NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie Preview

Neopets is one of those games that came out of nowhere. It shouldn't have – the official Neopets Web site has more than 30 million users. But prior to E3 I wasn't even aware that Neopets existed. I've yet to become obsessed with the franchise but am increasingly interested in the action/adventure being developed exclusively for PlayStation 2.

The Darkest Faerie centers on Tormund (Tor for short) and Roberta, two characters with similar controls and attacks but different strengths and weaknesses. My previous experience with the game brought Insomniac's classic, Ratchet & Clank, to mind. Now that I've been playing a more complete version I can see that there are also elements taken from the recent Zelda games. Tor can target his enemies and maneuver around them in the same way that Link does. Roberta shares that ability, but her combo attacks are different. With Tor you may come in close and strike three or four times with your sword, jabbing the enemy until it disappears. Roberta, on the other hand, has the ability to use a magic wand, allowing her to attack from a safer distance.

Both characters are important to the story and must be utilized to complete the game. Switching between them is easy, and if Tor or Roberta loses in battle, the other will step in to continue the fight. 

Battles feel a little stiff, but there's still time to correct that. One feature I hope they're able to add is the ability to attack multiple enemies more easily. It's hard to react to attacks from more than one direction. That might have been on purpose, though I believe they could change it without losing any of the game's difficulty. Believe it or not this is a challenging game, not the kiddie franchise it appeared to be. The worlds are cartoony, some even a little bland in their current state of development. But the initial challenge is far more expansive than other child approved action/adventures (Croc, Tak, Banjo-Kazooie, etc.)

The worlds/game areas are big and fairly linear. Movement is not restricted to a linear path – no Crash Bandicoot-style gameplay here. Neopets is good at making the players feel like they're in a world with few boundaries. There's a lot to do and many of the areas are blocked or may not be completed until other requirements have been met. This falls in line with other action/adventures, giving us an indication of what's ahead before every environment has been seen.

However, this isn't solely an action/adventure; it's partially an RPG with magical motes. Equip a mote in the same way that you'd equip any piece of magic. Apply them to your weapons and/or to your armor to increase their power. Neopets follows the fire-burns-flesh, water-puts-out-fire rule, meaning that each mote has a positive and a negative that could save your life in battle, deal extra damage to your opponent, or do nothing beneficial to anyone if your opponent's spells are from opposing magic.

The title implies that Neopets is a game with virtual animal friends who play all day in the sun. That might be the dream that Tamagotchi had for its pets, but in Neopets they are more of an aid than a rodent that has to be raised. You have to feed them and take care of them to keep them near, but in return they'll help take care of you by replenishing your energy, your power, things like that. 

I haven't seen any original enemy concepts yet, but it was fun tackling fictitious creatures that appear to be one thing but are really another. One of the first is quite ferocious: it's a book! It opens up as a book should, but instead of revealing a story about a Hobbit or a Jedi (or some crazy love story us gamers wouldn't be interested in), it reveals large, razor-sharp teeth!

Music is a hard thing to judge in preview builds because developers don't always finalize it until the last minute. Regardless I'm going to form an opinion of what they've already implemented: wonderful fantasy sounds with a hint of Harry Potter. It's a lighthearted soundtrack, and while I usually prefer dark and/or more emotional themes, it was impossible for me not to love what the composer had done. The indoor locations seemed to have a more upbeat sound, almost in preparation for whatever dangers lurk outside (which is funny because the indoor dangers are usually more severe). Twelve bosses are being planned for the final version and I wouldn't be surprised if each of them had their own unique theme, too. 

It looks like a kiddie game and sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon, but in reality Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is a promising adventure with several familiar game elements. Most of the games that inspired Neopets's direction are loved by teens and adults, which is why the game has the potential to be successful with the hardcore crowd, not just young Neopets fans. Personally I can't say I am a fan since I'm not one of the 30 million people who belong to the Neopets.com community. Do you think that's going to stop me from playing this game when it's released next month?