Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

Fate/Extra is a perfect illustration of 'wasted potential.' That's harsh, but that's the way it is. The game had some pretty cool ideas, but to make yet another harsh statement, I got so bored and I hated it so much, I can't face it anymore.

Presentation: The story is what's the story in the whole franchise - some Holy Grail war again. That's an OK story if you say it like that, but it tries to make a shrouded-in-mystery plot like in the Kingdom Hearts, fails miserably at doing this and the characters are thoroughly dislikable. It doesn't help that most of the dialogue is extremely annoying, and the characters love talking about 'jogging your memory' repeatedly. At least the menus are okay.

Gameplay: The battle system is great and had plenty of nice ideas (rock paper scissors players, get in here!), but exploration gets repetitive fast. The characters encourage you to do research before you fight, but it's not very fun.

Graphics: The outside environments are cool, especially after the war starts. But the part where two-thirds of the game takes place, a.k.a some kind of dungeon, is bland, dull and just a blue shade of nothingness. This makes exploration even harder because you can't tell from the environment where you are.

Sound: The music is okay, but the lack of voice acting, though not surprising for a PSP game of its genre, is pretty disappointing considering how annoying the dialogue is and the probability that voice acting might have made it faster, at least, it doesn't quite come off. The few snippets of voice (laughs) you do get are extremely annoying, so maybe it's better off without it.

Replay Value: It feels like a chore to play this game even one time through, and fans of the franchise might as well get Fate/Unlimited Codes because at least that game MOVED.

Presentation - 5
Gameplay - 8
Graphics - 5
Sound - 5
Replay Value - 3
Total Score - 5

Thanks for nothing for recommending this game, Phoenixgaiangel.