Magna Carta 2 (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Jordan Williams on 11.19.2009
Same old story, akward new battle system, but does that mean this game is below average?
Title: Magna Carta 2
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Softmax
Genre: RPG
Players: 1
Rated: T for Teen
If you are reading this review expecting a review about a game that details THE Magnacarta, then you are dead wrong. If you are looking for a review about a game that excels in the one true fact that it is mediocre and nothing more...then you are in the right place.
Magna Carta 2 is the sequel to the equally mediocre RPG on the PS2 a few years back, it takes place in a fictional version of Earth where there is...you guessed it...a civil war brewing.
The story follows Juto, a lazy amnesiac boy with hidden power as he fights to avenge the destruction of his village with the help of a dethroned Princess by the name of Zephie who has an equally hidden power as well. If this story sounds like it's a big bag of JRPG clichés (despite the fact that this game is Korean) it's because it is. Within 30 minutes of playing Magna Carta 2 you pretty much know every twist and story arc you are going to encounter as well as how exactly the story will end. But perhaps Magna Carta 2 can make up for its pretty lazy storytelling with the sum of its other parts?
Well...um...about that...
Graphics
In what might be the high point of Magna Carta is the fact that the game does look beautiful. The female proportions do seem a bit weird though and that is not in the 'her tits are waaaay too big' way, it's in the 'he head is too small and her eyes too big and where the hell did her neck go!?' way. But thankfully you don't see too much of that due the camera being pulled back. You fight along the normal RPG set peices such as lush jungles and fantasy-set cities but for the most part the game looks pretty good and runs smoothly.
The one big gripe about MC2 is that the game presents all of its dialogue in static animations that take up the entire screen. Given that this is an RPG with A LOT of talking you will spend a good chunk of the game in these 'conversations' that are really nothing more than looking at two characters on either side of your screen talking to each other.
Once you get into battle the game stays pretty much exactly the same because the screen does not shift at all, the enemies are detailed and moved well but you will start seeing the tried and true method of palette swapping way too soon into this two disc tale.
There's really nothing bad about the graphics, it isn't up to the detail of what most current-gen games can deliver but it is by no means ugly, I just wish so much of it wasn't wasted on the boring conversations and instead gave us some camera angles.
Gameplay
Gameplay here is a complete mixed bag. If you are looking for the traditional turn based system of game play here then you are not going to find it. On the flip side if you are looking for an engaging and well thought out real-time based system you aren't going to find that either. Although it might sound weird at first (and the game doesn’t describe it like this either) the battle system in Magna Carta feels more like a rhythm game than an RPG.
You control three characters at once on the battle field; each of these characters is free to move around the map as they attack. The catch is each attack or spell they do adds to a gauge at the bottom of the screen. Once you use up all of your attacks the character will then 'overheat' which causes them to burn out and get stuck. During this time they are completely open to attack and cannot defend themselves. This is where you can swap to another character to help pick up the slack.
Now this is where it gets confusing...
When you switch to a fresh character you can cause them to overheat and create a 'chain' in which you will release the overheated character from their slump and allow them to fight.
It gets a little bit more complicated than that but that is the meat of the fighting system right there. In the end all it does is serve to confuse you by constantly having to monitor the gauges at the bottom of the screen rather than the fight that is going on in front of your face. Another shot against the fighting system is that it relies heavily on your A.I controlled partners to be in the right place at the right time. More often than not my buddies would get stuck on a tree or a fence or simply wander so far away from the fight that I would waste any hope of getting a decent chain going by having to manually drag them back to battle.
It's also worth to mention that during the boss fights that the camera angle will abruptly switch to showcase the bosses attack and during this you are frozen in whatever spot you were in meaning that any chain you were working up will be taken away from you on top of the fact that you are given no chance to block the attacks anyway.
Outside of fighting the game follows the same old RPG conventions of earlier (and in most cases, better) games. Go to town, get quest, finish quest, get another, clear dungeon, fight boss. There are an abundance of side quests, but nearly all of them revolve around "Go here X, kill Y about of creatures." which proves to get sorely tedious after awhile. There are also alternate weapon types for every character, but even these really just boil down to "This weapon attacks fast and this one attacks slow".
Ultimately the battle system is what drags down the game overall, although some might praise it for taking a step back from the standard menu surfing turn based battle system. Others might just notice that this battle system takes most of the fun out of the game since every battle feels like a juggling act rather than a rewarding battle.
Sound
The voice acting in the game actually isn't all of that bad. They kept with the highly anime style of the game and got a who's who of anime voice actors to supply most of the big named roles like Johnny Yong Bosch as Juto. The music also fits in decently with the game, it's never overpowering but it's also not all of that memorable.
This might sound weird though, but it almost feels like there is a bit too much voice acting. The aforementioned static scenes where the characters talk to each other are fun at first, but then seem to just drone on and on and on to the point where you find yourself skipping most of the dialogue. If this voice acting would've flowed naturally instead of requiring you to hit a button to advance it, I think it would've come off a bit better. Instead it just comes off sounding like those books on tape you would hear in Kindergarten.
"Boop! Turn the page!"
Fun Factor
Most of the fun here is going to be gotten from actually making the battle system work for you. More often than not it's going to feel like you are just hitting buttons and hoping for the best, but when the chains really do begin to work together it is definitely a fun experience. The game will get tedious around the 10 hour mark, and the story will either pull you in due to it's similarity to other RPGs, or it will just be placed on a backburner while you grind away at levels.
I guess what I am trying to say here is that if you are a fan of the JRPG (or in this case, KRPG) genres then you are going to feel right at home here. Those looking for the next Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior game then you are going to be out of luck. If you however looking for the next game to tide you over until then, feel free to give this one a whirl.
Lasting Appeal
At the writing of this review I have not finished the game completely but I am nearing the end and I am at just about 27 hours and that's doing almost every side quest thrown at me. So I figure the game is probably closer to 35-40 hours if you literally do everything on top of some of the DLC weapons they have. But given that the story is very linear and there isn't really anything to do that would warrant a New Game+ play through, I don't see this game lasting too long after you've beaten it. Its two discs will look pretty sitting on your bookshelf but it will no doubt be the first game you grab to trade up for Final Fantasy XIII next year.
The 411
Magna Carta 2 isn't a bad game, but it isn't a great game either. It's a decent Eastern RPG that will temporarily quell the thirsts for the Xbox 360 users who desperately need a game to sink some time into and aren't that into Bethesda's RPG offerings. But the done-to-death story, the overly complicated and frantic battle system and the sometimes plodding pace of the game overall might turn a few people away in the first couple of hours rather then wrap them up into the story. If the story didn't move at a snails pace and we hadn't already played through this story before Magna Carta 2 would've been a nice sleeper surprise. But in the end all it ends up being is a clichéd RPG that will be forgotten by the end of the year.
Graphics
9.0
The models look great, the towns and dungeons or sort of samey but still look wonderful
Gameplay
6.5
The battle system seems like it is working against you more than it is working FOR you, but if you manage to get it down pact it is fine.
Sound
7.0
The voice acting is pretty damned good, the dialogue does drone on a bit though. The music is largely forgettable.
Lasting Appeal
7.0
When you finish the game there is really no real reason to go back. But there are tons of sidequests and weapon tracks to complete.
Fun Factor
7.0
Really, the game is fun. You might've played it before but it's not as bad as the cliche'd story would lead you to think.
