Official Neopets Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: Adventure / RPG

Number of Players: 1

Neopets; kids love the online craze, but I just don't get it. Maybe I don't fall into the right age bracket, but I will confess to trying to discover what all the fuss was about with the online craze, but I soon found myself bored with it after about an hour. I'd actually forgotten all about them until Sony decided to make a game based around it. It seemed a little strange, but I guess if companies are willing to take something like Magic: The Gathering and turn it into a video game, anything is possible.

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie finds you assuming not one, but two different roles. Initially you will follow Tormund, a young boy straight off of the farm who has become a page for the kingdom. Tor eventually manages to gain knighthood for himself, but there's an evil lurking in the kingdom and soon he finds that he is the only one that is unaffected. The tale then switches to Roberta, a young lady who has secretly been learning magic and her path will cross with Tormund as they try and save the land from evil faerie's bent on controlling all of Neopia.

Okay, so I'm going to be perfectly honest, as I started to play Neopets, I found myself unable to put the controller down. Although the game is aimed at a much younger audience, this is a title that's a great deal of fun no matter what age you are. The game itself is on the action/RPG genre, falling nicely alongside other titles such as Dark Cloud or the Zelda games, but having two heroes to control is part of the appeal.

Since this is a role-playing game, you will find yourself given quests to complete; a very typical RPG element, but the game does keep track of these though and then can easily be accessed from the sub-menu. This works wonde4rs for the game, and for little ones, if they've forgotten where to go next, they can easily recall their next goal. The two characters of course have completely different abilities. Tor would be the "basher" of the pair while Roberta has magic projectiles at her disposal. Another nice feature is that while you can buy new gear for the characters, you can never purchase anything that can't be used. So, if you're playing as Tor, you can't buy a magic wand and respectively, Roberta won't waste her money (Neopoints) on a sword that she can't wield, so you’ll never end up buying items that will be useless to you in the long run.

The quests really make the game, and you aren't stuck with doing just one. You may be on a major quest, but you also may find a character that will give you another to undertake. There are treasure hunts as well that may reward you with Neopoints, curative items, or any other number of items found in the game. Exploring new areas and talking to people really becomes half of the fun and not some chore that is required to gain enough information to complete your current goal. I also enjoyed the fact that even if I did have some big task to undertake, I could revisit an area to complete some new side quest I had gained along the way. There are times though when there can be a bit too much running around. When you begin as Tor, one of your first main quests is to deliver a package, and then he decides he wants to become a knight. So, you need to get a sponsor, but the only knight has just lost his sword. Off you go to find the pieces but even after he agrees, now you'll need to talk with your parents and get their permission. Back h9ome you go, and then back to the castle. A cut scene telling some of this story would make things move along quite a bit faster.

Much of the set up for the game is very user friendly and easy to use. Your items are not only accessible from the sub-menu, but you can immediately view them from another menu that is designated to your D-pad. By using this, you can set up your curative items, look at the map, your current quests, or your motes. Motes are a very important part of the game. These items will be found everywhere and be added to your weapons and armor, and anyone who has played any RPG's should know the rules here; it's all about opposites. Let's say your fighting a creature that has fire as it's main mode of attack, water is going to do more damage and you can use motes to repel attacks from enemies. However, you will need to pay careful attention to the amount you have. Attacking or defending will drain power from your equipped mote and when it reaches zero, it will disappear. Motes will also be used to open treasure chests found in the game, and almost every areas has them. Some are out in the open, others you will need to buy maps to locate, but equipping something like a Nova Mote will work best as it can open ANY chest.

Equipped motes will make combat much easier. Much of your fighting will involve combo, though they aren't extremely lengthy. If you're playing as Tor for example, quick buttons presses will unleash fast attacks, but they will leave you open but should you time them, just as your last swing concludes you have a split second to start fighting again. Blocking will also makes battles a little easier. You also will find PetPets in the game. These do a number of different things to assist you, but you'll need to feed them first. It's not a bad idea of have one along with you as some might improve your magic skills or your strength, others might even heal you. Like your character, PetPets have health, or something similar, that will begin to deplete, so once it's gone, they will run back into the wild.

Neopets doesn't look too bad; especially when you consider that the game is really made for younger fans. I really lack the lack of load time between areas, and each of the different sections is very well detailed with various things that can be destroyed. If your sword doesn't bounce off it, try to destroy it, though these items will come back. There are some good lighting effects used, particularly if you have a mote equipped. Seeing bits of magical light drifting off your weapons and armor is very nice. The look of the enemies and characters could be improved slightly, but the game has a more cartoon-type of style attributed to it. The cut scenes though are something of an eye sore. Using the same look as the in-game graphics really would have been a better approach here and I have to agree with what many others have already stated; the cut scenes really do look like they have been lifted from the PS1 and don't use the technology of the PS2 as much as they could.

Neopets: The Darkest Fairy might not be a true role playing game like many fans are accustomed to playing, but it is again aimed at a much younger audience. It is addictive to play though, even if you’re not familiar with the idea of what “Neopets” are. The novelty for some might wear thin after a few hours, but I still haven’t quite gotten to that point yet, and having geared up to play this with little expectations, Neopets really is an impressive attempt at bringing the franchise from the Internet and onto your PlayStation 2.

-mike-