Story: The “teenagers go on a quest to save the world†storyline at first appears shallow and clichéd but as it progresses through many twists and turns, the plot turns out to be complicated and deep. It is interesting, advances well, and addresses real life issues such as racism. The characters are well written and develop nicely throughout the game.
Game Play
Tales of Symphonia is extremely hard to put down. The battles are fast paced and fun and leveling up your characters is not a chore at all. The fights are represented on the map so you can avoid most of them if you want. In the battle screen you control whichever character you want while the others are on autopilot. You can even put yourself on auto if you want but it’s no fun that way. The system is not turn-based but it’s not totally real-time either, both in that you have to wait a bit between using items and there is a separate screen for battles.
*The dungeons are not difficult or long but the bosses can cause you a little trouble if you avoided random battles. This game is hardly linear and there is a lot of freedom to do many of the events in whatever order you want to do them.
*There are skits throughout the game which are basically just the characters interacting as talking heads. They happen pretty frequently and can get a little annoying but they are totally optional.
*There are plenty of side quests, mini-games, and extras (including a battle arena) to keep you occupied for a while. The game promises on the box “over 80 hours of game play†which it delivered.
*The camera rocked too. Bad cameras ruin a game for me. This one was as good as they get.
Graphics
The graphics are excellent. The well drawn anime style characters are very smooth and exist in a beautifully detailed world. The anime cut-scenes are few and far between which makes them very rewarding.
Sound
The music is well done. I was never annoyed or distracted by it. The voice acting on the other hand, could definitely be better. The two lead character’s voices downright sucked. Some of the decent voices include Crispin Freeman (Alucard from Hellsing among many others) and Wally Wingert (Red Tallest from Invader Zim among many others), both of whom were in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
Re-playability
Many un-lockables at the end of the game as well as the overall addictiveness of it give it high re-playability.
Overall
I would give it a 10 if the voice acting didn’t suck. It also lacked the general innovativeness that characterize 10/10 games. Therefore I give this game a 9/10.
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