Review: Operation Abyss: Neo Tokyo Legacy (PS Vita)

January 5th, 2016 at 11:31 am -

Developed by Experience Inc, Operation Abyss: Neo Tokyo Legacy is a first-person dungeon crawler that pays homage to such classics as Wizardry and Dungeon Master. The story’s unnamed protagonist – a young high school student that attends Hinowa Academy – suddenly blacks out on his way home from school. As our would-be hero regains consciousness, he finds himself in a dark, murky room somewhere underground. And to make matters worse, he discovers the bloody remains of two human bodies.

Shortly after finding the corpses, a hooded mystery man and a young woman named Alice Mifune come to his rescue. Before escaping, Alice encounters a ‘Variant’; a powerful creature that cannot be defeated by a ‘normal’ person. After escaping to Hinowa Academy, the story further explains that the school is a front for Xth Squad; a government-funded military group that uses the academy to find ‘One-Code’ potentials to assist in eliminating Variants. Assisted by Kenichi Kanzaki (the deen of Hinowa Academy and the leader of Xth Squad) and Malice Mifune, the protagonist is employed to lead a group of potentials through a series of dungeons to hunt the monsters threatening Japan’s security.

Neo Tokyo Legacy begins with the player selecting either Basic or Classic as their in-game difficulty. Basic mode provides pre-rendered character portraits and slightly easier gameplay, while Classic mode offers character portrait customization (i.e. outfits, hair, mustaches, etc.) and more challenging gameplay. The player can also create new characters for their party from the ‘Command’ menu, which is only accessible from Hinowa Academy (more on this in a moment). This feature is available to the player regardless of the game mode chosen.

The Command Menu (which can only be accessed from Hinowa Academy) contains a variety of features that range from the ‘Development Lab’ to ‘Member Application’, to name just a few. The Development Lab – as the name implies – is a complex crafting system that enables the player to develop and dismantle weapons/items for their party. For example: selecting ‘Sub-disk from the ‘Crafting’ tab takes the player to a menu system where they can create equipment for a party member’s head, back, and legs, among other things. When source materials for crafting have been depleted, the Strip option can be used to breakdown junk weapons for additional material(s).

The Medical Lab happens to be the game’s most intriguing feature. Not only can it heal your party members and remove exhaustion (which can hinder performance), but it’s possible to enhance your party’s stats by using the Growth Surgery option. The procedure involves selecting a party member and investing GP (the game’s currency) to improve stats such as strength, wisdom and spirit, to name just a few. The more GP invested, the better the results. The player can also visit Kaito — the local therapist — to change a character’s personality. Basically, this feature evaluates your character’s past performance and then assigns a new personality based on the results. This does affect your party depending on the personality given.

The gameplay is seen from the first-person, as you explore the many different dungeons in search of Variants. The only issue with the dungeons is how similar they all look. The first few dungeons at the start of the game look similar to the ones explored much later in the story, reducing the game’s aesthetic quality. It’s not a game breaker by any stretch of the imagination, but some variety is expected when the majority of the game is spent inside dungeons. But then again, a game like this is more appreciated for its in-depth gameplay and flexible crafting system than its graphics.

Combat is turn-based and seen from the first-person. A menu system containing the abilities of each party member appears in a drop down menu on the left-hand side of the screen, and it can be easily navigated by using the left Analog Stick. The menu system in question contains the ability to attack, defend and run from battle, to name just a few. The game forgoes the sub-menu system(s) used in larger RPGs and replaces them with a clean, single scrolling GUI that contains every function needed for combat. What you’re given is a streamlined experience that helps combat flow with few interruptions.

Graphically, Operation Abyss: Neo Tokyo Legacy provides a mixed bag of visuals that range greatly in quality. The character and creature illustrations are some of the best ever seen in a JRPG. Unfortunately, the dungeons suffer from ropey, flat textures that make every hallway look the same. Even combat lacks the explosions and particle effects one would expect from a role-playing game, only to be replaced by small, pixelated explosions when a party member lands a blow (especially a spell caster). But lucky, Neo Tokyo Legacy is good enough to stand on its own, despite the graphical inconsistencies.

Operation Abyss: Neo Tokyo Legacy is a challenging, but fun DRPG that offers well over 60+ hours of gameplay. It may not be the best-looking game by developer Experience, but what it lacks in graphics it makes up for in character development, content, and gameplay. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Mike Pittaro
Platform: PS Vita
Developer: Experience Inc.
Publisher: NIS America
ESRB: M (Mature)
Price: $39.99

Operation Abyss: Neo Tokyo Legacy Official Website:
http://www.nisamerica.com/games/operation-abyss