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The Neopets invade the PS2. The game includes everything you’d expect from a Neopets title including the powers, medieval towns, heroes and mystic creatures. The game hits all of the requirements though it is more likely to appeal to younger fans of the franchise than older gamers.
Neopets: The Darkest Faerie uses a lot of the Neopets mythology to make the game more compelling to fans of the source material. You’ll find a supernatural world to travel through, populated by a number of the creatures that the Neopets franchise is famous for. You’ll meet a number of the popular Neopet creatures as you travel through the world of Neopia. The game lets you switch between two characters – Tormund or Roberta, each of which have slightly unique abilities.
The gameplay in the game is a bit simple, though, and will appeal more to younger gamers than more experienced ones. You’ll go on a number of quests to find some sort of item before doing the same again or participating in another equally random event. You don’t get a real sense of accomplishment because as soon as you get the first thing, the game throws another at you with no real sense of achievement. Some of the items that you collect are important, and you’re able to use them to solve puzzles, open chests and use them in battle against enemies.
Thankfully, going on these quests isn’t the only thing that the game has you doing. You’ll also have some combat pieces and platforming to make things more interesting. The combat is decent with some shooting and clubbing making up the bulk of it. It isn’t particularly difficult, allowing for even the most inexperienced players to exploit some of the maneuvers and make their way through the game. Both characters are able to use swords, wands, shields and armor to defend themselves. You’ll eventually battle 12 unique bosses.
The game’s visuals are pretty good. The environments are rather big with great draw distances and varied locales to visit such as castles, rugged steppes, swamps, ancient dungeons, overgrown forests, floating palaces, ghost infested ruins. The characters are always distinguishable, which is an additional bonus to fans of the source material. The colorful, bright and vibrant art style works well with the source material. Conversely, the game’s audio isn’t as impressive. Nothing is particularly offensive but then again nothing is memorable or particularly catches your attention.
Neopets: The Darkest Faerie isn’t a terribly complex game. Older gamers will likely get bored with the repetitive gameplay that is seemingly void of any overarching sense of achievement. Younger fans will probably have fun going through the world, collecting items and seeing their favorite Neopets. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Nov 30, 2005
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