Neopets: Petpet Adventure - The Wand of Wishing
I wish it were just a little more well thought out.
Published: May 2, 2006
I'm not trying to bag on the game for everything it does, but there are some very dumb moves that were actively made to try to move the game away from a me-too dungeon crawl, and they hurt things to the point of it ruining some of the game. Luckily, the magic system is well thought-out, allowing you to build up your petpet's affinity for spells and resistance to certain attacks. In fact, the item system in the game is remarkably robust -- right down to unique items like weapons and armor.
Also added was a bit of mini-rearing for your petpet itself. These pets for petpets (called petpetpets -- yes, really), add a slightly Pokemon Lite feel to the game. By laying out food for little critters that usually run away at the sight of you, you can capture them while they eat, and these petpetpets will gift you with boosts to your baseline stats (though in some cases, you'll sacrifice stats too). Your enjoyment of this part of things will depend largely on how much fun you have with the capturing element, but it is a nice addition, and can add just a hint of strategy to the game.
Not that it's really needed, of course. Early on, you'll have to proceed with caution, picking off enemies one or two at a time and then pausing to refill magic and health. Once you start getting more powerful drops and buy better equipment, the game starts lurching into uneven territory, and your petpet quickly becomes a badass. This keeps the game from slipping into the endless grind that can come from dungeon crawlers, but it's taken just a bit too far.
Though the game opens up with an impressive cutscene (CG just looks tailor-made for the PSP screen when it's done right) -- a cutscene that actually features the petpet you chose at the beginning, which is a nice touch -- the actual graphics for the game aren't quite as hot. Yes, there's a nice sampling of different (if clichéd) environments like snowy, autumn, water, sky, and so on, but the texture work and overall detail of these areas isn't all that impressive.
Seaming issues pop up during in-game cutscenes, the framerate fluctuates a bit, and the lighting is all but nonexistent. The characters themselves are well-animated, though, and during close-ups, you'll notice some decent texture work and creativity in the monsters and non-player characters alike, it's just that the general detail in things like trees and the ground leaves the game feeling a bit like a prettied-up PS one game.
The audio's a bit of the same way. Music that ranges from annoying to forgettable (but usually the latter), it's the kind of stuff that fits with the game, but sounds a bit generic. It's not bad at any point, but it will grate. The little gibberish chirps from other creatures are quite adorable, though, and it's hard not to grow a soft spot for some of the characters you'll run across.
The Wand of Wishing feels just a bit too much like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. Initially rather difficult and eventually far too easy, it strips away most of the things that have streamlined action RPGs or hack and slashers, and it does the game no favors. That doesn't mean the game can't be fun -- and indeed there are times when it's a far better, cuter game than one would think for a license like this, but as a first effort, the game's a little too spotty.
Should SCEA San Diego rake in enough to finance a second go, fixing just a few things would make the game a worthy alternative to the fantasy-themed entries on the PSP. Better still it would preserve the authenticity of the source material enough to keep it from feeling too much like a Pokemon rip-off. For now, though, it's best left as a rental or bargain bin purchase a few months down the road.
