There are still a lot of holes in the PSP library at this stage in its young
life, but none more gaping than the void in RPG titles. One of the first
attempts to fill this void comes to us in the form of PopoloCrois, an RPG in the
traditional Japanese style. Can RPG fans finally stop passing the time playing
racing and sports games and finally get their role-playing groove on? Well the
answer to that question is a firm “it depends”…
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| Your father the king. |
Before I get into that I’d better start with the story, because all good RPGs
begin with a good story. In PopoloCrois you play the role of Pietro, the ten
year old prince of the kingdom of PopoloCrois. All of your life you’ve believed
your mother to be dead, but at the opening of the game you learn that she is
really in a deep slumber with her soul trapped in the world of darkness.
Saddened by this news you return to your room and do nothing. Just kidding. This
is an RPG so you know what comes next – you leave the friendly confines of the
castle to find your way to the world of darkness and to free your momma’s soul.
Amen, brother! Testify! Sorry about that. Anyway, that’s the storyline for the
first half of the game. Somewhere around the middle of the game you save your
mother, five years pass, and then it’s your father’s soul that’s in trouble.
Strengthened by a five year Gary Coleman-esque growth spurt (i.e. you look the
same as you did when you were ten) you once again head out to free a soul. If
this makes it sound like PopoloCrois is two games crammed back to back it is
because that is essentially the case here. The game is a melding of two games
that are only available in Japan, so think of it as two games for the price of
one.
The world of PopoloCrois is bright, cheery, and happy looking. This is one of
those cutesy RPGs that pits you against lovable enemies like gophers and such,
who probably just want to be friends anyway. This brings us back to that whole
“it depends” thing I mentioned in the opening of this review. Do you like cutesy
RPGs filled with lovable enemies or do you like dark and complex storylines
filled with moral ambiguity? PopoloCrois is sunny, happy RPG-lite, so if you’re
looking for a deep RPG experience then you may as well stop reading now. Sorry,
but you’re going to have to go back to your racers and sports games for a little
while longer.
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