Game:

Class of Heroes (2008)

Duration: 51:21

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16

Mind Zero (stylized as MIND≒0) was, until not long ago, a Vita exclusive... which was one of the few reasons I could honestly think of to recommend this game to anyone other than die-hard JRPG enthusiasts, but due to its release on Steam, this game is much harder to recommend. Being a dungeon crawler jointly developed by Acquire (best known for their "Tenchu" and "Way of the Samurai" series) and ZeroDiv (creators of the "Class of Heroes" franchise), one probably shouldn't have very high expectations... Acquire's titles are interesting enough, but definitely not for everyone, and the "Class of Heroes" series can best be described as Wizardry/Etrian Odyssey lite... they're not bad games, but they're certainly not shining examples within the genre. Mind Zero combines various traits from both companies portfolios and mixes it up with characters that are more than "a little" inspired by Atlus' "Persona" series. The end result? A game that promises much but delivers little.

The game takes place in Saitama Prefecture of Japan, where police are fighting an outbreak of supposed drug users tripping off of "MIND", a type of psychedelic drug that makes people violent, super strong and free of inhibitions... the reality however is that an elite class of humans have entered contracts with (*blah*) and... well, I can't say too much without ruining the plot as it is very straight-forward, brief, redundant, and full of melodrama about halfway through where everything just turns into a "save the heroine, save the world" ordeal with angst-filled teenagers screaming each others' names and one remorseful adult who makes sure not to disclose pretty obvious information until near the end of the game, eliminating any build-up the story had initially... that, and it's just unrealistic (who becomes the best of friends after like two weeks regarding half the playable cast?) Combine this with a few curious translation mistakes, lop-sided gameplay, battles that drag on way longer than they should even with a speed-up command, enemies that swap colors or are recycled more than almost any JRPG on the market, (mostly) unrewarding AND sometimes brutal side-quests, an ending that clearly leaves the game open for a sequel but also leaves the game feeling unfinished, and you have the proper ingredients for a completely forgettable game. In fairness, the soundtrack is great, the English voice-overs are pretty good, and the illustrations (what very few there are) are nice, but that can't save this title and it could've learned a thing or two from games like "Class of Heroes".

The game's biggest issue is the combat. It's turn-based and reminiscent to Atlus' "Digital Devil Saga": basically, characters have alter-egos called "MINDs" who can do functions in battles that their human counterparts can't and have their own separate health, "MP" which depletes each turn and is consumed when using skills. This is all fine and good, and the game even incorporates "MIND-Resistant" enemies who are vulnerable to human attacks (which is very similar to enemies being weak to guns in DDS), but humans are so weak in this game that you'll never want to use them if you don't have to; the game makes this abundantly clear by healing your MIND after every battle, so humans are a last resort (though you can make fights easier if you know how to strategize, as MINDs can't use items). This system works well early on, but after a while, enemies get so much health that you can't speed-battle through all of them without stopping to make sure you don't get killed unless you are WAY over-level, which is unlikely as you level quite slowly... so battles draaaaag on, lacking the efficiency of some other Dungeon Crawlers (*Cough*Class of Heroes*Cough*). Speaking of leveling, characters who don't participate in battles level up MUCH slower than everyone else, and their level-up stats get dwarfed too, meaning if you wanted to use them late game, their stats would be horrible and not representative of if you used them actively. It's better than them not leveling at all I guess, but it's a terrible compromise. The game has other elements like touch-based segments which add nothing to the experience, weird dungeon layouts where you sometimes go down areas to go up them and vice-versa... portals, belts, bah.

I hate to be hard on this game as it had a few good ideas... the MIND system isn't bad in and of itself, the interface itself is at least simple and intuitive with easy to read maps and the ability to check the layout of all floors, and it IS aesthetically better than "Class of Heroes" in most respects, but I couldn't get through half the game without practically falling asleep. As crazy as it sounds however, I beat the game twice just to get all the trophies, but I will likely never touch it again. Anyway, that's my opinion; if you see it somewhere for cheap and you wanna try it, go for it, and thank Aksys Games while you're at it.