Overall score on pook's 100-point system (TM): 75 or 8 (see below). A solid but short game, improving in most every way except length over it's predecessor.
-the breakdown-
Graphics (22/30, judged by era): Another game that you know was probably begun as a Dreamcast game then ported over. That about describes it. The framerate is constant and high, but the games doesn't push the Gamecube much. There is a nice variety in creatures, and environments. The sparse FMV is utilitarian, but the hand-drawn still art is pretty bad. This said, LK2 is definitely an improvement in every way over the first game. The camera has been changed to be more Zelda-like and it results in a better game overall (you can usually still back it out if you preferred the first game's camera), and textures/models are largely better done. Still, though still Dreamcast-like, I'll say it's late-Dreamcast-era.
Sound- FX/Voice (4/10): Well done sound effects, and some leftover Japanese grunts. No voice-acting, thankfully. Overall there just isn't a lot of wow-inducing FX, and what's there isn't necessary to the game, it's just audio decoration. You can play this one with the volume turned down for the most part. While this score should be the same as last time, the fact that they added voice acting in this game and that it's bad voice acting makes this a step back overall, even if they tried to do more.
Sound- Music (7/10): A nice variety of music. Most levels have unique music, along with other tracks used throughout the game. The music is a cross between Diablo and Zelda, synthesized and pleasant, occasionally just a little off-kilter. The battle music could've used some variants, which is my main complaint with the music, also there are a couple of tracks that are reused from the first game.
Gameplay Length/Lastability/Replay (15/15): About 12 hours to get through it, after which you can replay levels in an attempt to fill out your card collection and explore missed areas. This will get you another 1-2 hours as long as you're not a "Get a perfect on everything" kind of player. Also a "trials" mode was added to the 1-player game which is a great way of getting new cards, but unfortunately was barely implemented at all, and thus ends up being not very interesting beyond an hour or two. Even a very basic randomly-generating system of levels would've made this portion of the game much more fulfilling. Beyond this is a 2-player duel mode, which requires a roommate or sibling to play with. I didn't try it but I imagine it'd be good for at least another hour or two. Considering the price this game currently goes for, and potential multiplayer mayhem, this is plenty lengthy.
Gameplay- Story: (3/5) A typical fantasy story, one that's somewhat better told than the first one, with decent amounts of in-game text, particularly in the card stats. Generally well-translated.
Gameplay- Game Design (24/30)- Any fan of Action RPGs and card games like Magic: The Gathering owe it to themselves to pick this game up. The card system is quite well-done, both in terms of variety (relative to the length of the game) and in terms of flexibility. Gone is the sub-field battling in favor of real-time fighting in the level itself. This is a big change and a welcome one. Your character is defenseless but you can cast cards out of a hand of 4 at a time from a deck of 30. These either attack directly or create creatures who attack for you, or perhaps heal you, restore spent cards, etc.. A new format of card turns you into a creature with various abilities. You can use these to fight, or to explore areas you can't reach other wise. Think Majora's Mask and you've got it. If you run out of cards you used to need to restart your mission. You don't have to now, but you may as well because the method you'll use to recharge them otherwise is tedious. Cards are found all over and can be earned in-battle if you're clever. As time goes on, early cards seem weak. Well, with each card having its own experience point total, you can transform cards into other cards and can duplicate cards you like but don't have enough of. The 30-card deck is large enough to allow for strategy in deck-building while being small enough to make resource management tough. It takes a little bit to get used to the various things you can do (discard cards from your "hand", knowing you haven't "spent" them and can have access to them still, etc.), and is a lot of fun. Gripes would be that the game needed more levels (there are plenty but they play through somewhat quickly). A nice addition was a broader selection of cards to find. Unfortunately, playing through the 1-player game to the end including optional quests will only net you a little over ½ the available cards. Since there's little replay afterwards, the other ½ you didn't get are sadly never going to be seen since you won't have motivation to search them out, and some can't be gotten outside of specific circumstances (capturing a boss that doesn't reappear later, for instance).
**Final Thoughts- Magic and Action RPG fans really need to pick this game up, cheap as it is. It's quite a unique title.
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