Pandora’s Tower Review.
The Sun is setting on the Nintendo Wii and it is nearly time to call it a day, but before the final nail is slammed into it’s long coming coffin, as a final hurrah Nintendo have released a whole load of new JRPGs in Europe and out of all them I was lucky enough to land myself with a copy of Pandora’s Tower, a twisted fairy tail of love, monsters and stuffing a vegetarian’s face full of meat.
To break down the story, The main character name is Aeron, a mumbling blonde who was once rescued by the beautiful Elena, during the local festival Elena is cursed, turning her into a monster. Aeron vows to help Elena then the two of them come across an old witch who brings them to the Pandora Towers, 13 Towers each graded by huge demon, The objective is simple, break the chains of the towers and bring back the demon flesh for Elena to feast on to lift the curse and stop her from transforming again.
The first thing that stuck me was the voice acting, The characters are voiced by English voice actors, this makes a huge change from the usual American dubs we are use to hearing. This is a great innovation as the Japanese written characters are much more in tune to the sensibilities of olden days England.
The second innovation is Aeron’s weapon the Oraclos Chain, a cross between Link’s hookshot and Ivy from Soul Calibur’s Snake Sword. Not only does the Oraclos chain pull you from ledge to ledge, open doors, entangle enemies but it also let you swing them around like a crazy mother f*cker.
The Towers themselves are a diverse mix of levels based on elements and machinery, as you progress through them you will find texts that Elena can translate for you they will bring light to the dark goings on of the country’s wars and reveal the truth behind the monsters you are fighting. The puzzles are well thought out and each tower has it’s own feel, and can be quite beautiful, but you can’t spend too long admiring the view as if you don’t watch the clock and return home in time to feed your the ever more needy Elena with some beast flesh she will transform hideously.
At first Elena will hate the beast flesh, as a follower of Eios she is a strict vegetarian, watching her eat the meat gives you an uncomfortable feeling like watching a strange fetish movie, she splutters and drools as she forces it down her throat, a disturbing image that even Lady Gaga would find it hard to shake, even more so when she becomes an addict to the flesh, choking down still beating pieces of flesh.
And about Elena, she is the girl you love to hate, though she is mild mannered and apologetic, to stop her from blowing her own brains out you have to labour her with gifts “making your bond grow.” As if Climbing towers and fighting huge monsters for her wasn’t enough you have to dip into your “urgently need armour fund” to buy little-miss-dull some flower seeds. but don’t worry at least if you are killed the garden will still look nice. Elena stays in the observatory, cleaning and cooking and being such a stereo-type that I nearly cry, but despite all her flaws Elana’s hundreds of lines of well voice acted script will keep you motivated to save her.
I am just going to say it, Pandora’s tower is one of the best Wii titles. Though the graphics can look a little PS2 at times the story is strong, original and kept me playing for hours at a time. The voice acting is some of the best I have come across in years, The controls and fighting (despite the minor flaw on swinging on the chain) are easy to pick up and the levelling up feels balanced well with the enemy’s difficulty.
90%
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Thanks - Robin Beirne
