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By: Greg Sewart
Platform: Sony PlayStation 2
Developer: Namco Bandai
Publisher: Namco Bandai
ESRB Rating: Teen
Score: 1 out of 5

The Good: Fans will be happy to see familiar characters
The Bad: None of the actual game play is particularly good; bad dialogue and acting


The original Eureka Seven game had some problems. Well, that’s being generous. It had some major game play issues that kept it from being anything but a really bad, interactive prequel to the animated series. Fans of the show suffered through one painful action sequence to another just to take in the poorly-produced story line. Volume 2 makes some improvements here and there, but basically suffers from the exact same problems as its predecessor.

The Continuing Saga…

The first thing you need to know is that, if you haven’t played the original ES game, you’re not going to have any idea what’s going on here. While the story in Volume 2 is definitely deeper than most anime-licensed games out there, it’s incredibly self-referential and doesn’t take the time to explain anything to the new player.

Or perhaps the better term would be “viewer.” The length and frequency of the story bits in Eureka Seven would put the developers of Xenosaga to shame. It’s fair to say that roughly half of the game is nothing more than an in-game cinematic.

It’s just as confusing as Xenosaga, too. But not because the plot is convoluted. Mostly it’s because the dialogue is downright awful – both the writing and the delivery. It’s filled with non-sequiteur transitions that completely destroy your focus.

In a game where the story takes up the lion’s share of the player’s time, you’d think someone would have spent a bit more effort on it.

Gaming Intermissions

Game play is divided into bite-sized chunks, and is usually comprised of one of three mechanics – robots fighting on the ground; robots fighting in the air on what appear to be giant surfboards; and human racing on smaller, floating surfboards.

The variety is welcome, but again, nothing really feels fleshed out here. The controls are, for the most part, barely serviceable. And as if the ratio of action to cinematics weren’t enough to drive the point home, the developers have made most of the game play sequences completely void of any challenge. In fact, if you keep failing at something, the sequence will actually get a bit easier to complete.

Fans Only

Eureka Seven Vol. 2 paints itself into a corner early on. If you’re not a fan of the original, or indeed, haven’t played the original, you’ll be completely lost. And even if you are into this series, any complaints you had about the last game have not been addressed in this sequel.

Article by: Greg Sewart
Video produced by: Emily Mollenkopf

Most all games based on anime end up sucking, 'cause they're usually just ways to milk the horribly loyal yet horribly mislead fans. razz Seriously, over half of video games that Japan produces based on anime are dating sims (text with still pictures and the player chooses options sometimes--simple and cheap to develop), even if the original game wasn't a romance anime. Mostly only the shounen ones turn into action games, and sometimes not even that.

In fact, I can't think of one game like that which was highly-regarded by most everyone. neutral

The basic rule of the thumb is to avoid them, anyway.