PixlBit

I took the time to take this review back from my 1up blog. I spruced some things up as well. So, PixlBit community I hope you enjoy my review. Well since Pandora's Tower is finally coming here I finally manged to work up the time numbing task to review Pandora's Tower. You see a while back before it was announced...and I do mean awhile back. I bought the special edition PAL edition.

Yes my lack of patience triumphed again (I bought the PAL edition of Xenobalde) so it's more than likely that I'll have to pass on buying Pandora's Tower in the american market. It may become like Xenobalde which is outrageuosly expensive on ebay...and Gamestop doesn't have any copies. F!@#$@%^^! Nintendo's limited release!!!

*Ahem* Anyways I got the limited edition pretty cheaply actually. Only $50 for the edition, but the darn international shipping cost me another $10. Curse you international shipping costs!!!

So with the special edition you get the following in the picture. The artbook is pretty to look at. There's a developer paragraph which talks a little on the process of making the game. It has art of the masters who are in the towers, character art, and much more. The steelbook is just that...You can use it instead of the game case or swap it from time to time...or place the multilanguage instruction booklet in the steelbook. But enough about that IT'S REVIEW TIMEZ!!!

Pandora's Tower was developed by Ganbarion...who isn't as prolific as say a Monolith Soft or a Mistwalker. That's probably one reason why it didn't sell as well in Europe, but XSeed is really taking a gamble bringing it stateside, especially with the Wii U out and Pandora's Tower being about a year old. In fact this game marks Ganbarion's first original game development. Prior to this game they've worked with Namco Bandai on the One Piece Grand Battle series and Unlimited Adventure/Cruise games. The question is...does the One Piece monotony and repetitive gameplay show in this game? Well let's start with the story.

Story: The story is the real highlight of Pandora's Tower and features an interesting premise. A dark twist on the damsel in distress stories of old, you play as the young hero Aeron who is watching the love of his life Elena sing at the harvest festival. Suddenly, a huge monster crashes through and Elena is marked with a curse. With the help of a strange, but helpful old merchant named Mavda. The three travel towards a place known as "The Scar." In this wasteland awaits thirteen towers in which Aeron must traverse to save Elena. 

And just how does he do this? By acquiring Beast flesh and having Elena eat the raw, juicy, purple blood oozing flesh. It's by far not for the squeamish. However, beast flesh will only keep the curse at bay. In order to rid Elena of the curse Aeron must acquire Master flesh from the guardians of the Towers a.k.a. masters. With each piece Elena will have flashbacks to what I can only describe as story spoilers. In fact the story itself has 6 different endings!

Mmmm! Beast Flesh! It's What's for Dinner!

With a story that primarily only focuses on Aeron and Elena it allows for a more personal approach to the relationship that develops between them and allows for the player to want  to save Elena. Since the game features six differently graded endings ranging from S to E there becomes plenty of replay value. Depending on how you play and the relationship you form with Elena you'll achieve a different ending depending on what you do in game. If you're a cold hearted bastard looking out for yourself then your ending won't be so good.

Play your cards right and Elena will look as she does on the left...right picture meanwhile...not so much.

Gameplay: I can describe the gameplay of Pandora's Tower as a mash up of concepts. It's Legend of Zelda/Shadow of the Colossus/Castlevania. The controls work relatively easily. I actually found the wii remote/ nunchuk combination to work the best. Oddly enough the classic controller is really not the preferred way to play this game. There isn't really any waggle either. The most you'll do is lift the remote to yank out beast fleash or yank on a tower master. Using the pointer to swing from wall to wall is incredibly simple too.

As I mentioned before, Elena will transform into a beast herself. Her transformation will continue to drop the longer you're in the towers. While you are allowed to putz around in the safe house of the observatory all day long without worry, the towers are not so. Let it go all the way down and it's game over. The Towers themselves beg to be explored thouroughly, but you're almost always in the rush to beat them that you can't. Provided the hurried sense of pace really gets the adrenaline running and gives you even more satisfaction upon conquering it. That's not to say you can't go back to explore it, just make sure you know your way out and gather some beast flesh when you do so.

In the towers, You'll find yourself hacking and slashing your way to the top against various beasts and monsters. This is pretty simple but offers some variation thanks in part to your weapon/hookshot in the oracalos chain. With the chain you can bind enemies and slash at them, tie enemies together, shoot them, or literally unleash a devastating combo chain attack. Speaking of chains...Each tower master is unreachable until you break the tower's chains. The chains themselves are low in number (ranging from 1-4 depending on which dungeon and how much further you go), but the towers are gigantic. Often you'll have to backtrack to feed Elena as Towers grow more complex...but there is also good news. The good news is that you can create yourself shortcuts within the towers by usually knocking down ladders or creating other various shortcuts.

At the end of each tower is the boss. These bosses are known as Masters. The Masters are unique and each has their own strategy to beat them. As I mentioned it reaches a sort of Colossus-like feel and it is something that devloper Ganbarion excelled at in making this game. Much like  their One Piece games all the grinding you go through and backtracking culminates into strategic and engaging boss battles...go figure. You can also customize your weapons that you gain and utilize more strategy into buying gifts for Elena. Buying gifts for Elena allows your bond to grow and get you better endings. As much as you may want that mercury or battle axe...you'll have to give gifts instead. Of course you can also create items and repair items allowing for a immersive shopping experience.

This picture signifies that oh crap moment when you realize there's 12 different kinds of these Masters

 Puzzles are fairly simple in Pandora's Tower. Legend of Zelda it's not in terms of this. Obviously the timer could have something to do with it. Most puzzles are solvable with your chain. Block needs moving? Use the chain. Is there a door lock mechanism? Use the chain. Enemy blocking the doorway? Use the chain!

Any and every obstacle can be overcome! As long as you have a chain that is...

 Graphics, Music, Etc: The graphics aren't the best the Wii has to offer. Granted the mutation of Elena alongside the first five dungeons are terrific. However...after the first five towers, the rest will look almost similar. Not to say the later dungeons are bad...but by the 9th tower you may groan a little to get to the 13th already. The masters each have a designated look and feel, but the regular monsters are quite bland. The music in this game is pretty good. While it's almost unnoticeable in the towers themslves, during boss fights it begins to ramp up into operatic. Elena will often sing the games main theme and its a good theme song for the game. One problem with this game is the fixed camera. It is a pain in a room crowded with monsters. This will get you hit more often than not which will frustrate you. On another note you can't jump. The game gives you the ability to climb, dodge, swing, and if theres a small gap you can run across it, but jumping is automatic unless you're swinging. There is some replayability in the new game plus...whether it's getting a different ending or opening up the new doors (They will be the red ones you need a key for.) But that's about it. So let's get into the pros and cons.

Pros: The story, boss battles, music, Great level design for the dungeons, customizing and shopping, time management provides a sense of urgency, the controls, Six different endings adds for replay value!

 The Decent: Graphics, the Oracalos Chain provides some variety for tedious combat and tower traveling.

 The Cons: Fixed Camera, Enemies lack variety, repetitive combat and backtracking, simplistic puzzles, later dungeons may wear you down.

Overall score: 7.5/10

Personal Score: 8.5/10

Grade: C

Personal Grade: B

Suggestion: BUY IT!

 In all Pandora's Tower may just be the weakest of the three operation rainfall games depending on your taste. It's not a bad game however. In fact I quite enjoyed playing through the game. In my personal opinion it's a damn good game you should be getting. If you can manage to find a copy for a reasonable price I'd recommend it. If you're looking for that final game to lay your Wii to rest on...you certainly could make that game Pandora's Tower. That's it for my review. Be sure to Comment and or even talk about your Pandora's Tower experience! Will you get it? Have you played it? And join me on my next blog where I'll be talking about Cancelled Wii Games!