Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom - As We Play

Format: PS3 Version: 1.01

The fourth game in the series, Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom is the first outing outside of the PSP and PS Vita environment, with development done by Magenta Software, rather than Novarama Technology (who have developed most of the handheld versions so far). Taking on the role of Hiro, a young explorer, you’re sucked into the world of The Lost Kingdom and given the ability to transform into Invizimals. This is a far different approach to the previous games, which were more like a take on Pokémon and Digimon, with you in a trainer relationship with captured Invizimals. Having tangled with The Lost Tribes – the previous game in the series, which was on PSP and used the camera add-on – I was intrigued as to how such a drastic change in direction would affect the Invizimals experience. The moment I saw the game’s main character, Hiro, approaching a secret entrance, my heart sunk. I had hoped that the cheesy live action cutscenes of the previous games would be gone. Instead they look worse as the larger TV screen bears all in a way that tiny screen of the PSP could never do. Unflattering, stilted acting, except in the case of info sections voiced by Brian Blessed, it felt worse than corny as we’re transported from the human (live action) world into the world of the Invizimals (polygons) on some kind of ambassadorial mission. And before Hiro can even say “hi” he’s left on his own in a world that’s suddenly become quite a hostile, but it’s okay – he’s just been given the ability to transform into Invizimals that have agreed to provide a measure of their power. Before I’d even had my chance to punch my first Steel (the mechanical enemies of the game) I was fighting the camera as it opted to offer unhelpful third-person angles that made jumping around the jungle based temple a rather neck breaking affair.

The camera would stay in a fixed position that was dependent on the area of the map you had entered and would only move slightly side to side with the encouragement of a control stick. This created problems early on when trying to judge the true distance between platforms Hiro’s Invizimal form needed to jump between. It also made moving back through levels awkward. I discovered that not only was the camera offering me misguided views of the game world, but that my missteps wouldn’t just send me back to where I had fallen from, but all the way back to the last autosave. The game’s autosaves were haphazardly placed within levels and at points that discouraged exploring. Exploration was a key element of the game, but you’re punished for trying to do it if it you do die (jumping off ledges, overwhelmed by enemies, or electrified saws) as the last autosave tended to be at the beginning of a level before you go off track and the next autosave being on the main path that progresses the story. It would have been nice to think I could just keep going and ignore extras, but the game’s Battle Mode, which is separate from the story, needs items collected in the story in order to work. The tutorials, game prompts and digitised companion would often overwhelm. While you could skip much of the information given to help you play and the few cutscenes on offer, there were many lengths of conversation that you couldn’t skip, couldn’t do anything during, and had the unhelpful placement of being just moments before you could be knocked out or take a misstep. Another aspect that added to the chances of Hiro plummeting off of a level included level design elements that made a particular places look like they were somewhere to be explored. I’d try jumping to something that looks like the beginning of a cave and instead slide off it and through the game’s walls to Hiro’s death. One of the weirdest design choices was in having two types of orbs as things that you could only obtain from set sections of the environment. Enemies, after you’ve destroyed them, gave up nothing – the only reward I was given for destroying Steels was being allowed to progress further into the game.

But I was never too sure how far into the game I was or made aware of good points to just stop playing. The transition between levels wasn’t enough of an indication they were a good point to stop, because you’d been warned not to turn off the console while the game saved and the symbols for saving and level loading were very similar. There was no design in place to make you visibly aware of the passage of time or your progress in the game – accumulating Invizimals wasn’t enough. Outside of the main story, Battle Mode offers little respite. Those unfamiliar with the game series will struggle to understand what they’re doing in this fighting mode that holds little resemblance with the combat in the main game. Where the story was thick with explanations there are few to be found here. And while I thought the combat in the story could sometimes feel unresponsive and slow, these effects were amplified in Battle Mode, even while I was offline, and wasn’t any better over PSN.

Areas for Improvement

The camera is too fixed and often doesn’t offer the best angle for those returning back through a level after having gone after extra collectibles
Designs of walls can often be misleading and look like another area to the level when in fact they’re not
Autosaves need to be more frequently included
All dialogue should be optional
Fights with Steels need to be more rewarding
Natural points to stop playing need to be made more obvious and level progression needs to more clearly signposted
Tutorials for Battle Mode

Final Analysis

The transition from the PSP to the PS3 has not been kind. While turning the game into a platformer makes sense, many of the choices in terms of camera, combat and saves can make moving through the world of the Invizimals a frustrating and uncomfortably drawn out process. The kinds of changes needed are, mostly, more than what patching can offer and I hope that if the series returns to a TV console in the current generation that these issues will be dealt with either by Magenta Software or someone else. I will not be returning to this iteration.