Unchained Blades Review

Unchained Blades (PSP)
Developed By: FuRyu
Localized and Published By: XSEED
Date of Release: June 26, 2012
Price: $29.99

Now to those those of you who have been reading my reviews for a while now, it is definitely no secret that I am quite fond of the oldschool first-person dungeon crawler genre. From Grimrock to Wizardry, how can you go wrong? Luckily the PSP and the 3DS now have their own worthwhile entry into the genre, Unchained Blades!




From the moment I set eyes on Unchained Blade's anime intro, I was hooked. The art direction in this game rivals that of any other JRPG I have played lately, even surpassing the detail in games such as Tales of Vesperia. Gorgeous hand-drawn artwork permeates every facet of this game, and expressive character portraits abound. A good amount of the main dialog is voiced, and the soundtrack is a real treat for the ears.
All of this serves to enrich the already epic story, filled with masterfully woven plot twists and character development.




As for gameplay, typical exploration is the name of the game for the most part. The battle system is where things get kicked up a notch. Imagine a Final Fantasy turn based system mixed with the fluid turn management of the Grandia series, and the ability to take on 3 screens worth of enemies at a time thrown in for extra measure. Not only that, but each character in your party has up to four captured monsters supporting them. So just imagine the delicious chaos a 20-character party can unleash upon 3 screens packed full of monsters!




The quality of Unchained Blades should be no surprise considering the all-star dev team who built it. Toshio Akashi of Lunar fame directed the whole project, with Grandia's Takashi Hino taking up the scenario design reins. The bulk of the soundtrack was written by Tsutomo Narita, and Final Fantasy veteran Nubuo Uematsu provided the main themes. Taking all of this into account it is no wonder that Unchained Blades is such a masterpiece. In my humble opinion it should grace the library of PSP gamers everywhere. The experience is certainly worth the price of admission!