Thursday, March 19, 2009

Brandish: The Dark Revenant - New Import, Restock Soon

«©NCSX» Back in 1991, Brandish was released on the Japanese PC followed by software conversions that ran on the PC-Engine and the Super Famicom. Fast forward 18 years and PSP gamers get to relive the adventures of an armor-clad warrior named Ares who's being pursued by an avenging blonde bombshell who answers to Dela Delon. As the story goes, Ares has slain Dela's master and she's out for his blood. During her quest for revenge, Ms Delon shoots fireballs, attacks Ares, and in a strange twist of fate, even rescues her mortal enemy at one point.

At the outset of PSP Brandish, Ares is dropped inside a dungeon which is populated by treasure chests, roaming creatures, gateways, and plaques that dot the walls. Before the proper game begins however, a short tutorial commences which gives players pointers on moving around, jumping, and attacking. The mandatory tutorial is a good way to start since the controls are unconventional. When moving around the dungeon, Ares always faces forward and sidles left and right like a crab when the d-pad is pushed in either direction. To change Ares' orientation, players will have to press the "L-Trigger" or the "R-Trigger" to rotate 90° counterclockwise or clockwise respectively. Pushing the "X" button makes Ares jump which is useful for leaping over pressure-sensitive plates that trigger doors or to avoid traps. Once the novelty of the controls has worn off, Brandish is basically a dungeon crawling game that offers basic RPG elements where the hero explores, finds treasure, and kills a bunch of monsters. An auto-map feature shows off the local area on an overhead map where Ares' exploration fills it out with every nook and cranny that he wanders into. «NCS Photos»

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