Generic Story
When it comes to RPGs, there isn’t anything more important than the story. Sadly this is another area that Gungnir gets wrong. Simply put, the story is your typical small oppressed group fighting against their oppressor, which is pretty common for the genre. Sure there is some unique flare, but it is vastly overshadowed by the awful presentation.
This is because the story is presented in such a boring way. For instance the game lacks voice acting, so you have to read every line of dialog. This quickly becomes a daunting task, as the story starts slow and takes a while to get interesting. Additionally the story has awful pacing, which is sadly due to a design choice.
Linear
When it comes to progression in Gungnir, it’s a linear experience. This is because the game boils down to three distinct phases. The first phase is story, which continues till you’re thrown into battle. The next phase will last till you win the battle or at least accomplish whatever the goal is. After this you will end up in a town, but it’s a glorified menu. In the town you can buy/create weapons, pay for support or progress onward. As you might have guessed, this results in no side quests, no exploration (or movement), no side conversations and forces you to constantly deal with the story. As mentioned earlier, this forces you to constantly deal with the story and causes it to drag on.
Verdict
Despite the flaws, Gungnir will appeal to hardcore fans. The combat is fun once you get used to it, but it just takes forever to do something. Sadly the story drags for quite a while, though you’re free to skip it at any point and time. In the end if you have nothing to do and don’t mind the slow combat, then it might be worth your time. However if you think they will annoy you, just skip out on this one.
[Editor’s Note: Gungnir was reviewed on the PSP platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
