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Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera
Publisher: NIS America
Developer: Gust
Genre: RPG
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Platform: Nintendo DS
ESRB: E10+ - Everyone 10+
Reviewer: Eric
Oh shit! Gust, the development company who have ruined classic games when
they come state side, are back with Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island.
What in the fuck is this game? I am going to be blunt with this review because
honestly I have no idea if this is really a game or not.
The Atelier series has made a name for itself on the Playstation 2. As some
still play the game there are still some who are bidding a good price just to be
able to play the game. Instead of porting those games on the DS or PSP…wait
maybe that would be a bad idea since Gust can’t port games to save their lives
on portable consoles. Now where do I go with this review?
I know where I can go, the story. Annie is a spoiled, lazy sack of shit who
loves to sleep and act like the world owes her. Annie’s goal in life is to marry
a rich man and then do nothing, while having a nice income coming in. Her
grandfather doesn’t like this and he has different plans for Annie.
Annie is shipped off to Sera Island. The island is being developed into a fancy
resort in the next few years. Wait…the game is about a spoiled bitch who is…oh
my God. I could write more about the games story but there is no fucking point.
Sure it is original but why would anyone want to play a game like this?
Gust manages to throw in some familiar faces to the mix, most memorable of
course is Pepe. Why some of these characters are back? I have no idea. I think
half way through the game was starting to look like a pile of shit that Gust
decided to ship it any way, giving nobody any word or notice that a game like
this was being made or coming out.
Ok so Annie is going around now trying to win this contest (guess that part
would have been good to add in the story paragraph (who fucking cares)). If she
isn’t off finding ingredients to make buildings or making items, Annie is
talking to people. Boy does she talk and talk and talk and talk. Holy fucking
shit there is way too much dialogue in this game and half of the time the
dialogue means nothing. I swear after 5 straight minutes of hitting the same
button to pass the dialogue I tried to figure out how long it would take to
actually read it.
Dialogue…dialogue…it never ends!!!
The alchemy system in the game is surprisingly deep. All of the alchemy aspects
from the Atelier series and other Gust titles are here. I was pretty amazed to
see all of those options in this game, but when you have a game like this the
alchemy aspect of the game is lost in the shadows.
Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island’s battle system is turn-based on a 2x3
grid. Since battling really isn’t the games main attraction it seems to be a
stepping stone in finding items to help make you island flourish. Just place
your characters on the grid and battle…simple battle tactics. Yippie Skippie.
Since you are going ahead and building a kick-ass resort how are gamers going to
do this? How about a not so kick-ass building simulator? It is so simple to
build in this game it almost seems pointless for this game to have that many
gameplay mechanics. Hmmm a crappy aspect in a game that leads you to believe you
can build your own resort with full functionality. Not completely true…
Final Verdict
I swear there comes a point when developers need to rethink their work or try to
make things better before launch. This game could have been much better but all
I got was a Nintendo DS game that bored me to tears. Such a shame, such a
fucking shame.
Rating Breakdown
Gameplay: 5 out of 10
+ A new concept on the Nintendo DS that has some interesting
aspects.
- Most of these gameplay concepts do not work too well to
gain your attention.
Graphics: 6 out of 10
+ Good looking 2-D graphics that have an anime feel to them.
- I have seen better on the Nintendo DS numerous times.
Audio: 4 out of 10
+ Nice amount of voice dialogue on a cartridge game.
- Want to know why I never brought up the music? It is very
dull.
Replay Value: 0 out of 10
+ Trade-in value is still pretty good.
- Why would any one want to play this game again?
Overall
3.75 out of 10
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