Folklore was a fairly anticipated title for the PS3, especially after the demo was released and it showed great promise. It combines strategy with arcade and adventure and brings to you a new experience on the PS3. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of Folklore for the PS3:

Presentation and Graphics: The use of color, imagery and great lighting give this game an interesting dynamic. Graphically, this game is part Wizard of Oz, part Alice in Wonderland, and part Pan’s Labyrinth. It is most certainly not a clinic in great graphics, but this title is beautiful in the way a painting can be. Just walking around, the scenery sucks you in, with items moving around you, and the colors reminding you of a cool autumn day.

Most of the game’s cutscenes come in the form of comic book-style storyboards, while a handful of scenes are CGI. Combined, Folklore feels a lot like playing through a graphic novel.

The menus are many, but they are not confusing, once you get the hang of them. Items in menus can also be rearranged to an extent, which is a pleasant touch. 4 out of 5

Sound and Music: The music can be downright creepy at times, and that fits the theme of this title perfectly. The music and background sounds are not over-the-top, but are just enough to set the mood that you are in fact trying to solve a murder-mystery…and you could be the next victim. Everything sounds pretty much the way it should in this title. Even the stairs sound cool. 4 out of 5

Gameplay: The gameplay of this title definitely merits a good amount of attention. Why? It is probably the most original control arrangement I have seen in a game I this generation. Of course the game features the standard left stick moves, right stick controls the camera, but the real treat comes in the buttons. Folklore gives you the option of mapping the four face buttons to any attacks/defenses you want, but more on this after some background.

Throughout this game, you will fight creatures called Folk. Once you defeat one, you can absorb it. Absorbing Folk ids is how you acquire new attacks. Absorbing a Folk can be as simple as holding R1 and flicking the SixAxis up, or it can turn into an arm wrestling match, where you have to rock the SixAxis up/down, left/right, or a combination of all three. The stronger the Folk (minions and mini bosses) or Folklore (the big bosses), the harder it is to absorb.

Once you absorb a Folk, you can now use the fallen foe as a weapon (or shield in some cases). These newly acquired attacks can further be improved by capturing more of the same type of Folk, feeding the Folk certain items, or even by killing other Folk. Yes, you have the choice to either capture the fallen Folk or outright killing it (it will dissolve into a purplish cloud). Keep in mind though, when you capture them, you get experience and when you kill them, you don’t.

Ok, so once you start your collection of Folk, you can press L2 and open up the attack mapping screen. On this screen you will see every Folk you have captured so far. You can map them to any button. This means if you have 4 favorite attacks, you can have them all at your disposal at any time. Some Folk can even combo fluidly with others, chaining for 8+ hit attacks. The ability to map any attack to the face buttons just adds to the tactical feel of this title. One note though, when exiting this mapping screen, the game will seem to lock up for a bit. This is a design flaw but it’s normal.

Keats also has a special attack meter. This meter fills as he absorbs Folk. Once full, pressing in L3 and R3 at the same time will unleash a temporary speed and damage boost with a slight invulnerability. While this temporary power is excellent (incredible damage, huge combos), I would highly recommend you save it for mini bosses and the end-chapter Folklore.

The controls are not perfect though. Although the game has a auto-targeting feature (L1), it is not a very smart auto-targeting feature. This is especially evident during boss fights, where you could have destroyed one of the creature’s legs, but you are stuck targeting it anyway, making it a total waste of time. Getting hit by the enemy takes off the auto-lock.

The difficulty curve is not bad at all, and if it is about to get tough, you can generally find a crystal to break that contains a sheet of paper from a picture book. These picture books are 100% graphic and 0% text, so while each page will show you how to beat a creature, it certainly won’t tell you how. 4 out of 5

Online: The only online component to speak of in this title is the ability to make and share your own personal dungeons online. People who download your dungeons can play through them. It was a great idea implemented very badly. If Game Republic had made it a point to include unlockables with the online editor, it would be more worth while to use. As it stands, the editor is very limited and is just a small gimmick to mess around with once you’re pretty much finished with Folklore. It is functional, but you miss absolutely nothing if you completely skip this feature altogether.

The online features don’t really add anything to the game, but they also don’t take anything away. 2 out of 5

Lasting Appeal: Although it feels as if there is not much to do in the game (it starts out pretty slow, but picks up within an hour or so into the game), the game is fairly lengthy. Given that there are two main characters, Ellen and Keats, you could choose to use one character exclusively or the other. A word of warning though, both of their stories converge at one point, so you will have to play through with both characters. Collecting Folk and leveling them (ala Pokemon) can get quite addictive, making a 30-minute chapter take 2 hours. Playing this game from start to finish should take about 15-20 hours, more if you decide to “catch ‘em all”. 4 out of 5

Final Word: This title tells an excellent story, a story of murder, intrigue, horror. And quite honestly, I’m a sucker for a great story. Lucky for me, we’ve had three great story games so far this year in Heavenly Sword (PS3), Folklore (PS3), and Mass Effect (Xbox 360). Games this engrossing and entertaining don’t come along all that often, so definitely try this one out.

Overall: 4 out of 5

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