Yeah, so, remember when I was talking about how people recommend a game and tell you it’s the next level of awesome?  Mmhmm.  Yeah.  So I was talking about games with some friends over lunch and one of them asked “so, do you like turn based strategy games?”  I glared at him.  Now, to be fair, even real time strategy isn’t quite my thing, but sometimes one comes along that is interesting enough that you’ve got to try it.  But turn-based?  Give me a break.  Let’s go over the difference.

Ok, now it’s your turn.  Be gentle!

In Real-Time Strategy games (RTS for short), all of your actions are taking place at the same time as the opponent.  You know, like in war.  Think about combat: two warring troops are converging… both shoot at one another simultaneously.  Both are doing things at the same time.  Not so with Turn based strategy games.  Oh, no!  There’s some galactic accord we have.  Imagine WWII with the German’s coming in and… wait, let the allies move.  Good, now the Germans open fire.  Wait… wait.. ok, now we can fire back.  Thanks for being courteous.  I generally hate these.  But a good salesmen can make things sound good when in fact, they really aren’t.  Such is the case with Child of Light.

Now, to be fair, it’s a visually stunning work.  But it has another thing going against it too: it’s what I call a side-scroller, or a platformer.  You’re just moving left/right/up/down along a two dimensional landscape.  A beautiful one with some great music, but turn base strategy in a two-dimensional world?  What was I thinking?

I was probably thinking that the two guys who raved about this game in 2015, when I purchased it, had better taste.  Or more likely that our taste was similar.  Or I was thinking, “hey, it’s on sale for $5.  Why not!?”  ($5.09, if I’m honest!)  And ok, sure, for that price, it’s at least a gorgeous game.  But when I was fighting with some later-level monster, I decided I was done.  The courteous battle style just was tedious.  Swing, ah, you did 5 points of damage.  Enemies turn!  Swing, ah, it did 105 points of damage.  Well, this doesn’t bode well!

But look at that artwork?!

The thing is, the game does score very highly!  Steam gives it consistently very positive reviews.  Most of the game ratings put it at 9/10.  And it is lovely.  Say what I will about game play style, I cannot take away the beauty of the game!   Oh, I should tell you at least a bit about the story: you play as a little girl who is trying to defeat the Queen of Night who has stolen the sun, the moon and the stars.  Now, the one thing I keep asking myself is: once Roger and I start phase 4 of the Junkyard, when we mutually explore some of the Anime stuff he’s been interested in, will I gain a new appreciation for this game?  I think the artistic style is absolutely in line with anime!  I think the story is too. So will that excite me to go back and see what I’ve been missing?  Maybe.  I can’t say for sure.

Did I mention she could fly?

I haven’t played since April of 2015 and at that, only played about 5 hours.  I just thought that with all the positive reviews I give games, I had to provide honest feedback about a couple that I didn’t care for as much.  This is one of them.  I don’t foresee going back to it; there are too many games coming out that I still want to play, but who knows?  Maybe one of these days I’ll reinstall it and give it another try.  Actually what would be great is to get some feedback from others who have played it and loved it.  I think then I’d get a fair idea of how it stands up against other games.

This is the second game recommended by the same two guys who recommended Hand of Fate.  I think I’ve learned my lesson…  Oh, who am I kidding.  They do have taste and I’d hate to miss out.  $5 for 5 hours… not a terrible price tag, I guess.   ML