PlayStation 2

Suikoden Tactics

Suikoden Tactics is a challenging game that is easy for players to pick up and difficult for them to master. Rather than just cashing in on a successful franchise name, it makes a wonderful addition to the Suikoden series and stands well on its own as a fun game into which players can invest as much or as little time as they want.

It is this game's accessibility that made me like it as much as it did, but in the end, it also complicates the issue of for whom this game is suited. Interested players new to the genre would likely enjoy Suikoden Tactics, except it comes off as a straight sequel to a mediocre RPG which was itself a sequel to three underappreciated RPGs – and this game is much more enjoyable if you know the mythos.

Suikoden Tactics is a strategy role-playing game set in Konami's Suikoden universe, though Tactics shares a rather tenuous connection with the rest of the games in the series. Suikoden Tactics retains some of the subtle nuances of the Suikoden series, but the title is really nothing more than a way to grab your attention. It doesn't really matter if you've played other games like it before, because Suikoden Tactics is easy to get into and challenging enough to be enjoyable to veterans and newcomers alike.

If you've never played a strategy/RPG before, then Suikoden Tactics is probably the one you'll want to take the plunge with. Designed specifically with new users in mind, this side story to January's Suikoden IV is one of the most accessible role-playing games of the year (traditional or otherwise) -- and while it most certainly doesn't have the plotline or mechanical chops to compete with 2005's other genre heavyweights, it does have a couple of cool little features worth mentioning... even if it is rather thin.

Beaucoup de défauts pour un jeu peut-être un peu trop prétentieux. On peut pourtant facilement leur pardonner cette trop grande ambition, le jeu est agréable à jouer et gagne en intérêt au fil des parties. Les graphismes sont assez pauvres, mais cette carence est compensée par un très bon gameplay. On est donc face à un bon petit jeu, décevant techniquement mais très sympa à jouer.

I appreciate the way this title attempts to add depth beyond simple rock-paper-scissors weapons triangles, but it just feels like the screws are loose around every facet of the combat. I'd rather have a simple and well-balanced game than a complicated and lopsided one, and Suikoden Tactics definitely has too many short legs.

The Suikoden series has almost been around for a decade now. Debuting in 1996, the original Suikoden was among titles on every gamers' wish list for role-playing games that year. The sequel followed and while it didn’t try anything new, it brought everything back from the original that everybody loved. It was then that the Suikoden series would fall from grace and hit the bottom of mediocrity hard. Suikoden III & Suikoden IV both were bland and lacked enough spice to keep players interested beyond the already installed fanbase. Now Konami is ready to expand the franchise into a whole new realm to

Suikoden Tactics proves itself to be an above average strategy RPG experience that stays true to the franchise and breaks in some new ground. Newcomers to the genre will probably get the most out of the game while veterans will notice the relative ease and simplicity of the gameplay. I did like the inclusion of the Talking system, Runes, Elements and cooperative attacks. Overall I feel they helped to give an average game the extra oomph it needed to get to the next level. I'm going to give this one my recommendation, but gamers looking for a longer lasting endeavor will most likely want to rent it.

The nuts-and-bolts combat is actually fairly decent, and I definitely enjoy unleashing the power of the uber combo attacks. Having spent far more time painting the ground and trying to stay awake through horrendously long dialogues, though, I can't recommend this even to the most hardcore fans of the genre.

Suikoden cannot be stopped. The series with more characters than any other returns with a tangential tactical tale set round about the time of Suikoden IV, even involving the absurdly monikered Snowe Vingerhut. (If there is a more ridiculous official character name in all of gaming, I don't know it.) Snowe's name isn't the problem, though; the real issue is a presentation style that treats players like children, when we really just want to do battle.

The game did have some promise, but it never seemed to have been delivered. Continuing an idea from another bad game generally does not assist making a good one, especially storyline wise. Since the developers have shown so much promise in the past, they should be able to show some in this game, even if it were their first attempt at a tactics game. I recommend this game mainly to collectors, whom try and buy an entire series of games, like the Suikoden franchise, but other than that there are more enticing games out there. Hopefully more time and effort is spent into Suikoden V. All and all, Captain Gordon gives this game... a C+.