Nippon Ichi Software America have published many games over the last few years, most of which have been English localizations of works from Japanese developers such as Nippon Ichi Software, Gust and Compile Heart. While quite a few of their titles feature the same traits including a comical/well thought out storylines, RPG or tactical based battle systems and so forth – most have in my books being enjoyable releases and earned solid scores in my past reviews.
Clan of Champions is the lastest video game released by NIS America from the Japanese developer Acquire (Way of the Samurai 4) and brings quite a lot new to the company in terms of releases. This includes being the second game released by the company on the PC via Steam (Moving from their predominantly Playstation / Nintendo release base) and having a more western gaming vibe to the aesthetic – differing from the companies usual anime-inspired visuals in their releases.
I always like to see a company venture out into something a bit out of the ordinary but did the decision to license this title pay off? The good news is that overall it isn’t a bad game – but the less positive news is that it is overshadowed by many greater titles and failed to capture my attention for too long. Either way, here is my review of Clan of Champions for the PC.
Clan of Champions is a heavily action-oriented game to the point that outside of the arena there is not much left to work with. You begin the game by creating your own custom character from a limited number of selections. The game includes three character types – Human, Elf and Orc (With no noticeable gender change), a small selection of appearance changes and the option between one of three attack types (Sword-Shied, Dual or Close Encounters – fortunately the game isn’t too strict on this). While the options may seem scarce at first, the game does throw in an added degree of customization through in-game equipment. After this you are basically given the option to either view a fortunately in-depth tutorial or dive straight into battles.
Each battle takes place in an arena where you are faced against a wave of enemies alongside two other characters (Either CPU or multiplayer characters) and to win you just have to ensure the three characters collectively defeat every enemy character that moves without dying yourself. Despite the game setting itself up to be something more storyline heavy in the opening sequence – for the most part you will be selecting and playing through progressively unlocked missions consisting of progressively harder enemies. You are provided with briefings for each mission you take part, but they are easily missable despite being interesting reads. I think if they were to make the storyline a more dominant factor in this game it might have felt like less of a grind and more of a rewarding experience.
The games control scheme worked equally well with the keyboard/mouse and gamepad, although for the purpose of this review I stuck with the keyboard/mouse and had very little issue. Fortunately while the game did feel like a grind at times the battle system pulled through and was as I would have expected. Aside from a few magic skills obtained through grimoire, most of the battles will involve you attacking with physical weapons and skills. This does not simply mean mashing the attack button which in the later levels can be one way to end up losing the battle. Depending on the weapons you and your opponent use tactics, timing and positioning of your attack need to be factored in to deal damage or disarm the opponent.
The game allows you to disarm your opponent, which often leaves their wares for the taking – which you can equip mid-fight if you notice the stats are too your liking or you want to spontaneously go from a dual-wield to Sword/Shield user. Oddly enough despite obtaining and potentially using them on the battlefield – to actually keep them you have to pay a fee after the battle. In addition to being able to effectively steal from and then buy back the equipment from your targets, the game features a simple weapons enhance system which makes use of your (quickly accumulating) lingering equipment.
The game shines when you are with friends or other online players – but otherwise the provided CPU allies work fine and are for the most part competent at defeating your targets.
Alongside the simple and not-so present storyline, the visuals are another area which really lets this game down. The characters, despite being able to be stripped of equipment come down to a few basic designs and are coupled with rather bland and sameish arena designs. On a plus note while simple the battle animations are reasonably well implemented. In addition, Clan of Champions features a rather small set of music tracks but given the theme of the game were appropriate to the genre and adequately implemented.
Overall, Clan of Champions is a very average game and one to really enjoy you would really need two other friends or online companions to get the full experience. Otherwise, the game doesn’t really offer much other than the same 24 missions with a couple of additional difficulties. Clan of Champions felt like another previous NIS America release Last Rebellion (Review: A PSN Trophy Collectors Dream: Last Rebellion – Review), it came in with some good ideas but performed below expectations in several areas.
Clan of Champions is also set to be released on the Playstation Network (for Playstation 3) later this month. While it was initially announced for release on the XBox360 as well, plans have since been dropped.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: D
Design: D
Music/Voice Acting: C
Gameplay: C+
Replayability: D
Personal Opinion: D+
Overall Score: D+
A Steam download code for this title was kindly provided by Nippon Ichi Software America for the purpose of this review.
