MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death Review by: lolid23 - 6.7/10
'A wild Connie appeared!'Where do I begin? I have a lot to say about this game...well, this game was the first dungeon crawler (DRPG) I ever played, for a long time it was a sub-genre of turn-based RPGs I ignored until I played this (assuming it really is a sub-genre), after that, I played Mary Skelter: Nightmares and a little of Etrian Odyssey Untold. It's old news at this point, but this game was Refused Classification in Australia, and I'd say that it's kind of extreme, I'm not going to lie and say ''this game is appropriate for kids'', because it's not, at the same time, I don't think that this game is only appropriate for adults, MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death has a T rating here in America (with the content descriptors of ''Fantasy Violence'' and ''Suggestive Themes''.), and that's perfectly fine, in my opinion it's not a game for kids but it's not a game for adults either, it's a game appropriate for...well, teens. I also disagree with the 16 rating of this game in Germany, the USK gave this game the same rating that Bloodborne has in that country...let that sink in...yeah, I'd say that a 12 rating would have been fine. The game got a PEGI 12 rating, so, why did the USK gave this game a 16 rating? It's, again, kind of extreme. MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death isn't that violent, it barely has offensive language or swearing, and, yes, it has many female characters (exactly 9) that clearly have breasts, even the characters that have little or nothing of importance for the story (Satori, for example) have breasts that one would describe, at least, as ''medium'' or ''above average'', I don't know. Pretty much every female character wears an outfit that reveals cleavage, with Aria wearing what might be one of the most extreme outfits ever seen in a video game...still, it's nothing that makes me say ''this game should be rated M'' or something, If Aria appeared on screen more often, then maybe, maybe not. Anyway...with all that said, this is my review.Story: The story of MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death isn't exactly the best, but it's so fantasy-oriented that I can't help but like it. The rotation of the planet stopped, the world fell into an eternal night, and monsters roamed freely in the endless night. To save the world and return everything to normal, one, and only one, of the chosen Machina Mages has to wind the planet key, but before that, the Machina Mages have to go inside the towers of Southern Cross to gain the blessing of a guardian and cleanse the spring at the end by drinking and bathing in it. After a while we find that the game has a villain, Gagarin, who also wants to wind the planet key, and with the help of three characters working for him, Glen of Flame, Gordon, and Aria, they will cause trouble for the five Machina Mages, Estra, Flare, Connie, Maki, and Setia, with Setia being ''the most decently dressed female character in the game''. The story isn't much more than that, during the game you can find items that detail the story more, such as the Books of Machina and the journals of Albert Schneider (the legendary mage who saved the world I presume), but, again, the story isn't much more than that. It's far from being on the same level as Blue Reflection, but I admit I kind of like the story and world of MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death, with a lot of fantasy themes, It's impossible to hate the story and world of this game, I mean, it's a fact that the characters use magic because they are Machina Mages, the story is about an eternal night, the towers are connected to a different world full of demons (the Demon Realm, if I remember well)...I can keep going. Sure, there are also some themes of science fiction, with the mechs and whatnot, it's a great combination...girls with anime designs and mechs, what more could you ask for? If we talk about the characters, I'd say that MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is in a gray area, comparing this game with Omega Quintet (another game published by Idea Factory International), this game has better characters, but at the same time, it's not in the same level as...well, the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, the Senran Kagura franchise, Persona 4, and Blue Reflection, for example. The characters in Omega Quintet aren't characters that will make you say ''Gah! I hate these girls! I would punch them in the face if I could!'', but they aren't characters you'll remember or love either, the verse maidens are...just there, and it's obvious that the personalities of the characters aren't original, I don't care about the characters in Omega Quintet, but in the case of MeiQ: Labyrinth of death, I kind of like these characters and I care about them, it's true that the personalities aren't extremely original here either, but it's not on the same level...I also want to mention that the voice acting is also part of the reason why I care about these characters, even if the characters aren't the most developed or original characters of all time, if the game has great voice acting, that might make you care for the characters, especially in a situation of danger. I won't give more details about the story, perhaps the story and characters are best appreciated with knowing as little as possible before playing the game.
Sound: The game has dual audio, so, you can play with the original japanese voices if you want, and you can also play with an english dub if you prefer, I'd say that the english dub of MeiQ is as good as the english dub of other games if not better, I've played many anime style games with an english dub, and MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death really has great english voice acting. The music was composed by Tenpei Sato and Satoshi Kadokura, and that's great. I've said it before and will say it again, when it comes to soundtracks in video games, the fact that the game welcomes you in the main menu with piano music is a very good sign, and sure, a beautiful piano theme is used in the main menu, perhaps the game doesn't have a single song I'd consider one of my favorite video game themes of all time, but still, comparing the soundtrack of MeiQ with the soundtrack of the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, for example...I'd say that, at times, the music of this game is even better, the final boss theme (Goddess Wars) isn't particularly great, but other songs such as ''Black Tower'' and ''Battle of the Twelves'' are very memorable and awesome, with ''Black Tower'' being the music used in, well, the Black Tower, the first dungeon in the game, ''Black Tower'' is a very soothing and beautiful theme and it's definitely one of the highlights of the soundtrack, ''Blue Tower'' is another awesome song, and the first normal battle theme is a great rock song with electric guitar and drums. It's a soundtrack I really like at times, and one that can be more enjoyable than the soundtrack of similar games, or even other games that Idea Factory International has published.
Addictiveness: The battle system is simple and easy to use, perhaps not everyone will like the fact that unlike many RPGs you can't use special attacks (magic), many, many times, what I mean by that is...the Machina Mages can use magic, but the game has exact numbers for the amount of times you can use each skill, sure, the amount of times you can use each skill increases as you level up, but one can't deny that the developers Compile Heart and Makai Ichibankan took a different approach with magic use. Each girl can't really fight on her own, the Machina Mages have to be paired with a Guardian to fight, the Guardian can attack and take less damage using the ''Defend'' command, also, the attacks have an exact chance of activating a chain, this means that if a Guardian uses an attack that says ''Chain %: 125%'' and ''Easy to Combo'' and another Guardian uses an attack that says the same thing, there is a high chance that both Guardians will attack before the Guardian that couldn't combine his/her attack with the combo, additionally, the attacks used for the combo are stronger than normal and the attack animations are very fast, I'd say that the game encourages you to try to activate combos, that's how you deal the highest amounts of damage, at least in the case of the Guardians, and if you combine the combos with elemental weaknesses, you can be unstoppable, there are also stones you can equip, which act as the only equipment in the game that everyone can equip and change different stats for all the characters. The exploration itself is very standard, but MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death has a few convenient features, which are the fact that when you explore a dungeon (in first person of course) the adjacent square (or squares) will be filled, and that makes a map completionist life easier, also, you can, if you want, activate an automatic turn, if you come to a corner or wall, the party will make the ninety-degree turn themselves, you, as the player, don't have to do it if you don't want to. I'd say that exploring the dungeons is kind of fun, with items to find and a few puzzles to solve, but it's not on the same level as Mary Skelter: Nightmares, maybe if the dungeons had more things inside, it would be more fun. There are more systems and things to explain, but I won't bother, I'll say, however, that the game has an unnecessary and superfluous feature: Using the touch screen, you can shake the breasts of all the female characters in the game, during the events, you can do that if you so desire, but they'll never say anything, it's as if nothing's happening. Also, on the screen where you customize the characters, you can literally touch the breasts of the girls to shake them, but on that screen, there is a response, and depending on where you touch the character, she will respond with a comment, comments such as ''So flat, super flat!'' ''Oh dear!'' ''Did I get a little...bigger?'' and ''Maybe I should cut my hair?'' are just some of the many things that the girls say when you use the touch screen to...touch them. Perhaps I just described two features instead of one, but yeah, you can use the touch screen in the game to not just advance through the dialogue during the events (if you don't want to press the X button).
Graphics: Comparing this game with any of the Hyperdimension Neptunia games on the Playstation Vita, this game gives a better impression, It has been said before, and it will be said again, ''MeiQ is definitely one of the prettier dungeon crawlers on the PS Vita.'' I wouldn't say that MeiQ is stunning or extremely impressive, but comparing this game with Dungeon Travelers 2, it's obvious that MeiQ is the game with the better graphics, The characters look really nice and it would be great if the game had more CG images, which look great. The characters were designed by Ryoji, who was also the artist for La Pucelle: Tactics (a game I have never played), I have to give the artist some credit, the art style of MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is distinctive, and personally, I really like the character designs. The dungeons themselves look great, and visually, I would actually describe both the Black Tower and Blue Tower as beautiful, the Black Tower with those blue walls and lights, the blue crystals in the columns are also pretty, and the Blue Tower with the forest...it's not the best looking game on the PS Vita, but it's definitely one that looks great.
Difficulty: There are two difficulties, Normal and Hard, and even on the Normal difficulty, I lost many times, I can't say that the game is extremely difficult or unfair, of course that there are easy battles (on Normal), not to mention that the dungeons don't have things that can hurt you outside of combat, Unlike Mary Skelter: Nightmares, still, I don't know if it's just me, but this game can be very difficult even on the lowest difficulty, at least if you lose during a boss battle, the game shows the percentage of damage inflicted. You can stay at the Inn and it's completely free, something unusual for RPGs. I've heard that on the Hard difficulty, you can lose very,
very easily or fast. It's a strange game, really, on one hand, it's kind of a simplified dungeon crawler in the gameplay department and some features make the experience easier, the automatic turn is an example, but on the other hand, the difficulty of the game might mean that the game is hard for newcomers of dungeon crawlers, so...with this being the first DRPG I ever played, and considering the things I just said, do I recommend this game if you have never played a dungeon crawler before? Well...yes and no...
Depth: You can beat the game in 50 hours or less, but the two difficulties and secret bosses mean that the game has many things to do, even if you play this game for more than 70 hours, you might still have things to do, with the door that can be opened after beating the game and the many trophies to get, not to mention the optional quests and leveling up the characters, it's a game with a lot to do.
Yes, MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is one of my least favorite PS Vita games, but I can't say I don't like the game, this game has a metascore of 56 and in my opinion it deserves something a little higher than that, MeiQ is...an enjoyable game, and I recommend it, especially if you love dungeon crawlers....it's not as bad as some say it is...
Graphics
8 Sound
9 Addictive
6 Depth
8 Story
7 Difficulty
8
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