Posted August 1, 2013 by Jannsen Agustin in Gaming

Dust: An Elysian Tail Review

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Do you still remember the day when you play your platformers? for example, Mario Brothers, Contra, Island Adventure and the likes. If not, how about Megaman Series? Back then it was the pinnacle of gaming until 3D games arrived. More often than not, players nowadays would prefer 3D games over those platformers. But mind you readers, there are still great platformer games around some of which are, Mark of the Ninja, Castle Crashers and Dust: An Elysian Tale just to name a few.

Today, I’m gonna be reviewing the game called Dust: An Elysian Tale from Microsoft Studios. By the way this is the Steam version which has been released last May of 2013, the earlier version was released in Xbox Live around August of 2012, this is still pretty much new game. This particular game’s strength is the artwork in it, you can see a very beautiful hand painted backgrounds and characters. I have played so many games and I won’t lie to myself that this game can compare to paintings. Aside from its very gorgeous art, there is also the story that will suck you in the game combined with its masterful voice over. I can’t believe that platformers these days are so well made will keep you playing for hours! This game is a must play! don’t think twice. Buy it and play the game!

Graphics
At first, when you get to see Dust, you will only think of it as a cartoony, anime-like drawing that you can control. When I played the game first, honestly I didn’t liked it, but when I am about 10% of the game, I came to realize that the artwork is superb, very colorful, soothing and painting-like trait in it. You can see pastel colors which blends well with the anime style of the game. What surprised me is that when you are moving, the background moves as well. It is soothing in the eye while playing this game.

Sound
The sound style of this game is very much like theatrical that while playing you wont ever consider the sound of this game annoying or loud. It is pleasing in the ears to hear the background music. The voice over is another thing that should be taken into credit. The voice over in this game is very good in fact it can compare to those AAA games out there! The overall experience in sound of Dust is well in fact can be outstanding than most games.

Gameplay
The gameplay of dust is not new to us gamers, this has been around during the time of Mario. But Dust tries to revive those kind of games and let gamers know that there are still much life left for these type of games. The main mechanic of the game is its Combo system, in which you press keys numerous times and try to connect it with other attacks. The combo system is easy to learn but very hard to master. Another thing is that Dust is mainly open world in which you explore areas and you can go back anytime you want. When you finish an area and defeat all monsters you advance to the next area, but when you come back, you will see that the monsters you defeated respawned again. Each area has its own theme so players will have different experience when entering a different stage. Another thing that surprised me is that when opening chests, it has a mini game in which you press a certain button in sequence so that you can open it of course that is if you have a treasure key. Also, there are merchants scattered in different areas in which you can buy items, armors, recipes for blueprints and of course food (HP). Speaking of which, Dust have the itemization system where he can equip upgrades like armors, necklaces and rings to strengthen him.
Conclusion
Dust is a game players should NOT pass on. This calls to hardcore gamers as well, the solid story and gameplay experience this game provides is exceptional that even the so called hardcore gamers will enjoy playing this game. This is one of the games that reminded me why I loved gaming. Play this game! DO NOT PASS ON IT!