Customer Reviews

Certainly a very unique title with endless opportunities!
There is a lot of activity on the net about this title--but I've been waiting to see what it gets here on amazon. Guess I got a little too tired to wait--so I went out and bought it myself.

The graphics are very good and certainly engaging. The music is pretty good but, surprisingly, I wasn't wowed by it. The gameplay is very unqiue--I've never seen anything like it! While I think this game plays more like Legend of Zelda than Chrono Trigger or FF I actually would encourage more people to pick up this little gem even if you are not traditionally a player of RPG---if you like Zelda type puzzle/action games you should check this game out!

It's hard to really describe well the gameplay. Basically you have things like recipes and you "scan" objects with a book--and each object (could be character, weapon, flower, etc) is made up of different codes. How you work with those codes and re arrange them is what this game is all about. The story is o.k.-- a bit different. The fun comes in figuring out the codes for certain things. For example one of the beginning enemies (Mul) can be scanned and has codes. I replaced one of its codes with a code for ILL and that made the enemies easier to defeat. It also works the other way--early on there is an animal you need to "save" so you need to find specific codes to heal the animal.

Dungeon's are a mix of puzzle and hack and slash--with strategy thrown in at times. They were a little repetitive for me but again it's a dungeon--the fun is in beating up enemies and solving puzzles--regardless of whether they all look similar or not.

I will say this game REALLY needed a guide to go with it. And that's the downside for me. Although I'm sure some children could play this I really think it might be too complicated for the younger crowd. Exploration can be very tedious and some points are hard to find. As many other reviewers have pointed out the book itself needed a search feature. I'm not even 1/2 way through and it is a pain to constantly have to go through the book to find the code you want--again why I don't think I'd recommend this for young children. I am sure I'll probably come up with some level of organization for the codes but I would have preferred that this already exist as it really makes a difference.

To some degree I think Avalon Code would appeal most to fans of Zelda or other puzzle/adventure type games rather than those who go for old school JRPG (which this is clearly not!). Although I am enjoying it I must admit to finding it very frustrating in places--but what I prefer in my games is a bit more straight forwardness. I like RPG's where I can level up and use weapons and buy new weapons and equiptment and so on. A la Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest or even tactical's like Luminous Arc.

Overall though this is a very clever unqiue title. And there's the beauty---we all seem to want some level of innovation in our games--give us something new, something fresh, something that makes us think and challenges us. Avalon Code delivers on this in spades. I would have given it a solid 5 stars IF the Book of Prophecy had a search feature or you were able to hold more code,if it didn't cost MP to swap codes, and if there were more in game tutorials or other help as it can get pretty complicated. I think this holds it back from being a contender for best new game (like TWEWY last year). However, if you want something new, fresh, innovative and unique--Avalon Code is your game!

Annoyances Abound in the Game
Major Annoyances I found in the game
(1) Fire Fairy that pops up on your screen saying that he would explain stuff, when in fact, most of the time, you are left to flipping the book yourself to find out about things. Also, the book has WAAAY too many pages.
(2) There is hardly any tutorial at all, even before you found out that the book explained how to move. I died at the very first enemy. Lame...
(3) Lack of Healing items for HP and MP. There is hardly any HP healing items and HP healing depends on MP which you don't have any healing items for either. And messing with the codes uses up MP (which you need to heal yourself with). There are so many times which I died simply because there was no way to heal myself and monsters respawn too fast and have too much HP.
(4) It is not obvious how much HP and MP you have left. The leafy vines that represent them are too vague. You have to click many times on the book in order to find out how close you are to dying.
(5) Getting lost in endless screens of similar maps. There is no clear direction on where you need to go and most of the time, you are wandering aimlessly on maps with monsters waiting to kill you.
(6) Codes were a novelty at first, but after the first hour or so, it gets annoying when you run out of space to put them. And messing around with them costs MP which you don't have.
(7) Puzzles are annoying after a while. How many times do I have to hit switches? (Even in the sword training room, I had to hit switches. What has sword training got to do with switches?) At least for Zelda, the switches are placed in strategic spots. For this, it is just hit this switch and hit that switch...over and over again.

Overall, I found this game to be tedious. I wanted to stop playing after about 4 hours. Which was a pity, as it was generally the sort of game I would have liked. Give it a go if you are really free, but I would recommend renting it first.

Not bad, although flawed
Most of the complaints you'll hear about this game are valid. The Book of Prophecy, while certainly a great concept, becomes tedious when you have to look through hundreds of pages to find a single code. The game spends a good chunk of its first part teaching you to use it, making for one extremely long, drawn-out tutorial that still manages to miss certain things, like how to use codes to hit colored switches. The lack of hit points means you'll die a lot, although you barely lose anything when you die, making it little more than an annoyance. The writing is a bit stilted and lacking; early in the game, a woman traps you in her basement, and after you escape, if you return to talk to her... nothing happens. Your character just ignores the whole attempted imprisonment thing. While each small area has its own map, the lack of a larger map to unify them makes navigation difficult. The fact that there are little things hidden in the maps, like plants or small creatures, is a nice addition, but searching for those little tidbits can be infuriating.

These are all relatively flaws, and they chip away at what would otherwise be an excellent game. Avalon Code's ability to mess with the fabric of reality, while not as cool as it sounds, really comes into force when customizing weapons, items, and enemies. Yes, that's right; if your enemy has too many hitpoints, chances are he has a Stone or Iron code you can remove to make him weaker. Also, the Book of Prophecy is used to give almost everything backstory and flavor text, making the game feel really open and alive in your hands. The level of control you have, given the limits of the medium, is pretty cool. I'd say I had more fun exploring, filling up the book, and messing with codes to create new items than I did with the game's actual plot. Rather than rehashing or retreading old ground, Avalon Code presents this as its core concept, and comes out the stronger for it.

Avalon Code is a good game, although bogged down by minor issues that keep it from being a great game. Hopefully, these could be fixed in a sequel someday, but until then, this is a nice little gem of a game that I'd say is worth picking up.