One thing that surprised me about The Wand of Wishing was how detailed the item and magic system is. There are all kinds of different items you can buy and find throughout your adventure, including a few pieces that are character-specific. And that's not it; your Petpet can even align itself with one of six elements -- air, dark, earth, fire, light, and water. By focusing on your chosen element you can create new spells that you would not otherwise be available. If you are crafty you can even use these elements to your advantage in battle, helping to shield your little guy from certain kinds of attacks.
The game also packs in quite a few weapons to work with, as well as shields and other kinds of armor to pick through. If you give the game enough time you can really make a little friend you want to go out and adventure with. If it weren't for the sluggish combat controls and vague quests this might be the type of game young adventure gamers everywhere could get into.
The graphics in The Wand of Wishing are hardly the best on the PSP; they have a cute, but oddly dated look that is hard to get excited about. Some of the enemies are fun to look at and that smile on my Pet is infectious, but the textures are so simple and the look feels several years old. Also, many of the dungeons have very narrow hallways, which can sometimes make it difficult to see everything (even when turn the camera around). It's not that the visuals look bad; they just won't do much for you.
The audio, on the other hand, is awful. The music isn't terrible; it's the sugar-sweet mix of tunes you would expect from a cute game like this. But the fact that there's no real talking will drive some gamers up the wall. Instead you read text while various Pets speak in their language of mumbling. Kids might find this animal language cute and funny, but I couldn't wait to get out of Petaria just so I would never have to hear that annoying chatter again.
Neopets Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing was never aimed at me or my age group, but that doesn't excuse the fact that this is a hopelessly broken adventure game. This game has a few of the key elements in place -- item and magic system -- but fails at most of the most important aspects. There's room in this world for a cute hack 'n slash adventure game, but the game still has to be entertaining. As it is I can't imagine The Wand of Wishing inspiring too many younger gamers to play other better action RPGs.
D-
Neopets tries to be the cute alternative to your basic dungeon hack, but thanks to some questionable development choices, a sluggish combat system and some truly boring level designs, it's a hard game to recommend to anybody!
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