Growlanser: Heritage of War review

A series that isn't quite past puberty yet

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Interesting story structure

  • +

    Decent voice acting

  • +

    Some cool battles

Cons

  • -

    Atrocious visuals

  • -

    Bad collision detection

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    Borning background music

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Oct 8, 2007

From Odin Sphere to Persona 3, Atlus has sure had a successful bunch of games this year. The recently released Growlanser: Heritage of War seems to have gotten the best localization treatment: an 80-page artbook, three pins, a keychain, a media disc, and more - all for the typical retail price. The package itself is neat, but just like any Christmas package full of underwear and deoderant, Growlanser: Heritage of War turns out to be disappointing and thoughtful at the same time.

The Growlanser series has always had an RTS-lite battle system. In Growlanser, it’s very similar, but manages to collect new problems for its 2D-to-3D adaptation. Hitting enemies can be a chore; characters may find themselves standing still during intense combat. The transition from menu-selection to actual combat can grow tiresom, too. (Thankfully, for ordinary battles, you can put on“automatic”.) Still, just like former Growlanser titles, Heritage of War manages to provide us with a lot of strategic and oftentimes innovative battles. It’s nice to have a variety of objectives. Other typical RPG necessities, like dungeons and towns, are all here, but they’re usually limited in scope, unfortunately.

More info

GenreStrategy
DescriptionGrowlanser is not one of Atlus's better releases this year. For fans of the series this will probably be an enjoyable, but disappointing adventure.
Platform"PS2"
US censor rating"Teen"
UK censor rating""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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