I’m always wary of playing a later game in a series when I have no knowledge of the storyline or previous games. However, Love Chronicles: Salvation allayed my fears early on – it is clearly a story that stands on its own while maintaining ties to characters from earlier games.
It was very easy to pick up with the prince and the evil witch Alura and catch up on the backstory. The intro cutscenes quickly draw you in to the latest chapter in Love Chronicles, as the prince returns home from many years of battling his enemy, Alura. As the prince approaches his homeland, he can see that Alura has begun to attack his own kingdom and he must stop her.
A visit to crazy old Lucio suggests the prince travel back in time to when Alura was very young and before she was taken over by darkness. If he can prevent the dark lord Zander from kidnapping Alura, maybe he can prevent her wicked ways from becoming reality.
The graphics in Love Chronicles: Salvation are crisp and clear and take you right into the ancient, magical time period. The music sets the tone of adventure without being overt or intrusive.
I was unimpressed by the voiceovers, however, which seemed like everyone was trying way too hard. From the opening of the game, the title is introduced with a loud, booming announcer’s voice that brought me right back to 1980's commercials for L. Ron Hubbard books.
Some of the characters are OK – the accents are a bit vague, but at least they are kept short and sweet. Once you meet Lucio and Alura’s mother though, it’s more of the same over dramatic poor voice acting from the introduction. It’s not enough to distract from the gameplay but it does encourage me to read the dialog quickly so I don’t have to listen!
As expected, Love Chronicles: Salvation contains many hidden object scenes throughout the course of play. Most of them are traditional lists of items with some objects that require interaction to uncover or pick up.
As a twist on an HOS, a follow up to one was to put away all of the random objects you just found. While I thought it was interesting, it was a little frustrating for me as I clearly don’t subscribe to the same methods of organization, so I had a hard time trying to figure out the developer’s logic for placing some items. Playing in casual mode, I could use the hint button to guide me in the right direction or use the strategy guide to find the answers.
I enjoyed most of the mini-games I encountered throughout Love Chronicles: Salvation. One of the early games features the prince battling Alura’s spells through an old-fashioned story-telling toy.
It was a simple and quick game but one I had not played before, and I really enjoyed the creativity. Others were fairly typical of turning objects until they are all lit, placing them in the right order and so forth.
Love Chronicles: Salvation was a fun and enjoyable game that I found more relaxing than challenging. The storyline is laid out well and quickly draws you into the battle between good and evil.
I am looking forward to going back in time to save Alura from Zander’s evil grasp and returning the prince’s kingdom to all its glory with maidens in waiting and minstrels. And maybe men in tights!