Hello, everybody. A few months back, I downloaded the game, "Code of Princess" by Atlus inc. on Nintendo 3DS from the Nintendo eshop (before the sale, mind you). We all know that Atlus is mostly known for the Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) series, the popular spin-off, Persona, Catherine and many others. Being a fan of JRPGs and, well, Japanese games in general, I must say that Code of Princess is quite different from what I've played. In this review, I will discuss the story, the graphics, the gameplay, and my overall opinion. However, before I begin, let me mention the download process.
As I mentioned previously, I purchased this game from Nintendo's eshop and this game is huge (based on what I usually download); it is a whopping over 9,000 blocks <insert Over 9000 joke here>! Since I let it download overnight, I don't know how long it took. But I'm just giving you a heads up in case you want to download it.
I don't think it was that bad of a story. I got quite a few laughs from the cheezy-ness of it, too. The voice cast was made up of many of the popular voice actors including the talents of Laura Bailey as Solange, Cindy Robinson as Ali, Michelle Ruff as Zozo, and Sam Reigel as Allegro. I believe they did pretty good work in this game, as well.
The In-game graphics are so-so. Due to the character sprites being so small, you can't really see their faces or other small details (except the perverts who somehow noticed Solange's "animated" bosom...). Also, some of the characters have some very strange idle stances. I can't, however, complain about the battle animations. They seemed to be pretty well done. I must say that the US box art, though not as appealing as the Japanese one, is superb as it features the art of Kinu Nishimura who also did artwork for Capcom, and the Zero Escape series.
The gameplay of Code of Princess is pretty decent. It is like a typical hack-and slash game reminiscent of Streets if Rage, and Final Fight but on one plane. However, it has a distinct feel to it since you can jump to different planes and fight, which also utilizes the 3D functions on the 3DS. The 3D effects certainly seemed convincing to me. The characters you use all have a command list mostly consisting of pressing the directional buttons or circle pad and pressing the A or B buttons but with their own unique movesets. All the characters can enter a special mode where their attack is temporary increased as long as they have MP left. The game also allows you to select any of the main characters during the main story, but for free play and multiplayer, you can select everyone. Yes, everyone (which adds up to over 50 characters) from the main characters, to the generic villagers, to even the final boss! Of course many characters are unlocked through clearing certain stages on the extra mode.
Overall, Code of Princess has some pretty unique things like some of the gameplay, and definitely the character designs. But little things like the character animation sprites and the repetitive gameplay helped it lose a few points with me. I managed to beat the game in less than a week (while balancing college work, mind you), and I don't think it was that much of a waste of 40 bucks. I haven't deleted it yet, but I still had enough space on my 4gb SD card to download Rune Factory 4. So, all in all, I'm giving it:
7.5/10
Thank you very much for reading my review. Make sure you comment because I'd love to hear your feedback. Stay tuned for another review, most likely of Rune Factory 4.
