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The house that Disgaea built moves onto the PSP. Spectral Souls is a typical strategy RPG, one that will undoubtedly be enjoyed by the hardcore. Spectral Souls is a fine entry in the genre, although it isn’t the most apt PSP game currently available.
In Spectral Souls, you can join any of three groups currently at war with each other. This includes the humans, demons, and a third peaceful group. Instead of picking a team at the beginning, you can switch between them at any time. The game’s storyline places you at decision-making points called “historical points.” Here, you’ll have to make a decision that will be recorded and you’ll continue progressing through a modified version of the storyline. The end result changes based on the decisions you’ve chosen during the game.
Spectral Souls is quite similar to other strategy RPG titles. You’re still moving around a rather big overworld to find fights to get in. Once you find a fight, the game moves to a grid-based map where you can move around, keep track of turns, and attack enemies. As expected, each move will take up some action points, though in this game, the meter will refill at the next turn.
The game manages to introduce some unique features. For example, the game includes a hold mechanic that lets you chain together a sequence of attacks in one turn against the enemy. Some of the moves lend themselves to this type of combination since, for instance, combining two slashes will result not in a one-two punch but rather a triple-slash move. Charge lets you build up an attack to be used in combination with other character in your party to build combinations in that way. Spectral Souls really focuses on using these two techniques well, and once you master them, you’ll have a much easier time with the game.
The game’s graphics are minimalist as is typical of the genre. The sprite-based characters are cute in that old-school way and the environments are made up of simple 3D graphics. There are some fancy lighting and particle effects for some of the spells but nothing out of this world. Despite the simple graphics, the game has a fair amount of loading that creeps up during battle and even just moving around the world. This is probably due to the fact that Spectral Souls was actually ported from a PS2 game but somewhat annoying nonetheless.
The music fits the game very well. The soundtrack is made up of orchestral tracks that fit the game’s larger-than-life scope very well. There are few sound effects but what is included is fine.
You probably already know if you’re the type of gamer that would enjoy Spectral Souls. If you are, Spectral Souls is a solid strategy RPG. While its choice of platform is question, if you were dying to have play a strategy RPG on the road, you don’t have to wait any longer. -- Michael Taylor, PGNx Media
---- Oct 24, 2006
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