Parents' Guide to Battle Chasers: Nightwar

When a game is based on an existing property, it can feel like someone crammed a square peg into a round hole -- but sometimes, it can feel like a natural extension of everything that came before. In the case of Battle Chasers: Nightwar, the game doesn't just feel like an extension of the comic; it feels like what the story was always meant to be. The story is surprisingly involved, with some player choices having at least a noticeable impact on the direction of certain events. While it doesn't change how the overall plot unfolds, it still adds that personal touch to make players feel like they're responsible for more than just pushing buttons.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar has been built on the foundation of classic role-playing games (RPGs) of the past. The turn-based combat, map navigation, character management, and so on would be right at home with old-school RPGs, though with an obvious upgrade to the presentation. Unfortunately, this nostalgic experience is also the game's biggest weakness. The game gets repetitive fairly quickly, particularly in combat. Before long, you're just going through the motions, hacking and slashing on autopilot. Since there are no random encounters in the game, in order to level up, you've got to grind the dungeons you've already beaten on higher difficulties in order to build up your party's experience points and equipment. It's still a lot of fun, but you'll likely be playing in smaller doses to keep it from getting stale.