4.5
Platform: WiiWare
Date Beaten: 4/26/09
Playthrough Time: 3 hours
Crystal Defenders R1 tricks you. It tricks you into thinking it’s going to be a deep (and arguably great) game because it’s got the Final Fantasy license attached to it. It tricks you into thinking that it’s going to super fun because it’s of the Castle Defense genre, which more often than not offers amazingly addictive gameplay. It tricks you into thinking there’s going to be a story attached to it through speech bubbles and (very mild) characterization.
After buying the game and beating it in one sitting, getting perfects on most levels, I couldn’t help but wonder why this game was even made. And then it dawned on me. The Final Fantasy license has turned into one of those licenses that allows for crap titles to push massive amounts of product. Because of the pedigree of the license, fans will buy ANYTHING. This happened with Star Wars, Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil, among many others. But as with each of those examples, fans won’t fall for it forever, and then the franchise will have to be reinvented or saved. I expect more from you, Square Enix.
If you wanted to do a spin-off franchise, you could have done something in the same genre as Crystal Defenders, with many of the same mechanics, but with more depth and story–something like the Chocobo’s Dungeon series or Chocobo Tales. These games pander to a more casual audience without losing the quality that was lost in Crystal Defenders–a title that seemed rushed to market with little thought put into any aspect of the game.
Mind you, there are some things about this game that are good. But they are only good. Nothing about this game is great. The different characters (your crystal defenders) work fine. The enemies do what they are meant to, although they are largely uninspired. The screen layout, while functional, is clunky and feels like it was designed for a cell phone screen. Oh wait, it was.
Crystal Defenders was originally released for the iPhone, and that version had at least three times the depth and content as R1 (which stands for Round 1, apparently) and retailed for the same price! Presumably, Square Enix is going to try to milk another 800 Wii Points out of us for R2, and then again for R3, when Wii owners will finally have the full version of the game (and be $16 poorer than their iPhone gaming counterparts) .
Being that the Beaten Games Game-O-Meter uses a 10 point scale with 5 being average, this sauce is weak.
Continue rocking on. Over and out.
