Chocobo's Dungeon 2
- November 24, 2000 14:47 PM PST
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Given Square's reputation for great and often complex gaming experiences, such as the Final Fantasy series, Chocobo's Dungeon 2 is a surprisingly simple and plot-free venture which takes the player back to old-style RPG, when the main point was just to get through mazes looking for the exit.
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Been There, Done That?
Playing as Chocobo, you travel through increasingly larger mazes hacking enemies, picking up items, and learning spells from books scattered around the passageways. You'll also find items such as armor and weapons, giving Chocobo a choice during the real-time battles.
You won't travel alone, either. Every time you complete a level, which is made up of five or more dungeons, you'll meet a new companion to tag along on the next one. Characters such as Moogle, the White Mage Shiroma, and Cid each have their own special abilities that aid you against monsters, and they also provide continuity to the story. When Chocobo attacks, the companions also attack, which comes in handy as the monsters become more powerful or when encountering those nasty bosses.
The Winning Combination
In certain levels, you'll be able to use storage chests to combine items and create new ones,or use stoves for forging stronger weapons. While combining two level 1 Thunder spells will result in a more powerful level 2 Thunder spell, the purpose of other combinations isn't always very clear.
The amount of items you carry in your inventory is limited and choosing the right ones to keep, or discard is little more than a guessing game. If your HP reaches zero, which is not uncommon at the early dungeons, you are transported back to the beginning of the level, and your item inventory is emptied. If you use a teleporter to exit the dungeon, however, you get to keep the items you've collected, but you'll have to start the dungeon from the beginning. Items are randomly scattered throughout each dungeon every time you reenter it, making it important to visit dungeons more than once to collect rare items.
Visually, Chocobo's Dungeon 2 is pure eye-candy, not unlike a beautifully illustrated children's book, and the cinemas really add a special touch. The music is standard dungeon exploration fare, bland and tiring, and the controls could definitely have used analog compatibility, especially when trying to move diagonally in those tight maze corridors.
RPG 101
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 is definitely aimed at young gamers or first-time RPG players, who will have a ball learning, casting, and combining spells. Seasoned RPG gamers, however, will have a hard time finding any motivation to embark on this pointless, and often frustrating, quest and will probably want to rent instead of buying.
