A game I'll review cuz I felt like it: Folklore

So, Folklore is a bit of an old game, at least as far as the next gen stuff is concerned. It came out around two years ago in the Fall of '07, and this one was unlike Bionic Commando, and actually got some much-deserved attention. It's probably gotten a lot more in the past year or so though, because you can pick this one up for about 20 or 30 bucks at most places, sometimes even cheaper than that if you are a real cheapass, such as myself. I'll admit that I checked out the demo way back then in the summertime, but I was busy with other games like Devil May Cry 4 and other fancy stuff like that, so it even went overlooked by ME back then. Crazy I know, that such an awesome video game genius such as myself would overlook this gem, this diamond in the rough if you will (Sorry, I watched Aladdin this weekend). That picture there is just something I found on the innernets that someone probably drew, and while it isn't in-game graphics, it gives a pretty good representation of some of the characters in the game.

So that dude running there, his name is Keats, and probably no relation to the great author (can you tell that I'm a literary nerd too?) John Keats who died at the age of 27, yet wrote more than pretty much all of us could write in two lifetimes, back in the 1800s. But Keats shares a few things in common with that writer - for one, hes a bit dark and twisty. He's a reporter that works for an occult magazine, and, probably like most of the writers for magazines like that, he doesn't believe in any of that nonsense. Or, hoo-hah, if you will. But he gets this weird call from some lady saying she needs help, in this eerie little village with a goofy name thats probably meant to make it sound less eerie, called Doolin. And the OTHER main character you will be playing has the very common and less cool name, Ellen, and I say its too common of a name because shes very pretty.

Maybe I just think shes pretty because I have a thing for blondes in plaid skirts (and lets be honest, who doesn't?) but anyways, she takes an even creepier ship to get out to this strange town, because she lost her mom when she was a kid and doesn't quite remember how that happens (you know, amnesia, that old video game fallback, but don't worry! This game is cool!), but she gets this weird letter from her "mom" saying she should come here. So, in true horror movie fashion, the boatman doesn't want to take her all the way into this odd village because its storming and well...the village is odd, I might have mentioned that. So we are treated to a cool cut scene at the beginning that has Ellen diving into the water to swim to the village, showing us that shes a pretty determined chic that isn't going to mess around. So heres the setup to the story, and Ellen and Keats meet up soon after they arrive, and find this odd lady that contacted Keats...right before she jumps off a cliff. BAM, didn't see that coming! This sets up an odd (but not unfortunate, thats for another book series!) series of events where most of the strangest things happen at night, where Ellen finds out she is a sort of "spirit walker" - I've dumbed that whole term down a bit for the sake of a review - and she can control these "Folks" to fight for her in the land of the dead, which is naturally where she'll want to meet her mother, since you know, shes dead and all. Probably. Maybe. In a cool twist, Keats gets hired by basically the other side of the land of the dead, and the two end up doing different things and basically unknowingly working against each other in the land of the dead...until things come to a head for a pretty kickass ending, of course.

Sounds pretty sweet, right? Sounds different than most of your run-of-the-mill video games, doesn't it? Well the good news is, it also LOOKS really sweet. Thats a picture of an in-game fight you'll have with one of the cooler (bigger) folks. You can even get that bad devil to work for you after you defeat him once too. So within this story, we have some pretty cool video conventions - we have a sort of Pokemon mentality with the folks in each area, where you will want to fight and "absorb" them all, so you can see what kinds of cool powers they'll give you. They also have mini challenges with each new Folk, where you can power them up in a certain way - be it the number of times you can use them in succession, how much damage they can take, their range, etc. So this will keep you playing, but admitedly the main reason I kept coming back was the story. It's also a cool idea that you have two main characters, and this game really means that - you don't just pick the blonde hottie Ellen and play through her till the end, then you could play with Keats after you beat it - to get to the end of the game, you have to play both of their stories. Which is cool, but its also a curse.

Because herein lies my (and others) biggest fault with the game - it gets repetitive. When you first enter into the insanely cool goblin war area (that'd be chapter 2) with your respective favorite character, you'll be in awe. You'll be thinking "wow, this is only world 2, and I got like 5 more to go?" (theres 7 chapters you see). However, that novelty has worn off when you come back to do it with the second character. Yes, it'll be somewhat different folks, and its a different story or faction you are working for, but still, its mostly the same damn place. However, I talked about the story for so long at the beginning for a reason - unlike Bionic Commando that was written by fifth graders that just learned the F word, unlike Ikaruga which doesn't even need a story, with this game, you'll keep playing to see what happens next.

Heres a picture of that cool goblin world in case you were curious. But anyways, the graphics are pretty, and the gameplay is novel, but sort of loses it lustre after a couple of chapters. If you are a collectaholic (I just made up a word there, because I can do that here, because I am awesome) you'll want to backtrack through the worlds and finish some of the sidequests you can do in between chapters to get all the Folks and unlock their powers. But for those that aren't of that different breed, you'll just want to keep playing through the story. I'll move on to the scores here in a minute, but basically, as with many other games I've talked about already, this game is worth a look because its completely different. It's often called a "dark fantasy", and while that is CERTAINLY a sweet genre of books, you don't see it with many video games. It's worth the (incredibly cheap) price of admission just for that aspect. Now onto the scores!

Graphics - 8/10. I may not have talked about it much up there, but this is a gorgeous game. It sometimes may look like a high res PS2 game, which is maybe, how you say, not so good, but the environments are amazing and the characters are very imaginative, particularly some of the folks. And you tell me if you don't have an amused smile on your face when you first see some of the weirdos that inhabit the pub at night. The presentation is just great overall, how the story is told to you in a sort of comic book style, with each character having a certain blurb appear above them when they talk, is original too. It also has a blonde hottie in it, which really lets be honest here, should be a prerequisite for most any video game.

Sound - 8/10. Pretty amazing stuff here. Some orchestral junk for your dramatic moments, some atmospheric stuff for whatever situation you are in, and surprisingly, decent voice acting when its called for, though those parts are few and far between. You probably won't be buying the soundtrack, but it certainly works for the game and keeps you in the moment. Thats the reason I rate sound in here, in case any of you thought that was an odd thing to rate - it often helps to set the mood and increase your enjoyment of the situation. ...can you tell I'm a music freak, too?

Challenge - 7/10. I'll be honest with you: this game pissed me off a couple of times. For one thing, the motion controls are pretty stupid, but I think that about all PS3 motion controls, so maybe I'm biased. You'll get annoyed when it has you shaking the controller in a bunch of different ways just to capture one big folk or something. What is this, the *!%$in' wii? NO, because the wii is terrible. Those controls don't belong here, and sometimes its frustrating because enemies keep reappearing. This is one of the downfalls of the game here, but honestly its still well-worth a play through for the amazing story.

Fun - 7/10. This game gets repetitive, something I've mentioned up there. It's also annoyingly and pointlessly difficult in some places. So you may be asking, since this is my lowest reviewed game so far (besides Superman, which barely even counts as a game), why put it up here? Easy answer: because all of its downfalls won't matter as you progress through the increasingly dark story. I promise you that if you have any nerd bone in your body, you will be intrigued by whats going on here. Besides, who hasn't at least wondered about whether or not there is a world of the dead and if spirits are among us? If any of that stuff fascinates you at all, check this game out, even with its problems.

Overall - 7/10. It's not the best game in the world, like I said. It won't change your life in any profound way. But you will be entertained by a well-penned yarn (always wanted to use that term! awesome.) and you will definitely love some of the atmospheres and creatures you come across. It's a very original game, one of a kind, and thats why it needs to be played, and why I wanted to talk about it today.