Review: 'Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch'

The love-child of Level-5 and Studio Ghibli, upcoming 2013 RPG title Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (a PS3 version of Nintendo DS game Ni No Kuni: The Another World of which was not localized in the U.K. due to translation issues) has a lot to live up to, if not just because of past successes.

Level-5 are famed for their best-selling 'Professor Layton' franchise, whilst Studio Ghibli created Oscar-winning animated movie 'Spirited Away' along with some other sensational, critically-acclaimed features. These two working together should make it almost a given that this is something amazing.

Thankfully, that appears to be the case. Official footage released has looked great and, having played the game for over an hour at the recent London Namco-Bandai event, I'm actually more excited for it now than I was beforehand. As the DS version of the game was never released here I've never played it, and shamefully I never looked up anything on it either so my knowledge of it is slim. This is probably an advantage though as it means the whole game is fresh to me – though fans of the original game will find something new, fresh and fun with this game still I'm sure.

You play as a young boy named Oliver who agrees to go to 'the second world' with his magically-now-alive doll Drippy who claims the other world in which he lives, which is now in grave danger, can only be saved by the boy mentioned in the prophecies. That boy is, of course, you. You agree to help save his world from the evil ruling White Witch on the pretext of saving your recently deceased mother. It seems every human in your world has a counterpart called a 'soul-mate' in the other world – your Mum, for example, is a famed mage of sorts in his land – so it's possible that you may later bump in to counterpart characters of those that your character knows in his world.

The first thing that you'll notice from playing the game is how colourful it is. Like, really colourful. The graphics are beautifully rich, colourful and bright; it looks great and vibrant on a HD screen and reaffirms to me why I love colourful, interesting graphics over the typical photo-realistic, dull graphical style that's so common with games these days.

The cutscenes give us typical Studio Ghibli quality animation, but the gameplay graphics are just as beautiful. It's a world that you'll definitely feel immersed in – everything looks so crisp and I imagine it's one of those games where you'll come to actually feel attached to the world and its characters by the end of it. The game's music was composed by beloved Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi, so expect a gorgeous orchestral soundtrack.

The gameplay follows many cliche RPG elements without feeling tedious. The combat system works akin to the likes of the ol' little-known PS1 title Jade Cocoon (which Studio Ghibli also created the art for, coincidentally). You play as Oliver in battle with Drippy watching on the battlefield and are totally able to manoeuvre around freely – in the demo at least, I found this made it easy for me to just run away from enemy attacks when it was their move. You can choose 'attack' (a basic melee attack with whatever wand weapon you have equipped), 'defend' (will alleviate potential gained damage), 'use ability' (for spells learned throughout the game, the first learned being a fire attack) and other typical options during battle like using items. The typical enemies you bump in to on the map are not particularly a problem, but for the first boss (called 'Guardians') encountered at least will use large attacks on occasion that make defending a necessity.

You also seem to gain friends to fight with during the game (here's where the Jade Cocoon resemblances stand stronger) which you can summon during battle to fight with. Both these monsters/friends and yourself can level up with XP and you can gain gold from battles; again, it's nothing too far-fetched from what you'll expect from an RPG, but it works well and never will you feel as if it's too complex or stale.
Other than that, it's a very story-driven game with your aim and destination being made rather clear. It's a game that, from the first hour of play at least, is meant to be fun and accessible for RPG veterans and those that aren't used to the genre.

I imagine the game's a fairly lengthy one as the introduction of the game before you enter the second world lasts a reasonable time.  Expect lots of interesting characters and enemies, a fleshed out story, a large world and increasingly intriguing and engaging battles.

Whether you're an RPG regular or not, this game should have enough to garner your interest. Just trust me in that it's a really decent RPG with a whole lot of colour and a whole lot of character.