Fate/Extra

Developer: Type-Moon and Image Epoch

Publisher: Ghostlight (Europe), Aksys Games (North America)

Genre: RPG

Rating: 12+

Platform: PSP

Release date: Out now (coming soon to the EU PlayStation Network)

Taking place in a virtual world during the Holy Grail war Fate/ Extra is one of the most enjoyable PSP games I have played to date. It has an interesting yet somewhat hands off combat system, unique cast of character and more. If you are a fan of the Fate series this is definitely a game you should play.

The aim of Fate/Extra is to win the Holy Grail war. The war pits you (master) and your servant against others in battles to the death to claim the coveted Holy Grail.

If you have never had any knowledge of the Fate series servants are basically heroes that have died throughout the ages like King Arthur, Robin Hood etc. In the game you have a choice of one of three servant classes to fight for you which are saber, archer or caster. I chose the saber class to be my servant.

After an introduction to the world through another charter you appear to be an ordinary high-school student, but shortly after you learn you and the people around you aren’t as ordinary as you think. The game sees you go through a basic combat tutorial and as you receive your chosen servant you are thrown into the start of the Holy Grail war, but even with the war beginning you are still been thought all about the game.

The Holy Grail war works on a knock out system where you have 6 days to train, learn about your opponent and collect two triggers from the “arena” (this is where you level up). At the end of the six days you fight the selected opponent.

As I mentioned the arena is where you level up and collect triggers, but it is also where the majority of the games action takes place. Each round two floors of the arena are created which contain both triggers, but collecting these triggers isn’t as easy as it sounds. While attempting to collect triggers your opponent at the time will run into you at times and try to hinder your chances of progressing before you officially fight. Overall the arena contains various items, hidden areas and more to find.

I did notice that it is really easy to over level in the arena since you have to always enter at least one of the two floors each day.

Combat in Fate/Extra in its simplest form is a game of rock – paper – scissors. You have three types of attacks which are guard, attack, and break and just like rock paper scissors certain attack counter other attacks.

Combat begins by selecting you and your opponent picking their first 6 moves (hence why it is like rock – paper – scissors). In the attack select stage you can see some of the attacks your enemy will be using as one or two blocks might show which attack move they will use so you know you will win that turn (the attacks that are visible also give clues to the enemies attack style). When the attacks are being done and you land 3 hits in a row you gain an extra turn which is automatically done. After the 6 turns are done you select your next 6 moves.

In combat players can also use items to recover hp, mp etc., skills and equipment.

Your character can have two pieces of equipment (formal wear) attached at any one time. These offer a passive ability that increases your mana and an active ability which can range from healing to a temporary stat increase. Skills are similar to equipment apart from the limitations on how many you can have.

Personally I never had much of a need for the equipments active abilities apart from an ability which was attached to “Shockwave -2nd strike” which allows you to attack monsters outside of battle causing them to be stunned and giving you free hits.

When combat ends you gain experience points. When you eventually level up you gain skill points (3 per level). These points are used to increase your base stats such as strength, luck etc. When you spend enough skill points you unlock a new skill to use in combat.

If there was one major complaint about the combat it would be the animations, it felt like they went on forever and they couldn’t be skipped and while it was nice the first time it got annoying quickly.

Apart from combat, investigating you opponent’s servant is probably one of the most important parts of the game because if you fail to investigate you opponent you are doomed to failure.

Investigating seems to come in two fold which are spoon fed information which is info you learn by just playing and self investigative work like searching the library to build up on clues, but that said even self investigative work is spoon fed to a point.

While investigating is rather spoon fed at times it is fun and takes away from constant grind for experience in the arena.

Dialogue options appear in the game at certain times. The options allow you to focus on certain parts you want to investigate or to continue the story. At times the dialogue choices either meant the game continues or you die and get a game over.

What I really enjoyed about the game was the cast of characters with character from the anime Fate/Stay Night (Rin, Shinji, Sakura and Taiga) and new characters making appearances. Each character felt like they had their own personalities, traits and goals. One stand out character for me Alice was probably one I enjoyed the most with her childish antics, but also made me slightly depressed after I learned more about her.

SCORE: 78%

Fate/Extra is an enjoyable game. With easy to use, but difficult master combat and investigating to break up the constant fight. The dialogue choices is a bit bland as the don’t offer as much choice as you might expect. What sells the game for me is the great cast of characters.

If you like handheld RPG’s then Fate/Extra is definitely a game worth looking at.