Anima Gate of Memories is an action RPG by Anima Project and published by Badland Games. I was surprised to find out it’s based off of a Pen and Paper game. A fairly crunchy one at that, from what I read. So why go with an ARPG? I don’t really know.
I’m just going to tackle the elephant in the room head on here. The controller support for the Steam version of this game is incredibly borked. To the point that my only option is mouse+keyboard, and in my opinion that just doesn’t work for this sort of game. The only fix recommended for the time being didn’t work for me either. I’m certain there’s some sort of degenerate asshole out there that thinks playing Super Mario Bros. on keyboard is actually some sort of PC Master Race improvement to the game, but to me, a quarter century of controller use makes such controls unpalatable. And also, everybody was having a good time until that guy showed up.
The controller issue was enough to prevent me from getting too far in the game. That being said, the game looks pretty good for being made by such a small team. I imagine that there are some that would argue against that, but for a roughly $20 game it’s just fine. I’m certainly not the sort to demand bleeding edge graphics, nor decide that a game is inferior without them. It matches well enough with the pen and paper’s art style quite well, as a matter of fact.
Judging the gameplay with the controller situation is fairly difficult, though. I’d imagine that if they were working, it would be pretty par for the course overall. Unlike the pen and paper game, this one isn’t quite as technical as, oh say, The Technomancer. In the realm of ARPG’s I’ve actually played, it would likely be in the vein of the Kingdom Hearts games, minus the blindingly stupid story. You need to be aware of the enemies around you, but they’re not going to wreck your face unless you’re incompetent… or playing with broken controls.
The game revolves around the bearer, a girl with no name whose thong is clearly visible by accident throughout the game. She is called The Bearer, since she is bonded to Ergo, a demon sealed in a book. She is an inquisitor for the church, and is sent after a stolen relic. From what I saw Ergo is an ass, and he also ends pretty much every conversation with The Bearer by calling her (huge, pregnant pause every time) baby. The setting has some odd, contrasting color to it to be sure, but that’s not really any mark against it. It just might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Sound-wise, the soundtrack (or what I heard of it, anyway) is decent. Nothing exactly stands out as bad, but I’d be lying if I said I was humming any of the themes I heard in the shower or something. According to some of the existing reviews, however, the voice acting seems to be a sticking point for some. Personally, I feel this is an issue less with the actors themselves, and more to do with (a probable lack of) directing. Frequently, most “bad voice acting” you’ll find is caused by poor direction, or a complete lack thereof. Even taking that into consideration, I don’t think the acting exactly terrible, especially in comparison to some other, more classic examples.
Overall, I’d say it’s really hard for me to call this one. But I have to call things as they are. As it stands, I think Anima Gate of Memories is probably a better buy on consoles than PC. That is, unless the siren call of a Steam sale catches you and you’re willing to wait who knows how long for controller support to get patched. Or you’re that guy that K+M’s everything.
PROS:
+ Decent graphics
+ Interesting setting
+ Based off of a Pen and Paper game that also has the same setting
+ Impressive for a 3-man dev team
CONS:
– Controller support
– C o n t r o l l e r s u p p o r t
– CONTROLLER SUPPORT
– Might have some explaining to do if someone catches you playing it at the wrong time. And Controller Support.
*We were provided a copy of this game for review*
…baby.
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