a movie. A well-defined plot that has you itching to figure out what's to come!

+ LOTS TO DO - I've been told that total playtime can range anywhere for 40-100 hours, depending on how much you care to do. Plenty of side quests and items to get - just like the original. Nothing like getting your $40 worth!

+ FAMILIAR SETTINGS/CHARACTERS - I found it nice recognizing familiar settings and cast for the original. The first ToS has such a great crew that they just had to come back again - 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

+ HIGH REPLAY VALUE - As with the first, beating the game is only the beginning. You can use GRADE to replay it with some advantages. AND, there are THREE seperate endings to watch! Yeah!

+ MAP FEATURE - I like being able to point and click where I want to go rather than spend several minutes roaming the countryside and fighting monsters. A NICE new feature!

NEUTRAL

o GRAPHICS - While improved over the previous Gamecube version, it seems to me that they could have done just a bit more to make them dazzle my eye. I like the more fluid motions of the characters, but still yawn at some of the other animations. The only thing that I TRUELY enjoy are the cut-scene animations. The rest is good, but not great.

o CONTROLS - Maybe it's because I'm still trying to get the hang of it, but the controls seem a bit more awkward than before. I find myself accidently hitting the wrong button in battle - very frustrating.

NEGATIVES:

- WHINY PROTAGNIST - I know that things do change as the game progresses, but it's hard to root for such a wimpy main character. I find myself cringing everytime he talks.

- CAST VOICES - This is a minor thing for some, but I just got too used to the original voices from Tales on the Gamecube. Now when I here the new ones (like Lloyd) I keeping saying to myself...'that's not Lloyd's voice'. Fortunately, some characters ARE voiced identically as the first.

- AUTO/MANUAL TROUBLES - The wife likes to play as Marta, but for some reason, the settings seem to constantly shift from Auto to Manual between scenes. This results in us frequently tweaking the settings. Maybe it's just something we're doing wrong, but didn't have that problem with the first.

OVERALL

Tales of Symphonia fans will find yet another RPG game to become enfatuated with. New RPG fan should still appreciate it, but maybe not as much as hardcore Tales fans. Just for the record, newbies do NOT have to have a background on the first to understand this one (although it would help). Either way, it's HANDS DOWN, the best RPG currently out for the Wii. And, with a MSRP of $40, it's a REALLY good deal.