Good PS3 Games, Just Folklore

Tilt the analog stick forward and mash the same button over and over again. Such is the formula prescribed by many modern action games, in which the player fights through hordes of look-alike enemies for hours on end, only to be rewarded with an embarrassingly written cinematic scene and progression toward another hour-long grind (I’m looking at you, Dynasty Warriors). Thankfully, Folklore for PlayStation 3 shakes things up by injecting a healthy dose of variety. Folklore’s well told murder-mystery plot and gorgeous aesthetics combine with an evolving combat system and two distinct gameplay styles to create a solid and surprisingly varied action-adventure experience.

The game takes place in a town known as Doolin, which seems to be strangely devoid of inhabitants. It also happens to be a place where the living can speak to the dead, and thus you take on the role of one of two characters—the quiet yet determined Ellen or the sharp and sarcastic reporter Keats—as you try to unravel a puzzling murder mystery and investigate the town’s frequent supernatural phenomena.

While the premise may seem like the beginning of a trite detective story, Folklore’s narrative is actually one of its strongest and most compelling assets. The plot itself starts out simple but quickly escalates in complexity after a few hours of gameplay, and story progression is kept fresh and interesting thanks to a unique, tri-pronged approach that switches between gorgeous high-definition full-motion video, comic-book style panel sequences, and in-game dialogue exchanges. While the voice acting employed throughout a large portion of the games’ storytelling is embarrassingly poor—think The Gates style voices, only without the deliberate comic intent—the fact that there are three distinct storytelling modes, as opposed to simply telling every bit of story through in-game dialog boxes, does much to keep the game’s tale fresh and interesting.

Folklore’s dual gameplay system also helps to keep things varied. The core experience, which is split between action-fighting sequences and slower, story-driven exploration segments, rarely gets old or overly repetitive, thanks in large part to solid pacing. Just as you tire of beating up droves of enemies or exploring the relatively small village of Doolin in search of the next clue, the game injects some plot progression and switches gameplay styles, preventing either mode of play from overstaying its welcome.

Continuing the game’s trend of variety, Folklore’s combat system constantly grants the player new tools with which to wreak havoc, which helps keep battles fun despite the threat of “wave-after-wave-of-enemies”-induced boredom. The base of the game’s combat is, surprisingly, somewhat similar to Pokemon in that you utilize the unique powers of defeated enemies for your attacks. While this does not mean (thankfully) that you will be screaming orders at small electric rodents, it does mean that you constantly gain access to new and varied fighting skills as you defeat each level’s unique set of foes. The game’s Sixaxis motion functionality, in which you perform sudden jerks of the controller to trigger the capture of defeated enemies, is also implemented surprisingly well, as it infuses a novel, active element into the game’s already satisfying combat.

One glaring flaw in Folklore’s battle engine, however, needs mentioning: when you access the menu to switch up your attacks—which are mapped to each of the four face buttons—there is a slight but noticeable pause every time you exit the menu to return to combat. In a game that requires frequent shuffling of attack patterns, the fact that the game frequently pauses for a few seconds becomes extremely annoying, and it needlessly breaks the flow of the game’s otherwise smooth and satisfying combat.
Perhaps the reason the game must load for a few seconds every time a player exits the combat menu is that it needs to reload the game’s impressive graphics engine, as Folklore is indeed a gorgeous game. While the game’s character models and environments may lack the painstaking polygonal detail and advanced gloss and texture effects found in many next-generation games, character and enemy designs, particle effects, and overall artistic flair are quite impressive; the first time you walk through the Faery Realm, with its gorgeous light-bloom effects and rich color palette, you might start to understand why the PS3 costs five bills.

Despite the annoying menu glitch, Folklore is a satisfying and entertaining experience, one that lasts for 20 or so hours and helps chip away at the dearth of solid PlayStation 3 games out on the market today. In fact, Folklore’s engaging story line, varied combat system, and beautiful graphics, combined with its relative lack of significant flaws, help establish it as one if the most solid titles on the market for everyone’s favorite over-priced George Foreman grill-shaped game system.