Reviewed: November 11, 2004
Reviewed by: Roger Cox
Publisher
Konami
Developer
Konami
Released: October 19, 2004
Genre: Action/RPG
Players: 4
ESRB: Everyone
7
8
8
8
8.0
Supported Features:
Once the Sun and Moon retreat into darkness, twilight descends on the City of the Sun. A deep shadow is born in its wake, the beginning of the end. The Solar Boy Django and Master Otenko, the Messenger of the Sun, have finished their adventures in the City of Death, Istrakan. Together, they return to Django’s hometown of San Miguel, the City of the Sun. They find that the place is still plagued by the wandering Undead. It remains a City of Death. The evil curse of the Forces of Darkness, the Immortals, is still at work: the undeadening, which transforms the seeds of all life into the Undead…
Features (*New & Old):
- Revolutionary solar sensor on cartridge absorbs sunlight and influences gameplay
- Real time clock system changes the environment depending on the time
- Certain monsters and creatures can only be destroyed by using sunlight
- RPG elements build character levels and skills
- *New weapons include swords, hammers, and spears (60+)
- *Added multiplayer support, up to 4 players can battle and trade
- *Larger game environment
The first thing I noticed after the introductory story was that Boktai’s gameplay instantly reminded me of “Metal Gear Solid.” I was pushing blocks, hugging walls, and the overall control scheme felt remarkably familiar.
Your objective in Boktai 2 is to drag Vampires (the dark race of immortals) out of their homes and into the light of the sun in order to purify them. You will travel though many dungeons filled with puzzles and traps along the way. Puzzles vary in difficulty, like you’d expect, but a lot of them deal with tedious block pushing (been there, done that). Overall, your goal is to hunt down enemy bosses, defeat them, and then purify them with the Pile Driver.
You will need sunlight on your adventure. The solar sensor on the game pack senses your playing environment and sends sunlight (solar energy) data to the game in real time. Strong sunlight refills your solar energy bar quickly, while weak sunlight is less effective.
This game will frustrate everyone except the hardest of hardcore Boktai fans. The problem is that this game is insanely difficult right from the beginning. There is no formal tutorial, only writing on the walls in the first level that you aren’t even required to read. Then you must fight off many enemies with little ammunition. Not only that, but if you aren’t playing in the sun, then you should forget playing at all. The reason is because without sunlight, you aren’t able to generate or obtain enough solar-energy to kill the undead enemies. This makes playing at night nearly impossible. On the other hand, if you do play in the sun (the way you’re expected to play it) your inventory items will deplete in a matter of minutes. It’s a bum deal either way and it makes the game unnecessarily difficult.
I enjoyed the real world time changes that occurred in Boktai 2. This game uses a clock function that’s embedded into the game-pak which affects the content and real-world day/nighttime in the game.
Boktai 2 is played from an isometric view point, which might remind some you of several popular tactical RPGs like “Final Fantasy Tactics.” Playing from this vantage point suits this game perfectly.
The levels are creative and colorful which adds to the overall feel of the game. The characters and enemies are about the same quality as any “MegaMan Battle Network” game.
The sound effects, music, and digitized voices are crisp and clear. I was surprised how good the voice acting was, especially for a GBA game. It was better than several Playstation 2 games that I’ve played this year!
I really like it when new technology is implemented and included in a game at no extra expense to the consumer. Thanks to Konami for not upping the retail cost when it would have been easy to.
Boktai 2 supports multiplayer action for up to 4 players (2 more than the original). You can either compete for solar energy or link up to buy and sell weapons that you’ve collected. I found the multiplayer modes to be a fun addition to a hard game.
There aren’t very many games that support Nintendo’s new Wireless Adapter and Boktai 2 is one of the few. This is great for those who love to play GBA games together. The only problem here is finding 2 people that own 2 copies of the game and 2 wireless adapters.
Boktai 2 is a deep, fun, and overall rewarding game if you can manage to get over the high degree of difficulty.
As far as sequels are concerned Boktai 2 complements the original about as well as any sequel could. Konami has added in more depth, weapons, environments, and upgraded the multiplayer mode. The gameplay is fun, innovative, and unique. Unfortunately, Boktai 2 isn’t suited for indoor GBA gamers.
Fans of the original should latch onto this game immediately while newcomers should opt for the original before tackling this sequel.
