Childrens Toyshop
Welcome to The Childrens Toyshop, here you will find all the latest and traditional toys in our toyshop. You can search and locate the best selling Toys Games & Puzzles to purchase online and have delivered to the door. We have a large selection of Video Games with reviews.
Back to Home Page > Go back a page
Video Games : Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360)
1 2 3
Rating: 
- Beautiful and Charming
Eternal Sonata is a strange premise, you play a game (a JRPG) about polish composer Frédéric Chopin. It might all seem strange and quirky, well thats exactly what Eternal Sonata is. If you enjoy JRPG's you are going to absolutely love this to bits. Its beautiful to look at... I mean jaw droppingly pretty. This game will really show off the capabilities of your 360 and your HDTV with rich clean colours and animations.
The game itself plays like any normal JRPG, play as a team of oddly dressed characters all complete with funny hairstyles to save the world from an evil force. The true differences lie in the little touches I don't want to spoil it for anyone but lets just say this game has dramatic if a little obvious twists. The way the game plays is also similar to other JRPGS... Turn based(ish) hack, slash and magic your enemy to death. it introduces a clever light and dark system which adds a layer to the combat, on top of this you have your timer which kicks in as soon as you take a step and later on in the game as soon as your turn starts. As you progress through the game you will probably find that you way out level your enemies. Fights are still fun none the less. You have a whole array of wicked cool magic attacks and specials to your disposal, all look amazing and are wonderfully eccentric. The game also has a few other nice touches in combat that help part it from the competition it's nothing revolutionary but its nice.
This game does stumble a few times unfortunately and they are some pretty big hurdles too. The entire quest should not take you more than 20 hours, while lengthy by most game standards this is relatively short for a JRPG (not including the weak attempt at getting you to play the game through twice) Also the story while interesting and a little kitsch, its extremely predictable and linear, so those looking for something to get lost in may find this is not the game for them. The game also features a lot of cutscenes some of which teach you about Chopin's life and music, it's a nice idea but its dull and breaks the games pace up.
Even with it's shortcomings, Eternal Sonata is a shining gem of a title, and something the 360 sorely needed, if you like JRPG's that don't take themselves too seriously or if your just looking for something pretty to stare at, look no further.
Rating:
- Dull and repetative
I bought this game off Amazon based on the above average customer review (4 stars)and low price. I like the odd RPG game and thought this would be a good time filler until something better came along. Well, it certainly is a time filler but for all the wrong reasons.
The basis of the game is that you are living out the last dream of composer Chopin. A rather original storyline but don't get too excited as it goes down hill from there. The game play is structured in a similar way to the final fantasy series where it is split into combat mode and travel/exploring mode. The travelling mode lets you move your character through some fairly attractive 3D surrounding. Unfortunately, these environments are largely un-interactive with the exception of a few items (ropes, ladders etc) that you can activate by pressing the A button. The areas themselves are fairly limited offering only a single route from start to finish. Some have fairly basic puzzle elements but are still linear in nature.
Anyway, the combat mode surely makes up for the travelling. After all, battling monsters and evil doers is what these games are all about eh? The battles are normally started by walking into an enemy whilst travelling. The screen changes to an arena mode where up to three of your team-mates, chosen before hand, face up to three enemies at a time. However, unlike other similar RPGs of this ilk the attacks take place in a kind of quasi-real-time. Each character attacks in turn, based on there speed rating, and can either perform normal attacks, use and item, perform a special/magic attack or a combination of the above in the allotted time (this starts at 5 seconds and reduces as you progress through the game). Initially, this make for a more exciting experience than just selecting something from a list and watch your character perform it. After the 100th battle though you realise how repetitive this action is. Although you can use any combination of attacks/actions there is a particular formula that you will work out after a while that wins 99% of all battles. About a quarter of the way through the game I found myself yearning for the old school "select an attack and watch" system.
Still, even with those complaints this would still be a 3 star game but for one thing. The cut scenes. Oh....my....god.... Eternal Sonata has probably the longest cut scenes I have seen in any game. My controller turned itself off twice during one. The cut scenes could maybe be forgivable if the voice acting and script wasn't so poor, but they are. Proper stinkers too.
This game will be gracing the bargain bins soon and probably end up being reviewed by the angry Xbox nerd in twenty years time on youtube. So do yourself a favour and avoid it unless you have a broken leg and need a game that will fill several pointless hours of your life.
Rating:
- The best RPG on the Xbox 360 since Oblivion!
I will admit to not being the biggest JRPG fan, having never seen a Final Fantasy game through to it's conclusion, but I know what I like, and I loved Eternal Sonata, so much so that it made me actively seek out other Japanese RPG's for more of the same.
Everything about this game is a hit; the visuals are simply gorgeous, the whole game is wonderfully imaginative, the combat is fully engaging and fun, the story is an absolute delight, and despite a linear storyline there are still plenty to be done in this rich and beautiful game. It's definitely a game with replay value and it's a game that's an immense amount of fun to play.
I got through the game in about 24 hours in total, which admittedly is a little short, especially considering that Lost Odyssey, the most recent Xbox 360 JRPG is 60 hours long, but I'd say I fully enyoyed at least 22 of them. I definitely intend to play it again just because it's such a wonderful experience. You will be sitting through some rather long cutscenes, and the story does get rather preachy, but these minor problems did nothing to dent my utter enjoyment of this game.
Considering that I got this game for less than £20 from good ol' Amazon, in retrospect if I had known how good it was I would have gladly paid £40, and at £15 you would be hard pressed to find a better game. Every Xbox owner who enjoys a good colourful game with some real nice combat has no excuse for not buying this simply amazing game. 9/10 (rounded up to 5 rather than down to 4)
Rating: - Strange
I am a big fan of RPG's and it's a good thing that Microsoft are trying to bring more of them to the Xbox because it needs them BUT I was very dissappointed in this game.
Reading reviews about it you'd think it was some sort of magical experience but it's really not.
Graphically it's very colourful and pretty and the combat is pretty cool too but there really isn't that much to it as a story. The dialogue at points (the most important points usually) feels like it's horribly translated and makes little to no sense. What you end up doing is guessing what they're actually trying to say in relation to the story that develops. Even then it doesn't make sense.
The game itself is very linear and quite dull and I never really felt excited about any part of it especially not towards the end when you are just left sitting frowning at the screen as it pretentiously bombards you with bits from earlier in the game that STILL don't make any sense. How can a voice actor even read any of this stuff without saying "Hold on! This doesn't make any sense, let me show you what you need to say."
If you're an RPG fan you should give it a go just to see what you think for yourself but I really wouldn't recommend paying any more than around £20 for it.
Rating: - aimed at children or fans of anime
Positives: i like the fact that it's trying to be original with it's story. Good graphics, decent battles.
Bad: First of all i felt it's far too easy. Same strategy for every battle. However the biggest problem i had was the cutscenes which were very slow and tedious to the point were I just skipped them everytime they came on. I had never done this before in a game but i found myself not caring at all about the story. In the end i couldnt be bothered finishing it. I'm sure other people would prefer to stick with it but i felt there so many better things i could be doing with my time. Maybe it's a cultural thing and japanese enjoy this sort of super cute animation and slow dialogue. Not for me.
- Beautiful and CharmingEternal Sonata is a strange premise, you play a game (a JRPG) about polish composer Frédéric Chopin. It might all seem strange and quirky, well thats exactly what Eternal Sonata is. If you enjoy JRPG's you are going to absolutely love this to bits. Its beautiful to look at... I mean jaw droppingly pretty. This game will really show off the capabilities of your 360 and your HDTV with rich clean colours and animations.
The game itself plays like any normal JRPG, play as a team of oddly dressed characters all complete with funny hairstyles to save the world from an evil force. The true differences lie in the little touches I don't want to spoil it for anyone but lets just say this game has dramatic if a little obvious twists. The way the game plays is also similar to other JRPGS... Turn based(ish) hack, slash and magic your enemy to death. it introduces a clever light and dark system which adds a layer to the combat, on top of this you have your timer which kicks in as soon as you take a step and later on in the game as soon as your turn starts. As you progress through the game you will probably find that you way out level your enemies. Fights are still fun none the less. You have a whole array of wicked cool magic attacks and specials to your disposal, all look amazing and are wonderfully eccentric. The game also has a few other nice touches in combat that help part it from the competition it's nothing revolutionary but its nice.
This game does stumble a few times unfortunately and they are some pretty big hurdles too. The entire quest should not take you more than 20 hours, while lengthy by most game standards this is relatively short for a JRPG (not including the weak attempt at getting you to play the game through twice) Also the story while interesting and a little kitsch, its extremely predictable and linear, so those looking for something to get lost in may find this is not the game for them. The game also features a lot of cutscenes some of which teach you about Chopin's life and music, it's a nice idea but its dull and breaks the games pace up.
Even with it's shortcomings, Eternal Sonata is a shining gem of a title, and something the 360 sorely needed, if you like JRPG's that don't take themselves too seriously or if your just looking for something pretty to stare at, look no further.
Rating:
- Dull and repetativeI bought this game off Amazon based on the above average customer review (4 stars)and low price. I like the odd RPG game and thought this would be a good time filler until something better came along. Well, it certainly is a time filler but for all the wrong reasons.
The basis of the game is that you are living out the last dream of composer Chopin. A rather original storyline but don't get too excited as it goes down hill from there. The game play is structured in a similar way to the final fantasy series where it is split into combat mode and travel/exploring mode. The travelling mode lets you move your character through some fairly attractive 3D surrounding. Unfortunately, these environments are largely un-interactive with the exception of a few items (ropes, ladders etc) that you can activate by pressing the A button. The areas themselves are fairly limited offering only a single route from start to finish. Some have fairly basic puzzle elements but are still linear in nature.
Anyway, the combat mode surely makes up for the travelling. After all, battling monsters and evil doers is what these games are all about eh? The battles are normally started by walking into an enemy whilst travelling. The screen changes to an arena mode where up to three of your team-mates, chosen before hand, face up to three enemies at a time. However, unlike other similar RPGs of this ilk the attacks take place in a kind of quasi-real-time. Each character attacks in turn, based on there speed rating, and can either perform normal attacks, use and item, perform a special/magic attack or a combination of the above in the allotted time (this starts at 5 seconds and reduces as you progress through the game). Initially, this make for a more exciting experience than just selecting something from a list and watch your character perform it. After the 100th battle though you realise how repetitive this action is. Although you can use any combination of attacks/actions there is a particular formula that you will work out after a while that wins 99% of all battles. About a quarter of the way through the game I found myself yearning for the old school "select an attack and watch" system.
Still, even with those complaints this would still be a 3 star game but for one thing. The cut scenes. Oh....my....god.... Eternal Sonata has probably the longest cut scenes I have seen in any game. My controller turned itself off twice during one. The cut scenes could maybe be forgivable if the voice acting and script wasn't so poor, but they are. Proper stinkers too.
This game will be gracing the bargain bins soon and probably end up being reviewed by the angry Xbox nerd in twenty years time on youtube. So do yourself a favour and avoid it unless you have a broken leg and need a game that will fill several pointless hours of your life.
Rating:
- The best RPG on the Xbox 360 since Oblivion!I will admit to not being the biggest JRPG fan, having never seen a Final Fantasy game through to it's conclusion, but I know what I like, and I loved Eternal Sonata, so much so that it made me actively seek out other Japanese RPG's for more of the same.
Everything about this game is a hit; the visuals are simply gorgeous, the whole game is wonderfully imaginative, the combat is fully engaging and fun, the story is an absolute delight, and despite a linear storyline there are still plenty to be done in this rich and beautiful game. It's definitely a game with replay value and it's a game that's an immense amount of fun to play.
I got through the game in about 24 hours in total, which admittedly is a little short, especially considering that Lost Odyssey, the most recent Xbox 360 JRPG is 60 hours long, but I'd say I fully enyoyed at least 22 of them. I definitely intend to play it again just because it's such a wonderful experience. You will be sitting through some rather long cutscenes, and the story does get rather preachy, but these minor problems did nothing to dent my utter enjoyment of this game.
Considering that I got this game for less than £20 from good ol' Amazon, in retrospect if I had known how good it was I would have gladly paid £40, and at £15 you would be hard pressed to find a better game. Every Xbox owner who enjoys a good colourful game with some real nice combat has no excuse for not buying this simply amazing game. 9/10 (rounded up to 5 rather than down to 4)
Rating:
- StrangeI am a big fan of RPG's and it's a good thing that Microsoft are trying to bring more of them to the Xbox because it needs them BUT I was very dissappointed in this game.
Reading reviews about it you'd think it was some sort of magical experience but it's really not.
Graphically it's very colourful and pretty and the combat is pretty cool too but there really isn't that much to it as a story. The dialogue at points (the most important points usually) feels like it's horribly translated and makes little to no sense. What you end up doing is guessing what they're actually trying to say in relation to the story that develops. Even then it doesn't make sense.
The game itself is very linear and quite dull and I never really felt excited about any part of it especially not towards the end when you are just left sitting frowning at the screen as it pretentiously bombards you with bits from earlier in the game that STILL don't make any sense. How can a voice actor even read any of this stuff without saying "Hold on! This doesn't make any sense, let me show you what you need to say."
If you're an RPG fan you should give it a go just to see what you think for yourself but I really wouldn't recommend paying any more than around £20 for it.
Rating:
- aimed at children or fans of animePositives: i like the fact that it's trying to be original with it's story. Good graphics, decent battles.
Bad: First of all i felt it's far too easy. Same strategy for every battle. However the biggest problem i had was the cutscenes which were very slow and tedious to the point were I just skipped them everytime they came on. I had never done this before in a game but i found myself not caring at all about the story. In the end i couldnt be bothered finishing it. I'm sure other people would prefer to stick with it but i felt there so many better things i could be doing with my time. Maybe it's a cultural thing and japanese enjoy this sort of super cute animation and slow dialogue. Not for me.