LogFAQs > #963713158

Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom (PS3)

What a game this was. You do not expect a first-party Sony title to be shovelware, but boy this one is super low-production garbage. I guess it is a spinoff of an augmented reality PSP game? It was free on PS+ really late in the PS3 lifecycle, like one of the very last games to be featured. The PSP game was some kind of Pokemon wannabe (I think), but this is an action platformer. You control a little boy who can transform into these anthropomorphic creatures called Invizimals. The game does not bother to tell you anything about the world or the plot or anythingyou watch a brief, poorly-acted, live action intro clip, and then the game starts. I suppose it's assumed you played the other game and know the setting and characters.

You start the game being able to use just one Invizimal, and you collect more as the game progresses. Each one has unique traversal skills that you will have to use to advance. All of them are quite clunky, but clunky is really just what this game is. You can only use the skills in predetermined areas that glow and the assistant character that talks in your ear will almost always tell you exactly what you need to do. To be sure, this is a game intended for kids, but it treats the player like a complete idiot. There is absolutely no thought as to what to do: you stand on the highlighted spot and press triangle and it will automatically switch you to the character you need and perform the skill for you. In addition, there are a few things that only the boy can do, such as slowly walking across a narrow beam or ledge, or slowly crawling through holes. Once again, no skill involved, and it does not appear to have anything to do with loading times, either. It seems to just be there so that you can press triangle and have something happen, disregarding whether it adds anything to that game at all. Indeed, much of this game is just there for no discernible reason. But the parts where you have to wait ten seconds to watch the boy shimmy across a ledge or crawl through a hole are a complete detriment to the game.

Collecting the Invizimals might have been fun, except that the one you start with is by far the most useful and powerful. He has the traversal abilities that are used most often (climbing and swinging), and is the most powerful and agile in combat. Except for their unique skills, there is no reason to ever use any of the other Invizimals (aside from personal preference).

Going back to how the skills are clunkythe battles with enemies are also very clunky. Although the game doesn't stop you from using your attacks in the open, when enemies are around, the character moves more slowly and jumps much lower. Not really any reason for it, but I had trouble in platforming sections when an enemy got to close and then suddenly my jump didn't go anywhere. Even when you are trying to fight enemies, it doesn't feel good. It's generally easy, though. There is exactly one dangerous enemy type in the game (powerful ranged attack) and as long as you make sure to focus that one down first, the fights are no challenge. Even your basic attacks stun enemies, so as long as you keep attacking you will rarely take damage.

There are tons of collectibles but none of them do anything. You do not get anything from fighting and defeating enemies, but there are various orbs scattered around and hidden in pots, etc., that you can collect and spend. You use some of them to purchase six attack "upgrades" for your Invizimals, but actually, none of them do anything. I am not sure if they just did not have time to implement it, but it's really odd. Other collectibles are used in a battle arena mode which I tried once but found boring and pointless. And since there is no reward for beating enemies, it's usually best just to walk right past them when possible.

Some other complaints... The camera angle cannot be controlled and occasionally causes problems with platforming and battles, either not being able to gauge distances or not being able to see enemies that are attacking you. There are lots of points where the game stops so that an offscreen character can narrate about something, even if you already heard it before. No accessibility options, lack of subtitles in particular. The HUD is poorly designed and does not convey your cooldowns well at all. Lots of random little glitches, invisible geometry, jumps/attacks that don't register, and so on.

You might ask why I beat this game? Well, despite everything, it was not entirely bad. Very mindless and relaxing for the most part, and it was something to do on my lunch break every day during a stressful time of year that helped me to veg out. I must say also that it satisfied some morbid curiosities. Easy trophies, as well.