Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A Review

August 3, 2008 - Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A – Nintendo DS Review

Game: Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A
System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Game Factory
Developer: Neko Entertainment

Players: 1-2 (2 using the DS’s multi-card play feature)

Code Lyoko is a French animated series that is broadcast here in the US on Cartoon Network. Six months ago, in the middle of it’s forth and final season, Cartoon Network decided to put the show on indefinite hiatus. While fans eagerly await the return of their five favorite boarding school students, Neko Entertainment has developed Code Lyoko: Fall Of X.A.N.A for the Nintendo DS.

If you have never heard of X.A.N.A, William, or any of the other main characters of the show then this game is not for you at all. The game does a down right awful job at providing any back story whatsoever. As soon as you turn the game on you are plopped into a screen with a few characters on it and you are left to fumble around the screens trying to find out what to do. It took me a few trips back and forth the two screens talking to people who had nothing useful to say before I figured out what to do.

Graphics
The show depicts Lyoko, the virtual world that the main characters travel to to fight evil, as a huge 3D world full of interesting stuff and nice scenery. The game however is very disappointing when it comes to Lyoko, as it has transformed from the huge pretty world of the show to a very dull and bland environment where everything looks the same. While walking around Lyoko, the characters appear as small, pencil legged chibis and that really clashes with what they really are, cool kids with badass superpowers. But, once you get into the battle sequences the game switches to the same 3D style of the show, which fans will enjoy to see.

The so called “real world” the characters live at when they aren’t in the virtual world of Lyoko has the classic 2D type areas that you cycle through to talk to various people and interact with various objects. You see this kinds of style in a lot of DS games such as Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, and while it works it isn’t very interesting or breathtaking. There are some anime styled videos when the characters get “virtualized,” which is the process of entering Lyoko, and while these videos can be nice to look at, they don’t really add much to the experience and you’ll find yourself just skipping them most of the time.

Sound
The sound in this game might be the only part of it that is above average. The sound effects are done very well, the sounds of the attacks sound nice as you’ll hear the swiping of the fans and swinging as the swords when you attack for foes. The game also has computer like blips and bloops in the menus which gives off the feel of the virtual computer world.

The music of the game is also done rather nicely. Throughout the game, you’ll hear the Code Lyoko theme song which is a nice touch and it sounds good. The other music, such as the battle music, is also rather good. There is no voice acting and all the spoken words are done by text boxes on the top of the screen.

Gameplay
You control your characters with the stylus as they walk about the world of Lyoko. There really isn’t much to say about that as it is very simplistic seeing as all you do is just hold the stylus in the direction you want them to walk and they’ll just keep going until you move it someplace else.

The real focus of the game is the battle sequences. The game uses the same turn based battle style that we have all seen before a thousand times. You pick an attack, pick who you want it to attack, and watch them attack nothing special or exciting there. After you complete your attack you have to wait for the status bar to refill, and depending on the attack it has two speeds: slow and slower. The more powerful the attack the slower the bar refills, but no matter what attack you pick the bar takes a lengthy amount of time to refill. Only one character can attack at a time, no matter what enemy you are attacking. The combination of these two things make the battles rather slow paced and dull. The games tries to keep things interesting by at times adding random mini-games to determine your attack strength. These games range between tapping as many small circles as you can before you attack, and holding your stylus down on the middle of a circle until it reaches maximum capacity without going over. The mini-games may take a few tries to get used to, but once you do get used to them they just feel like cheap gimmicks the developers threw in there to keep things fresh.

Overall
Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A doesn’t do anything really terrible, but it also doesn’t do anything really good. It’s a lengthy game, but for this game that is a double edged sword. Sure, it’s long and it might take a while for you to beat, but the lack of story will make anyone that doesn’t know much about the show lost and they will start to lose interest like I did. Save spots are spread out nicely throughout the game which makes it easy to play in short bursts if you are pressed for time or get bored. Die hard Lyoko fans might find enjoyment out of this game while they wait for the show to come back on Cartoon Network. For people who haven’t watched the show before and want to play this game, I’d recommend watching some episodes of the show or read up about it on Wikipedia, but the game is just too average to waste your time on the research so you’d be better off just passing on it and playing a better game.

Graphics: 4.5
Sound: 6.5
Design: 5.0
Replayability: 2.0
Enjoyment: 4.5
Overall: 5.0

Pros:
It’s not terrible
The sound is nice

Cons:
People who aren’t fans won’t get the story
It’s nothing special

Related Articles
Playstation Network Now on Amazon.com
Amazon.com is expanding by encompassing the Playstation Network! "Digital access works on a code redemption system. If you purchase PlayStation Network content through Amazon.com, you will..

Tekken 6 Coming Fall 2009
NAMCO BANDAI Games, today announced that it’s highly anticipated fighting title, Tekken 6, is scheduled to be released worldwide in Fall 2009 for the Xbox..

Call of Duty: World at War – Beta Key Giveaway (Closed)
We have teamed up with Activision to bring you this beta giveaway and for a chance to win a code all you need to do..

Xbox Live Activity
Major Nelson just twitted about last weeks Xbox Live activity... and to say the results are shocking would be a blatant lie. The top played games..

Playr Returns To Uk Screens Today
Good news! After a couple of months absence, Playr the TV show about games, returns to UK screens today at a new home on Film..