Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy
Overview -
Over the last few years, old-school dungeon crawlers have had a resurgence in popularity. These typically difficult games have found a new home on handheld systems, where it's easy to pick up, play for a short time and make a little progress, then put down again.
In the midst of this popularity boost, Experience Inc. made its name in the West when Nippon Ichi released the Vita title 'Demon Gaze', a relatively beginner friendly dungeon crawler that is also quite good. Nippon Ichi is now trying to capitalize on the game and genre's niche success by releasing one of Experience's earlier titles, 'Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy.'
Video Review
Honestly, being a first-person dungeon crawler, the looks of 'Operation Abyss' are a mixed bag. There's not much to enjoy in the first person view, and the dungeons in particular look bland and same-y in this title. However, the character illustrations for your party members in the Basic Mode look fantastic, and are stylized with vibrant and stand out colors. NPC portraits also look decent. Overall, the game isn't completely devoid of visual flair, but it feels as though Experience could have done so much more with the graphical style to make the title stand out.
Audio Review
Much like 'Demon Gaze', 'Operation Abyss' has a great soundtrack to go along with its dungeon diving. The tracks are all fitting for the dark atmosphere in the game, with the battle themes particularly standing out. It is certainly worthwhile to listen to 'Operation Abyss using headphones.
The only area of trouble involves the party members' voice clips. Players can choose from a variety of voices for their characters, but they only have a couple clips per voice, so in battle the clips repeat themselves frequently. Essentially each character only has one or two attack and damage voice clips, which gets old rather quickly.
Final Thoughts
’Operation Abyss’ is not perfect; in fact, it’s just a bit average. There are a few standout aspects of the title, mainly in the wonderful art and the neat setting, but digging down into the core of the game reveals a rather cut and dry dungeon crawling experience. Coupled with the difficulty and the lack of direction for various key systems, this is a game best suited for fans of dungeon crawlers, while those new to genre should consider something more accessible and rewarding to start off with.
