Plot: What’s it about?
A plague of dark magic has fallen upon a once beautiful, serene land, so of course, some action has to be taken to restore the land’s former state. The once green, lush areas have withered and turned brown, as some form of evil magic has swept across the countryside, corrupting all it has touched. But the grasses, flowers, and fields weren’t the only things ruined by this wave of black magic, as the residents were also altered, with most horrific results. The farmers have been turned into mutant creatures with bad attitudes, while the once innocent children now stand as imps, with as much hostile emotion as the adults. In an effort to end this dark reign, a young unicorn named Pryzm has decided to take on the evil forces, but this won’t be a solo adventure. Since the trolls believe the unicorns are somehow connected to the evil plague, they send along Karrock, a short tempered troll with some magical powers. Now these two have to battle the hideous mutants, restore the land to its former state, and defeat whatever force is behind this evil plague, but will they be able to get along long enough to do all that?
Although Pryzm was created with a younger audience in mind, it still stands as a well crafted, fun game. If you’re a veteran of these kind of games however, you’ll know how to breeze through the levels, though younger players should find the challenges worthwhile. After a brief tutorial, the controls become simple to master and you’ll need them, as the game presents ample chances to use all of the powers at your command. This is one area in which Pryzm excels, as the controls are excellent, both in terms of design and execution. You need tight, simple to execute controls in these adventures games and TDK has delivered them with Pryzm. The gameplay is rather once you play for a while and though I wouldn’t say Pryzm is too easy, it shouldn’t take most players more than a weekend to battle through the finale. I was pleased to find minimal tedium in Pryzm, as the events, enemies, and visuals remain just varied enough not to become too dull, though additional levels and opponents would have been welcome. TDK’s Pryzm Chapter One: The Dark Unicorn is recommend for younger gamers and those who can’t get enough of the genre, especially since TDK has issued the game at a very reasonable price level.
Video: How does it look?
The graphics here look acceptable and sometimes border on great, but never quite perk up enough to make you take notice. I was pleased with the basics, however, as the animation is solid and the textures, layouts, and such all look good. The attention to detail is not as good however, as most of the small touches seem rather bland, if present at all. But then again, I doubt anyone will expect cutting edges visuals when they sit down with this selection. The colors are bright and the backgrounds look good also, while black levels stay in balance, so you’ll never have a problem figuring out where you’re headed. As I said, not a graphical masterpiece, but it is acceptable and that’s enough in this case, if you ask me.
Audio: How does it sound?
While the video was middle of the road, the audio is great and adds a lot to the experience, no doubt about it. The music is perhaps the highlight however, as it has a lot of depth and opens up the soundscape, very cool stuff indeed. As far as sound effects, the usual stuff is found here and that proves to be adequate, since it is well presented. Some of the magical power noises sound quite cool, like the ice blasts and those add to the experience. The in game voices are solid, but get a shade repetitive over time, but that should be expected. The cut scene voices are well chosen and of course, those scenes sound clean and impressive. A much richer sound experience than I expected, so I commend TDK for their work on this one.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc contains no bonus materials.
