Maxi-geek Review - Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom

Do you remember being a kid and running around outside thinking you were chasing made up creatures around. Well someone took that idea to the next level with Invizimals.

Invizimals has you taking on the role of Hiro, who entered the world of the Invizimals, to find out what is going on in there. Invizimals are human type animals and they have been entering our world for years, we however have only just started going to there. Upon entering the world, Hiro encounters Ocelotl, and due to the nature of what’s happening, obtains the ability to become Ocelotl himself and use his skills and powers to progress through the game.

After then you will use Oceelotl to defeat your next Invizimal character, Minotaur and then use Minotaur to defeat the next, Tigershark and so on and so forth. It’s a minor quirk but it would have been nice if you could truly fight them, instead the defeating of them is limited to a series of quick time events after which the opposing character will agree your strong and pass some power onto you.

This is where the game stops getting new ideas, which is sad because with the level of details in previous games for character design, the chance to have some truly wild Invizimals helping out would have made this game a lot better. But for the 16 Invizimals you do meet, and obtain the powers off, the games inability to let you explore areas, or discover things for yourself restrains it in a way that even very young kids would hate.

Throughout the game you are given hints from a voice who guides you by not only holding your hand, but requires you to accept what is being said before you can progress. Each time you encounter something new in the world, a door, a new enemy or even a different type of crate, the voice kicks in and tells you exactly what it is and how to defeat, destroy or get around it. This would not be so bad, if you were allowed to explore other areas of the game at your own pace, but unless the game requires you to go somewhere, everywhere else is off limits.

The controls in the game are basic at best, and while the game is clearly aimed at kids, you can’t even chain together two attacks, because starting one type of attack requires the full animation cycle to run through before you can start another one. However the worst part about the controls is that lack of camera control. The world is fully realized, but sadly the camera only lets you pan to the left or right of a given area, and not even by much. Each time you want to see something off to the side, you need to psychically move there to look.

Invizimals for PlayStation 3 is a strange game in that without the context of the Vita game, or the previous PSP versions, you don’t really know what you’re getting into. But at the same time, having no knowledge also produces a better game for it. With poor camera controls, a very basic combat system and no chance for exploration, the game misses a lot of chances to make a really strong game. And that is a shame as it ties in with the Vita version of the game really well.