In a couple months, one of the biggest JRPG’s of the decade will be released, after being announced two and a half years ago. But during this lengthy wait, there’s been tons of substitutes to make up for it, such as Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars, Tokyo Xanadu, Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, and more. While these are good, they don’t necessarily change anything related to the game’s grittiness. In Mind Zero however, this has been flipped on it’s head. While the game has Persona-like elements, it fits in story threads surrounding governments, secret corporations, and mind control. So do these fresh ideas impact an already balanced system? It’s complicated to say the least.

Gameplay:

The game has party-systems made up of a wide variety of characters

While Mind Zero isn’t innovative in it’s own right, it’s a good alternative compared to other games that came before it. While battles can be too far and few between, it still manages to be enjoyable, breaking any signs of repetition early-on. The MIND system isn’t mind-blowing but is a nice addition to the casts in battle and can also be played in really any play-style. The other side of the gameplay is focused on exploration, which always comes off as vast and immense, whilst setting good infrastructure for whatever will come your way.

The game’s tutorial is also put together nicely, allowing players to take their time

Plot/ Design:

The characters aren’t memorable, yet more bearable than some other over-the-top RPG’s

At this point, the trope of massive amounts of exposition and dialogue in JRPG’s isn’t as much of a new commodity as it is a staple. This is ever so present in Mind Zero. The game’s writing is overly tropy and detailed, (which is a good and bad thing) but if anything, this sets up the game’s story in a nice position. While it isn’t presented much inside of the gameplay, it’s well-rounded to appeal a sense of continuation and completion, as well as holding tons of potential.

The big cast can also be hard to keep in check, as you move from one character to another.

Presentation/ Audio & Visuals:

Environments can seem muddy and last-gen

Although Mind Zero is respectable game gameplay and story-wise, the visuals are a far different story. They look like something off of an early 3DS game which is unfitting, and it doesn’t look any better in battle. Thankfully the character design is also placed in a majority of the gameplay, which makes this whole aspect look weaker in comparison. On the other hand, sound design is often repetitive but well done in chunks, and the presentation takes some getting used to. This has been fixed on PC (especially the load times too!) but the main issues still arise.

The games style alleviates some visual wariness

Conclusion:

Mind Zero is a slightly above-average JRPG dungeon crawler. While it won’t blow minds, it changes formulas just enough so it won’t overstay it’s welcome. Big nitpicks such as an abnormal visual pallet may soften it’s importance, but the game does just enough to tide people away from the release of other monoliths in the genre, such as Persona 5.

Mind Zero gets a 7/10. (Average)

We’d like to thank Aksys Games for sending us a code for this one!

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