Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventures of Dia PS5 Review – Dragon Quest is one of the most venerable video game franchises on the market. As we patiently await the release of Dragon Quest XII, Square Enix has provided another spin-off title in the vain of Infinity Strash. Unfortunately, like so many before, Infinity Strash fails to live up to the Dragon Quest name.
Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventures of Dia
A Story That’s Ripped Right Out Of The Anime
Infinity Strash tells the story of Dia and his adventure to slay the Demon King and avenge the death of his mentor and teacher. The game follows the anime released a few years ago, dubbed The Adventures of Dia, and adheres to the source material very closely.
Most of the game’s story mode leaves you watching stop-motion scenes from the anime. It’s so much that you may as well watch the anime in full motion. Chapters can consist of about twelve or fifteen levels; in some chapters, ten will involve you watching these scenes. The story mode consists of surprisingly very little gameplay.
It’s not all bad; some scenes are fully animated with the game engine. These cutscenes are amazing and feature some good choreography in the fight sequences.
More Watching, Less Playing
Chapters will feature the main battles that transpired in the anime, and for the most part, they see you taking on a single foe in an arena-style action.
The battles in the game are heavy in the action department. Dai can use his normal attack to combo enemies and skills mapped to the triangle, circle, and R1 buttons.
You can also dodge and block attacks to help you during battles. Infinity Strash isn’t challenging, so pulling off all your defensive and offensive abilities isn’t very difficult.
In fact, outside of playing on the hardest difficulty, you can probably get through most of the game without worrying about playing defense.
Characters Look Different But Act The Same
Dia is sometimes accompanied by his friends Popp and Maam, and others joining you later. You can switch between your party members with the touch of the d-pad.
Popp is your long-range magic user and has powerful spells he can launch. Maam, on the other hand, is a support character and can heal party members. Though the characters seem unique, they all learn the same magic skills that keep them from being distinguished and different during combat.
It’s a shame, as there are so many abilities and magic attacks in the Dragon Quest universe that I feel the game could have used many more unique abilities specific to each character.
Poor Variatiy Of Missions
As the chapter progresses, side missions will unlock that have you take your entire party on a monster-clearing mission. Your party will be swarmed by dozens of enemies from the Dragon Quest universe. These missions are a nice change of pace but don’t add much to the overall game.
Some of them even have you trying to get through a mission using stealth, but it always breaks down since any of your party members can be spotted as they fall behind, or there isn’t enough room behind the space you are hiding behind for the entire party to hide.
Playing through chapters, you’ll unlock new costumes for your party, but more importantly, you can unlock unique cards based on memorable moments from the story.
These cards are just equipment and accessories that increase various stats. As you level up, You’ll unlock more spaces to equip more of these cards shared across all party members.
You’ll acquire materials that can be used to level up your skills and spells, but the resources required to do so will have you farming previous missions a lot. Or you can take on the Tower of Recollection.
The Tower Of Recollection Adds Challenge But Feels Repetitive
The Tower of Recollection is a roguelike tower that feels separate from the main story game. As you enter the Tower, all your character’s levels are reduced to level one.
As you complete a floor, you can choose between two doors to enter through. These doors range from increasing a character’s attack or defense, leading a room full of treasure chests, or encountering a boss. You can carry Any materials or treasure in the Tower to the main game. It’s also the only way to unlock unique cards to equip your party.
Once you reach a boss and defeat it, you can either leave the Tower of Recollection or continue to the next set of floors. Your parties boost, and HP carries over as you continue down the Tower to unlock more rewards.
If you choose to leave, you must start over, but at least you can take all the materials and cards you have unlocked. It’s a unique mode that can test you with difficulty but can grow repetitive quickly.
Dragon Quests Spirit And Character Design Is Alive And Well
Though Dragon Quest artist Akira Toriyama isn’t involved in developing Infinity Strash, his art style and influence are prominent. The monster designs are easily recognizable, and the characters ooze Toriyama’s unique style. Visually, the game isn’t that impressive, but its animations are quite solid, especially in the combat cutscenes.
The anime voice actors return to Infinity Strash, and the game provides a lot of voice-over work. The soundtrack tries to recreate that magical feel from the franchise but doesn’t quite meet that standard.
Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventures of Dia is another spin-off that fails to capture the franchise’s magic. It’s not a bad game by any means, but overall feels like a shallow attempt to capitalize on the franchise’s popularity. Infinity Strash has its moments, like keeping the franchise’s spirit going and having some tremendous animated cutscene, but it feels like it is designed for the mobile market and then hastily ported to consoles.
Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST: The Adventures of Dia is now available on PS5 & PS4.
Review code kindly provided by PR