We are in '97, Joe Madureira - then just 23 years old - he abandons the X-Men to enter his first independent project. Despite the sporadic publications, the comic has a good critical and public success, but this is not enough to prevent other plots from entering the mind of the young talent. After only 9 issues, he interrupts the writing of the comic to turn his attention to the much more varied and profitable world of video games. Who knows if Joe himself would have ever thought, from what today appears to us a very distant 2001, to take back that very first personal creature of his to revive it in a video game, Battle Chasers: Nightwar. Strange life, huh?
Let's see what it is.
First of all, compared to the comic, we find here a new character: Alumon, the toughest demon hunter. An insertion which, probably, is to be referred to the will of the team The Airship Syndacate to write an unpublished story, or rather, a story within the reach of even those who have never heard of Battle Chasers.
A story in which we find ourselves catapulted without too many preambles: our characters are on board a flying ship and are fleeing from an unknown enemy force that forces them to an emergency landing on a mysterious island, following which the group falls apart.
We find first Gully, Garrison e il war golem Calibretto to whom it is given to have to find their missing comrades: Knolan the wise man and Red Monika, the femme fatale.
In the course of the events, light will be shed on the points left in the shade at the beginning of the narration, also thanks to a series of PNG which will appear to support us with quest and other aids.
We immediately understand that we are inside the classic stereotype from “Might & Magic” which slightly flattens the expectations that could be nurtured for a game with a not just past. Furthermore it must be said that the plot, at times, leaves us a little perplexed, often demonstrating a tendency to remain suspended, as if something was always on the verge of being revealed and then never revealed.
On the gameplay front
Regarding the gameplay, Battle Chasers:Nigthwar system resumes ATB to Final Fantasy, showing a remarkable ability to combine the American style that Madureira he carries in his luggage, adding to the whole Japanese winks that the same "Joe" he has always shown his appreciation.
We will therefore have a system of turn-based combat, with a sidebar to suggest the order of actions. We have the possibility to choose three out of six characters that make up the whole team and go around with them to explore the world thanks to the aerial view map that makes it easier for us to move around. Where you'll be however, it is marked in such a way as to make every encounter not accidental.
The dynamics between the six characters are also well balanced, through an accurate system of buffs and debuffs, where each can switch from one status to another through a wide range of skills, helping to make the various fights always extremely interesting and enjoyable. from the point of view of skill.
Then there is a kind of evolution of the characters as the levels advance: they will discover new abilities, such as ultrattacks and a set of passive skills that can be activated via level up o books scattered throughout the game.
At the end of the fight we find ourselves with the usual experience points to which the new ones are added “Points overload”Which are added to PM, without the possibility of accumulation.
One particularly fun thing is the ability to reassign points ability as you want, experimenting until you find the best conformation of the party.
Dungeons, exploration zones and side quests
The beating heart of the whole experience lies in the exploratory moment thanks to 7 procedural dungeons at three levels of difficulty that make up the game. Each dungeon consists of a dozen rooms, where you orient yourself only through the cardinal points.
There are also exploration areas where we could carry out secondary missions and hunts. These areas unlike the dungeon they do not have a selectable difficulty level.
Little inventiveness on the front of the side quest: we find missions of hunting, un'arena and a mini-game of fishery quite basic.
For the arena, is the only moment in which it will be possible "level" decently: we are faced with waves of increasingly strong enemies within 20 minutes, up to a mini-boss the final. In the end we will have accumulated points through which we will unlock a series of often interesting objects.
Le hunting missions, are based on mini-boss as difficult as they are fundamental for the development of particular abilities of the characters or to find materials with which "craftAny kind of weapon, potion and so on. However, the hunts can be even useless if you do not have the adequate level to face them and this will catapult us into an infinite loop inside the dungeon procedural, trying to "level" and of "dropping”The most appropriate equipment to face these challenges.
La fisheryFinally, it turns out to be more useful for the coins we can get from the sale than for the excitement added to the rest of the game.
Graphics and Technique
From a strictly visual and artistic point of view, we find exactly what one could expect from a cartoonist of the type of Joe Madureira: a totally captivating graphic style, with attention to the smallest details, an accurate transposition of the comic into the video game, with animations that sometimes manage to amaze.
Technically, however, we find a series of flaws, not just, as numerous crash of the game (in my 42 hours of gameplay over 60), also extremely slow loading as well as blocking menus and textual lines out of place make the game sometimes not very enjoyable.
Another discordant note is the lack of rescue manual, possible only when you decide to exit the game, otherwise the automatic saving arrives when you perform certain actions, which penalizes the player already not facilitated by the numerous bugs that risk undermining the entire experience.
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Conclusions
“Probably the origin of a low budget crowdfunding influenced the general orchestration of Battle Chasers:Nigthwar. The impression is that less has been done than could have been done, both to avoid some imperfections and inaccuracies, such as the numerous crashes that undermine the gaming experience, and to enhance aspects that, at times, seem a bit 'left at the mercy of themselves, not least the narrative itself. "
