In this PS3 dungeon crawl RPG, you play as a high school boy who has never won a lottery, prize, or contest in his life. But one day he plays a mysterious street lottery game and wins the ultimate prize: the chance to be a god. Assisted by angels dressed as maids and butlers, now this boy must use a mysterious machine to venture into maze dungeons and defeat monsters in order to answer people’s prayers. Some of the people you’ll be answering prayers from include storybook characters like Cinderella, or a meek zombie. Along the way you may even uncover an evil plot brimming secretly among certain angels and other beings. Yeah it’s as strange as it sounds.

The meat of the gameplay is typical of most dungeon crawl RPGs. Wander around mazes, trying to find the next floor. Scour the levels for useful items, but watch out for enemies. Bad guys will move when you do, and when you must fight, you’ll take turns trading blows. You can equip weapons that give you special attacks, request assist magic from your angel maid companion, and even pick up and throw objects at enemies. But be careful. Each action requires energy, so make sure you carry enough items to keep yourself healthy and in the game. At the end, you’ll usually fight a boss which will require you to power up and use godly powers to defeat it. In between dungeons you can buy items and equipment, power up your weapons, and place icons on a grid to increase your stats.

One of the main problems I had with this game is that there is WAY too much dialogue. In between each floor, you’ll have to sit through at least five minutes of story, and even more after completing a dungeon. It really bogs the game down. But if you enjoy dungeon crawl RPGs like the Mystery Dungeon series, and don’t mind anime stereotypes with way too much story, then you might enjoy this one anyway.

Kid Factor:

The Guided Fate Paradox is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence, Language, and Suggestive Themes. Violence is really only minimal. Enemies just disappear when defeated, and most of the time it doesn’t even look like you hit them when you fight. However, language and suggestive themes run rampant in this game, so if you let your teen play it, I would recommend that they need to be older and mature enough. Plus, families with strong religious beliefs may not like some of the themes in the storyline, since you are a god and all. I’m a Christian, and even though I’m fairly easy going about this kind of stuff, even I thought some of the parts in the game were a bit off-putting. Plus, the complexity and difficulty of the game make it best for older players anyway.

Tags: Game Reviews