PoPoLoCrois

Suppose you are minding your own business, walking down the street one-day and someone suddenly jumps out in front of you and shouts, “PoPoLoCrois!!â€? What would your first thought be? Ha! Well, what do you know? I too would think, “Anime-based, PSP-bound RPG from Agetec arriving in stores on or about December 6th.â€? What are the odds on that, I wonder…

I guess we’re all on the same page here, so let’s look a little more in-depth at the title. First of all, PoPoLoCrois for the PSP is not an entirely new game; it is instead a combination of the original PlayStation title updated with a slightly “fancierâ€? look and a few story and gameplay tweaks as well. If you’ve played any of the previous PoPoLoCrois games, then you know what kind of play mechanics to expect, for the most part at least. If you haven’t played them, you will still get the hang of it rather quickly if you’ve played any strategy/RPG released in recent years.

The hero of the story, Pietoro, in standard RPG fashion, embarks on a long journey fraught with peril. Hmm, you know, fraught is a fantastic word…I think I’m going to use it in every article I write this month; keep an eye out for it. Anyway, Pietoro has a few buddies who are willing to tag along for the ride and help him overcome the obstacles encountered along the way. The game is packed with battles that will help you level the characters fairly quickly. While the combat may get tedious from time to time, it does help keep you on par with the enemies you’re facing as opposed to suddenly encountering strong foes that force you to level grind on some weaker enemies before you are able to progress.

From a technical stand point, PoPoLoCrois is looking pretty underwhelming. The visuals, while updated, are still poor compared to what the PSP is capable of pushing out. The simplistic art style comes across as rather bland and antiquated by today’s standards. Then again, this is a remake, so perhaps we shouldn’t complain so much.

This game hasn’t received as much attention as some other PSP titles, but it may be worth looking into if you’re a strategy/RPG nut or if you were a fan of the original games. The new story line and gameplay elements should be enough to avoid the déjà vu feeling you may be expecting.