Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy Review

Dungeon crawling RPGs are a genre of games that used to be fairly popular many years ago, but died down a bit in more recent years. However, there seems to have been a surge of them in the past five or six years, thanks to developers like Experience Inc. They created a series of games called Generation Xth back in 2009 and 2010, which is what Operation Abyss, this game, is a remake of (the first two games in the Xth series).

You wake up in some sewers and are attacked by monsters, which are called Variants in the game. After being rescued by some mysterious boy, you managed to run around the sewer until you spot another Variant, only this one is much larger. Thankfully, a girl appears and defeats it while you escape. That girl's name is Alice Mifune and she is the captain of the Code Physics Agency's Xth Squad, which hunts down these Variants.

For some reason, you also have the ability to "Code-Rise" and fight these monsters, which is how you join the Xth Squad. You are going around and investigating kidnappings and murders, which are happening around the city. The story isn't too bad, but you're definitely not looking for that blockbuster storytelling from a game like this.

The game can begin with you either starting with a group of six premade characters or by making them all yourself, which is the Classic mode. For the latter, you get character creation, with the ability to do things like actual character editing.

One of the first things you'll notice are the character portraits and enemy designs, which are almost always done well in these types of games. Thankfully, that's the case here, but one of the downsides is that they are simply 2D pieces of art and nothing more. A little animation would have gone a long way in making the art stand out a little bit more.

Another strong negative with the game is with the art used in the dungeons, as there isn't a lot of variety when you're spending a lot of time in a single dungeon. Of course, the actual layout and design of the dungeons are top notch and will have you struggling to get through them, with the various traps and puzzles. So, the dungeons themselves can be fun to trek through, but you'll get bored of looking at them.

Of course, for a genre like dungeon crawlers, the most important aspect of the game is going to come from actually playing it. There isn't much to the overall structure, as you simply go from your base of operations to the actual dungeon exploration. Although I don't have a lot of experience with the genre, it does seem like there are some things separating it from other games.

The biggest thing you'll be doing in dungeons, besides exploring it, is battling nasty enemies. You have two rows for your characters, with the back row usually designated for mages and the squishy party members. Enemies, on the other hand, can have many more rows for you to fight, although you will only actually be fighting the first row or two.

As far as the actual battling goes, you have normal attacks and your spells, which only have a few uses before you will have to go back to your base and rest to recharge them. In addition to that, each of the classes have certain skills they can use in battle and one final thing is Unity Skills. These are shared amongst all of the characters and use the Unity gauge in the bottom left. Using the skills will deplete the gauge, with it being replenished by battling enemies.

The battle system is fairly simple to understand, which is a good thing. However, there are many things in the game that can be difficult to understand, especially for a newer player to the genre. That comes in the form of the items, equipment and the whole entire system involving them, like crafting. In fact, gear can be a huge part of these games and sitting there, wondering what some of the things are on them can slow the gameplay down.

This is probably the biggest negative about the game, as the game definitely caters to fans of the genre and past Experience-developed games over new players. There is an in-game help that does explain a good bit to you, but having to always consult it when you're actually playing the game can detract from the overall enjoyment.

Long story short, the game is very fun if you're into dungeon crawlers and while the whole equipment/item thing can be a deterrent, the rest of the game does prove it's worth a look at from those who are looking for a new Vita game to play. Just be wary that this game is not for everyone and it's always best to do some research before settling on a purchase.