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chuckroIn a world where an alien bacteria known as the "Achratoth" nearly wiped out mankind, Xilleon City was created using a particle shield to protect many of the remaining inhabitants. Join forces with a brash amnesiac hero, a detective in the local police force, an android, and a young girl with a mysterious past as "defenders of justice" and take on Cyphatek, the largest corporation in Xilleon City, to expose their corruption!
Despite having weaker graphics and a somewhat clunkier system than other KEMCO games I’ve played recently, this one has a sci-fi buddy-cop plot that actually feels a bit different from the rest of the games, and I give them a lot of credit for that. Yes, you still end up doing a lot of fetch-questing, but they managed to make it feel more like a sci-fi mystery than a generic fantasy epic, which really helps it stand out.
The dungeon designer relied awfully heavily on identical elevators that only go one or two places. Which is annoying, but not terrible, as the dungeon design is otherwise not bad—there are dead ends and looping corridors; and they’re very good about giving you a quick exit route at the end of each dungeon.
The sprite collection was apparently very limited—there are a number of named NPCs that use generic sprites; every hidden object in the game and most of the cutscene special effects are all done with the same “sparkle” (and everything that happens in a cutscene is the same red flashing screen); several boss monsters are represented with a generic “slime” sprite despite appearing as dragons in battle; etc.
My complaint about the control scheme is that most games actually allow you a hybrid between touch controls and a virtual keypad: You have a keypad except when you are offered buttons, which you can push. This locks you into the keypad if you choose that mode, and you need to maneuver menus and yes/no prompts with it.
IAP points seem to flow in invisibly as you fight battles, and you get enough over the course of the game to collect a few interesting special items. I give them credit that they got creative with the accessories and tried to encourage strange strategies with them. The “Regret Core” triples your damage output, but halves your HP and SP every turn, for instance.
While the plot isn’t bad, the science is terrible, oh my god. The shield over the city is apparently to keep out alien bacteria, but people freely go outside the dome without protective gear and re-enter at will. The plot hinges on the creation of androids, “naturoids” (androids with human brains in them; sure, I’m with you here), and “neo-naturoids” (humans with android brains which are somehow better? Hunh?). At one point, a character is dying from poison gas. Another character who is immune to the gas is told she can share her antibodies by swapping spit with the dying character. (But kisses are precious, oh the angst, blah blah blah.) But apparently this process not only instantly cures him, but completely transfers her immunity so she immediately starts dying from the gas (which they’ve long left the presence of). WHAT.
Oh, and the translators apparently got a bit cheeky with the pop culture references. References to Bernie Madoff or Monica Lewinisky feel a bit jarring, even in a relatively near-future setting.
Like several other KEMCO games, after you beat the game, you can re-open your clear save for a bonus chapter and an alternate ending. I’d had my fill and decided the “normal end” was sufficient for my liking.
Overall: I can’t really claim that this is particularly stand-out as a game, but it gets a lot of credit for having a plot I haven’t seen before. You’d think that there’d be more sci-fi buddy cop rpg stories, actually.
Despite having weaker graphics and a somewhat clunkier system than other KEMCO games I’ve played recently, this one has a sci-fi buddy-cop plot that actually feels a bit different from the rest of the games, and I give them a lot of credit for that. Yes, you still end up doing a lot of fetch-questing, but they managed to make it feel more like a sci-fi mystery than a generic fantasy epic, which really helps it stand out.
The dungeon designer relied awfully heavily on identical elevators that only go one or two places. Which is annoying, but not terrible, as the dungeon design is otherwise not bad—there are dead ends and looping corridors; and they’re very good about giving you a quick exit route at the end of each dungeon.
The sprite collection was apparently very limited—there are a number of named NPCs that use generic sprites; every hidden object in the game and most of the cutscene special effects are all done with the same “sparkle” (and everything that happens in a cutscene is the same red flashing screen); several boss monsters are represented with a generic “slime” sprite despite appearing as dragons in battle; etc.
My complaint about the control scheme is that most games actually allow you a hybrid between touch controls and a virtual keypad: You have a keypad except when you are offered buttons, which you can push. This locks you into the keypad if you choose that mode, and you need to maneuver menus and yes/no prompts with it.
IAP points seem to flow in invisibly as you fight battles, and you get enough over the course of the game to collect a few interesting special items. I give them credit that they got creative with the accessories and tried to encourage strange strategies with them. The “Regret Core” triples your damage output, but halves your HP and SP every turn, for instance.
While the plot isn’t bad, the science is terrible, oh my god. The shield over the city is apparently to keep out alien bacteria, but people freely go outside the dome without protective gear and re-enter at will. The plot hinges on the creation of androids, “naturoids” (androids with human brains in them; sure, I’m with you here), and “neo-naturoids” (humans with android brains which are somehow better? Hunh?). At one point, a character is dying from poison gas. Another character who is immune to the gas is told she can share her antibodies by swapping spit with the dying character. (But kisses are precious, oh the angst, blah blah blah.) But apparently this process not only instantly cures him, but completely transfers her immunity so she immediately starts dying from the gas (which they’ve long left the presence of). WHAT.
Oh, and the translators apparently got a bit cheeky with the pop culture references. References to Bernie Madoff or Monica Lewinisky feel a bit jarring, even in a relatively near-future setting.
Like several other KEMCO games, after you beat the game, you can re-open your clear save for a bonus chapter and an alternate ending. I’d had my fill and decided the “normal end” was sufficient for my liking.
Overall: I can’t really claim that this is particularly stand-out as a game, but it gets a lot of credit for having a plot I haven’t seen before. You’d think that there’d be more sci-fi buddy cop rpg stories, actually.
