All right, Miss Tron, we'll do our best!

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
Playstation
Release Date: May 5, 2000

Graphics: 7.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Control: 7/10
Replay Value: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is the prequel to Mega Man Legends, which was released two years earlier. You get to play as the main antagonist of the Mega Man Legends series, Tron Bonne. Tron's brothers, Teisel and Bon, are captured and imprisoned by Mr. Loath for not paying back the one million zenny that Teisel borrowed, so Tron must find ways to earn a million zenny to pay back the loan and rescue her brothers. You get to control Tron's robots and order around all of the Servbots to help you on your missions robbing banks, digging for treasure, and stealing cargo.

I found this game in a store a few years back without even knowing that the game existed. When I saw the cover I thought, “A game starring Tron Bonne? I must have this!” I'm definitely glad that I discovered it. The game is loads of fun, although it's probably much more enjoyable if you've already played the Mega Man Legends games and are familiar with the characters.

The game's missions span a variety of gaming genres, including action, adventure, RPG and puzzle games. The missions gradually become more and more difficult as you beat them. Some of the later missions I actually found to be very difficult, in particular some of the Primiki Harbor puzzle missions which I was not able to complete. Each of the types of missions are entertaining in their own way, my favorite being the Gold City bank robbing missions. A lot of the fun of this game comes from being the bad guy for a change, stealing from people and destroying towns. It's a refreshing change of pace. You'll also spend a lot of time training Servbots and figuring out which ones are best for certain situations, whether it be developing weapons and armor, using explosives in battle, shooting a firearm, creating music or painting.


The most appealing thing about this game though is just how charming it is, despite centering around a villain. You get the see the more compassionate side of Tron which you don't see very often in Mega Man Legends. She clearly cares a lot for her brothers and her Servbots, but she's also rather strict and makes sure everyone is working hard. One minute she'll be encouraging a Servbot for a job well done, then the next minute she'll be threatening to send the Servbot to the torture room for being lazy. But the best part of the game is the Servbots themselves. They're just so gosh-darn adorable! It's so funny to watch them stealing from homes and throwing bombs while they're so bashful and innocent and cute, yet very dedicated to their work. They each have their own personality and skills, and they're very entertaining to talk to or just to watch as they bumble about. You can even pick a favorite Servbot, who will eventually help you out on the final mission (I chose #18, mostly just because I liked his personality).

The game's graphics are pretty good for a Playstation game. Most of the 3D graphics are very similar in style to the graphics from Mega Man Legends. They're pretty smooth and crisp but sometimes a little glitchy. The game also contains cartoon graphics for whenever a character is speaking or when Tron is in the Gesellschaft. These 2D graphics are new to the Mega Man Legends series, and I thought they worked quite well and helped give the game a little extra personality.


The game's sound was pretty good as well. I thought the voice acting was terrific. Most of the voice actors were carried over from the Mega Man Legends games; so Tron, Teisel, the Servbots and the Birdbots are all familiar voices, and they all did excellent voice work once again (especially Rob Smith, the voice of Teisel. His laughs are awesomely hilarious, and the way he growls and yells his lines is superb). Bon's voice was noticeably different, and I much preferred his previous voice actor, but he only really speaks a couple of times (“Babuuu!”) so it's not a big deal. The soundtrack was fairly melodic and never really became annoying even though you mostly heard the same songs over and over again. My biggest disappointment with the soundtrack is that they didn't include the Bonne family theme from Mega Man Legends, which was one of my favorite songs from that game and I was quite looking forward to hearing it again.

I only have a few disappointments with the game. Most of the maps are rather small, so there's not a lot of room for exploration. Also, the controls are kind of awkward sometimes, such as when trying to maneuver the Gustaff. It would have been a lot easier to use the Analog sticks to move around rather than the L and R buttons to turn and the D-pad to move, but I guess this is how a lot of Playstation games were made (including Mega Man Legends, so I guess they stayed consistent at least). The game is also relatively short, and can probably be completed very quickly if you don't spend time upgrading the Gustaff and training the Servbots. Still, these things weren't extremely disappointing.


Overall, I was very pleased with The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. It's a charming, humorous game with a wide variety of gameplay. It's not for everybody, but if you are a fan of Mega Man Legends then this is definitely something you should look into. After all, they're not planning on making any more games for the series, so fans should take advantage of everything they can get.

May the fresh scent of flowers protect you always!

Okami
Playstation 2 (also available for Wii)
Release Date: September 19, 2006

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Control: 9/10
Replay Value: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

Okami is an instant classic! Brimming with Japanese folklore, Okami follows the story of the wolf Amaterasu, the Sun God and descendant of Shiranui. 100 years ago, Shiranui aided the warrior Nagi in the defeat of the dreaded eight-headed beast, Orochi. The defeated Orochi was sealed away with Nagi's sword and enshrined with a statue of Shiranui. 100 years after Orochi's defeat, a shadowy figure steals Nagi's sword from the shrine, releasing Orochi's spirit to once again wreak havoc upon the land of Nippon. Amaterasu is then summoned from the statue of Shiranui to defeat Orochi's spirit and once again rid the land of evil.

The graphics are what makes this game unforgettable. Okami uses a beautiful cel-shading technique to give this game it's very own unique style. The colorful landscapes are breathtaking, and the characters are cute and rather distinctive. Flowers bloom all over the screen, and the sky looks like a canvas to be painted upon (and in fact, you can paint upon it!). It's like a work of art in video game form. The graphics alone make this game well worth playing.


But more than being a work of art, the game is also very fun and challenging. It plays sort of like a Zelda game, a series which Okami took a lot of influence from. You travel across the land to rescue beautiful women, collect weapons, and battle fierce opponents, only instead of playing as a young man, you play as a wolf with the powers of the gods (and I must say, I very much enjoyed playing as a wolf). Amaterasu is the Sun God, and she has the power to control the Celestial Brush. Throughout the game, you'll learn different Celestial Brush techniques which you use by drawing on the screen with a brush to summon different abilities, such as creating gusts of wind or causing trees to bloom. This technique was somewhat simple to use with the Playstation 2 controller, but I imagine it would be a lot more fun to do with a Wiimote. There is quite a lot to do in Okami, such as returning the land to its natural beauty, feeding animals, collecting beads and other items, defeating enemies and ridding the land of evil, saving people and helping them with favors. If you're trying to complete the game 100%, you'll have plenty of things to keep you busy, not to mention some tasks which are borderline impossible (I tried so many different methods to defeat Blockhead Grande... dry erase markers, post-it notes, video cameras... it was quite stressful). There are also loads of minigames to play if you feel you haven't had enough, including a Whack-a-Mole type game, fishing, racing through the forest, a digging game and more. Regardless of how you decide to play the game, whether you collect all of the items, explore all of the maps, or just play straight through to the end, you're guaranteed to have fun.

The sound here was pretty solid, although nothing too memorable. The soundtrack consisted mainly of peaceful, relaxing music that seemed to fit well with the game's overall style. The characters' voices were rather interesting and kind of reminded me of Animal Crossing voices, where they're more making sounds than saying words. Nothing really spectacular or overly annoying here.

The controls were pretty smooth, and Amaterasu was very easy to maneuver. I liked that she had a great jumping distance and was able to run very quickly if you held down the controls long enough. Battles were fairly easy to get a hang of, but usually required little skill (you mostly just hit the attack button as much as you can) until you have to start using Celestial Brush techniques to defeat enemies, then it gets much more interesting. I also found that the menus were a little difficult to navigate at first, but once you figure out what you're looking at and where to find certain information it becomes much easier.


Okami is overall a very unique, entertaining and perfectly executed game. The graphics are beautiful and the game is often very relaxing, creating a rather Zen gaming experience. The game is full of beauty, humor, drama and awesomeness. I dare to say that it has surpassed its main influence, The Legend of Zelda, a feat which seemed unimaginable. Okami is not a game you will soon be forgetting.