If The Nightmare Before Christmas director Tim Burton channelled his quirky moviemaking talents into designing a Japanese-style fantasy video game, it would probably look a lot like Folklore for the PlayStation 3. Except with Helena Bonham Carter as the female lead.
This dark, digital fairy tale is a weird hybrid of an overly talky Japanese role-playing adventure and a fast-paced action game, an odd mix that somehow meshes well. It's one of those titles that strives to be original and fresh, which probably means it'll be overlooked by gamers in favour of the latest cookie-cutter shooter sequel or umpteenth iteration of Madden. Sigh.
Folklore's two protagonists, Ellen and Keats, are drawn to a mysterious Irish village that they soon discover is a gateway to the capital-n Netherworld. Ellen is looking for her dead (or is she?) mother, and Keats is investigating a story for his occult magazine, although it's not clear how he has the budget to fly around the world and dress like a G.Q. dandy. A well-funded journalist? Well, it is a fantasy game...
The pair are your typical two-dimensional JRPG stereotypes -- despite its U.K. locales and accents, there's no mistaking that Folklore is the product of a Japanese design studio -- but once you start exploring the myriad realms of the Netherworld, populated by spirits, faeries and many a slavering monster, you're hooked.
Travelling through Folklore's worlds means defeating scores of wildly diverse mystical monsters, using the motion-sensing Sixaxis controller to literally yank the very essence from their bodies. This places the creatures in your roster of subservient beasties and lets you use them to unleash attacks against other baddies, like Pokemon for the Addams Family kids.
With all the PS3 games that have jammed Sixaxis control down players' throats -- yeah we're looking at you, Lair -- it's nice to see the motion-sensing gamepad get used in a novel, intuitive way. Sometimes all it takes is a simple upwards yank of the controller to grab a defeated creature's soul, other times you're wrestling with the monster's ethereal form like it was a feisty 30-pound bass on a fishing line.
It might not come as a shock that a game about fantastical critters and surreal worlds is at its weakest when it gets pulled back to reality. Between each foray into the Netherworld and its radically different realms, you're forced to return to boring old Doolin to hunt down special items and yap with villagers.
It's a good way to drive the game's story forward, but traipsing around town looking for dead people's keepsakes is dirt-dull compared to going toe-to-toe against an entire Brothers Grimm menagerie of eye-popping creatures in the Netherworld.
Stick with it, though, and Folklore is a rewarding ride through its designers' rich and slightly twisted imaginations. May you live -- or die -- happily ever after.
BOTTOM LINE
Though it starts off slow, Folklore turns out to be a surprisingly deep and visually lush experience, with novel new twists on familiar gameplay standards. Could be a sleeper hit.
---
STEVE TILLEY'S CHEAT SHEET
BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN: Instead of playing through the characters' storylines one after the other, try switching between Ellen and Keats after each chapter. You'll get a different perspective on each chunk of story while it's fresh in your mind.
WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: If you're having trouble beating a particular beastie, check the in-game storybook pages. While you won't be able to read the runes, the illustrations hint at certain critters' vulnerabilities.
AN ORDERLY QUEUE: In order to maximize your experience points from defeating Folklore's creatures, try to line your targets up and stun several at once, then yank out their souls en masse for a combo bonus.
FOLKLORE
Playstation 3
Game Republic/Sony Computer Entertainment
Rating: Teen
Sun Rating: 4 out of 5
