by Jay "THE FLEA" Wade
There's a new RPG maker in town and they call them self Crave. Their first RPG is Jade Cocoon. You play a young Cocoon master named Levant who must stop the evil demons from destroying their world. In his quest he must he not only has to kill the evil demons but also can capture them and use them as allies. You can take the captured creatures to your wife "Mahbu" and have her merge them into new more powerful creatures or spin their cocoon into silk for money. This is the best part of this game. The combinations are unlimited. Then you can take the creature you created and do battle with other demons you come across in your quest.
In this RPG, unlike most where you earn money and experience points from killing the bad guys. In Jade Cocoon this based on the creatures you capture.
The graphics are done vary well. Mostly polygon with a little bit of animation.
The look of this RPG isn't like most, instead of a medieval or/& sci-fi look, Jade Cocoon almost has a Indian decor with a magical touch. Jade Cocoon also has live actors voice overs when you speak to characters. Although it's not the best voice acting, it's better then Mega Man Legends or Brave Fencer.
Like most RPG's it offers a basic story line of saving your people from destruction.
(In this case a Curse) My only real complaint is the control, It takes some getting used to and even then it gets confusing when your trying to avoid an object.
Another complaint is our hero, he really has no personality and barely ever talks. I find Mahbu more interesting then the main character. I find myself wanting to play as his wife more then the main hero. But so far I haven't found that possible.
Overall Jade Cocoon is worth trying for you RPG fans, if nothing else for the creature capture and merge feature. Especially if you were disappointed with Guardian Crusade.
PUBLISHER: CRAVE
GRAPHICS: 9 SOUND & MUSIC: 7.5 CONTROL: 6.5
SECRETS: 8 ORIGINALITY: 9 FUN & REPLAY: 9
OVERALL: 8.5