Child of Light - Review | Indie Looking Game With Triple A Quality

I did an article on the Child of Light recently on how it's the not-so-well-known RPG that people might overlook. So when it was finally out in April 30th / May 1st, 2014, I was stoked. I've been trying to keep my expectations at bay, only looking at a few screen shots from time to time. The last thing I wanted to do was have high expectations while playing Child of Light, and having those expectations brought down. 
Thankfully, that was not at all the case. Perhaps it was because of my moderate expectations for the game but I'd like to believe that it was because the game is just THAT good. Yes, it is. Finally, A game that meets high expectations. 

To get you guys up to speed, Child of Light is the new RPG from developer, Ubisoft Montreal. It combines some platforming elements, light puzzle solving and amazing artwork.  

You start the game off as Aurora, A princess that's been kidnapped into the kingdom of Lemuria where it turns out, the Sun, Moon and Stars have all been stolen away by the Black Queen. The story revolves around Aurora having to find these missing elements and getting back to her family. That's the basic gist of it. Although it was hard to decipher the story from the forced rhymes in every line... even the cutscenes. 

For once, I can sincerely say that the main star and legit selling point of the game is its gorgeous artwork. I don't know where the art department got the inspiration to make such beautiful fairy-tale-like characters but props to them. They nailed it out of the park. The different hand-painted backdrops and cheerful character drawings all give some life to the supposed Sun-less and Moon-absent kingdom, Lemuria. The different music that plays on different stages (especially the piano pieces) all evoke a different and specific feeling whether its merriment, grief or fear. One of my personal favorite things in the game is the awesome background images you see during any battle and the epic music that follows with it. 

With the character design at their best, unfortunately, There's very little voice-work in the game. This is both a good and bad thing. Starting with why it's a good thing, it's a relief that voice acting was put aside in the game because of the constantly rhyming (sometimes a little forced) dialogue that the characters talk in. It's fun to read once in a while but it does no good in helping players get into the story. Now on to the bad. It's a shame that they didn't consider voice actors for characters of Child of Light. I would have loved to hear Aurora's reaction to her situation be it happy or sad. Voice acting just provides a higher level of emotional connection to the characters of the game. 

Gameplay is pretty good as well in Child of Light. Almost everything is available to you from the start of the game. And when you get the ability to fly, things literally start to take off - pun intended. The maps in Child of Light offer players with scope for exploration. There are hidden mini bosses, many chests, side quests and secret dungeons to explore leaving players with quiet busy throughout their playtime. On your journey, you have the magical Igniculus, your flying blue ball of light partner. I was pleased with the fact that there were more uses for Igniculus than I thought. He's primary use is to illuminate dark areas but he can also assist you in battle. 



Speaking of battle, That's one of the major selling points of Child of Light as well. The battle system takes a clear page from Grandia 2 and Grandia 3 where there's a bar at the bottom of the screen that shows you who goes first. Some enemies and allies move faster than the other meaning they get their turn first. If an ally gets it's attack in first before the enemy is done casting, they gut bumped back to the start of the bar. This is where Igniculus comes in, He can help by shining bright on the enemy thus slowing them down giving your characters time to cast first. However good the battle system may be, It was shame that I never really felt like I was in danger, in other words, I never really had to employ and tactics or consider my strategy for battles aside from some bosses and mini bosses. My only problem (aside from easy monsters) was that only 2 party members can fight at a single time. How come the enemies get 3 and we only get 2? especially when we have a total of 4 people in the party. 

Aside from the near-excellent battle system, There's a skill tree that players can use to give their players new skills and stat increases, though most of them are just stat increases. The Oculi system is somewhat interesting. There are different gems of different colors and sizes. 3 small gems of the same color make 1 medium sized gem. 3 medium sized gems of the same color make 1 big sized game of that color. It's quiet fun to experiment which colors make what kind of result. These gems can in turn be equipped on the weapon, armor or accesory where they give you stat buffs like 10% more EXP or casting speed +5 etc.

For 15 bucks, Child of Light falls just slightly short on playing time clocking in at about 11 hours. Don't let the annoying rhymes and easy monsters discourage you from buying this gem. The awesome artstyle and fast paced battle system will more than satisfy your RPG needs. 

Final Score - 9.0 / 10

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