Dragon’s Dogma Wins Over the East
For those of you on the fence about Capcom’s attempt at an open world fantasy RPG – if you’re even on the fence; I know a lot of you fantasy junkies are contenting yourself on Diablo sessions in between server crashes – word has flown from the Osaka based publisher’s hometown of Japan that Dragon’s Dogma ain’t too shabby after all.
Of particular note, intensely critical yet insanely popular gaming magazine Famitsu awarded the action-RPG the coveted “Hall of Fame: Gold” award. This is a pretty damn hard award to bag when you keep in mind how the magazine scores titles. Famitsu practices a “Cross Review” system in which four editors will filter their impressions into a 10-Scale score, then those four ratings will be added up for a final sum that can only possibly go up to 40 (yet usually doesn’t). I hope that made a semblance of sense; I’m not repeating myself.
Famitsu’s reviewers rated Dragon’s Dogma with two 8’s and two 9’s, amounting to a total of 34 (just enough to earn that gold star). Now typically I wouldn’t consider anyone else’s review score hot enough news to tap key over (especially since I don’t base my reviews around a numbered system). But it’s poignant to note that Famitsu is particularly harsh on a game’s flaws and that their review format makes it so even above average games come off as savagely mediocre.
If it’s good enough for Famitsu, it must be good enough for us Westerners who are so spoiled on open world RPG’s to begin with. Though I predict we’ll see more money thrown at Dawnguard this Summer than retail copies of Dogma. Which is a shame, since bringing down screeching griffons by hacking on their wings while riding them is the kind of over-the-top testosterone injection our RPGs’ collective sacks need.
You can pick up Dragon’s Dogma on Tuesday for the PS3 or Xbox 360. In the meanwhile, download the demo from PSN or XBLA and wreck a griffon’s face now.