Few games get to straddle the line between game and art quite like Child of Light. It’s a strong contender for the argument that video games should be taken more seriously as an artistic medium and manages to implement visual and aural flourishes that raise the standard above that of the more casual ‘Indies as art pieces’ scene. That it also manages to be a solid traditional JRPG with turn based combat and vibrant characters is a huge bonus.
Kemco release RPGs at such a rate these days that some of them are going to miss the mark or be sub-standard. Hit-Point are not the strongest studio under the Kemco banner but honestly I hadn’t expected to encounter such a train wreck of a game when I booted this app up, I’d come in off the back of Alphadia and was expecting something similarly flighty and fun. Boy was I in for a shock.
Never before have expectations for a game been so high. Studio Ghibli in collaboration with Level 5? What wasn’t there to look forward to? Better still the DS version of the game was being completely overhauled with a graphic engine suitable for a PS3 release and fully voiced dialogue by a top notch professional animation cast. It might have taken forever to appear, but when it did most gamers leapt on Ni No Kuni as our next big hope for JRPGs.
