Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: PS4, Switch
Tested on: PS4
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers – Review
NIS America is known to support a big range of developers that often create very quirky RPG games. The publisher doesn’t shy away to release games that revolve around very busty heroines or games that have odd storylines and themes. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw early footage of Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers, which reminded us of a spruced up Jimmy Neutron adventure, rather than NIS America’s usual releases. The game proved to be a bite-sized delight with a few overlookable flaws.
Story
We are thrown in the town of Clocknee and in the shoes of ten-year-old Sherry. Sherry is an adventurous girl, but for now, she is waiting for her family to be reunited, as her father will return from work after a six-month excursion. Sadly, there’s some rain on her parade as it seems he is either running late or is becoming a no-show, as he is nowhere to be seen. While Sherry is down in the dumps, her mother suggests going to the fireworks as it’s December 31st of 1999, meaning the new millennium is right at the doorstep. When all of a sudden time stops and most of the inhabitants of Clocknee stop moving and look like lifelike statues, Sherry knows things aren’t as they should be. When she finds herself being chased by rampaging machines that have come to life, it seems there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. Back at her home she discovers her father’s secret lab and his robot, Isaac, who has the directive to protect Sherry. Together with her childhood friend, the cowardly Pegreo, they embark on an adventure to fix the flow of time, which ends up in the party traveling through time to save the world.
The story progresses steadily as you complete battles and reach your waypoints. The game has sufficient short dialogues that give you enough information on what is going on. The lighthearted and original story is very attractive for a diverse audience. It would have been nice if the story presentation involved proper voice acting.
Graphics
The character models in Destiny Connect are extremely adorable. The entire game is more reminiscent of a high-quality Nickelodeon cartoon rather than a typical NIS America RPG. The publisher often represents games that choose a rather specific (big-breasted) anime style which makes this game come as a surprise. While the enemy models are somewhat limited in nature, as they get recycled by the usage of different colors representing stronger models, they fit right in. The only few remarks we have are that the environments are somewhat desolate and empty and the emotions of the characters don’t always convey what is going on. More than once we saw Sherry’s face return to her usual grinning self, when she was supposed to be in a state of panic.
Sound
The sound design might be the game’s biggest letdown. The music is fairly standard and accompanies all the actions of the game, but it is highly repetitive and not that pleasant to hear the same tunes over and over again. The story of the game is very interesting and original, but it doesn’t properly come to life as the game has no voice acting at all. You don’t even hear your characters shout or grunt during combat, making it somewhat dull in the sound department. This game could have been an amazing experience if the developers did a bit of effort to spruce up the soundtrack and add some voice acting.
Gameplay
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers is a very easygoing and basic RPG experience that is suited for all ages. The game will have you running around in Clocknee in different eras and areas to prevent the robots from taking over. You must find a harmonious way to live together with your mechanical creations, but first, you must fix the flow of time in order to save the town. You’ll go from one part of the town to another, all while constantly battling mechanical beings in a turn-based format. You’ll see the enemies running around on the map, allowing you to avoid combat or to simply plan your approach.
Tick-Tock Travelers’ controls are somewhat clumsy and unresponsive. While the game itself works decently, running around sometimes feels like maneuvering a bus, with extremely awkward camera angles. You can surprise the enemies by attacking them from their backside, but actually pinpointing your approach is a different story. Sometimes the back-attack doesn’t register properly, even when you’re almost that deep in the enemy’s backside that he can almost regurgitate your party members.
The game can be considered as fairly easy. The difficulty never really gets too high and if you spend some time leveling early on, the game will be a breeze for many of the battles. When getting new party members, they will immediately be at the same level as your other party members and every character will also receive the same amount of experience. This means that your party will always stay at the same level, which makes it easier to try out the other characters to spice up your party. Of course, as Isaac is the ‘heart’ of your party, he has to remain in your active party from start to finish. This is also due to the many roles Isaac can take, as later in the game he can transform into multiple forms, each with different skill-sets. The game allows for every skill to be upgraded, and gear to be equipped. The gear system is very simplistic, but it suffices. Isaac himself has different passive upgrades for which you’ll have to equip gears in his specific transformation skill-tree. This means you’ll have to spend some cash and have to collect some gears in order to upgrade everything.
Conclusion
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers is a fun bite-sized RPG adventure game with a fun storyline and cute characters. While this game may be recommended for younger RPG fans or those who shy away from the typical Anime-esque titles, it’s also suitable for an audience that lacks the time to finish lengthy RPG titles as this one is very manageable to finish. We tried the PlayStation 4 version, but we can see why this title is also great for the Switch, as it allows on-the-fly saving and many of the story segments are rather short. We believe this title is somewhat of an unpolished gem in the genre, but one that will never fully shine through due to the lack of some design features and its overall sound quality, which lacks voice acting. Nonetheless, the story, the characters, and the short but sweet length allow for a very fun experience.
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