Video Game Review: RPG Fans Should Take the Time to Decipher ‘Avalon Code’

by BrianTT

CHICAGO – The development team behind the massively successful “Final Fantasy III” and “Final Fantasy IV” remakes for the Nintendo DS have joined forces with the creative minds behind the “Harvest Moon” and “Rune Factory” series to release one of the more creative handheld RPG titles of the year to date with the clever and fun “Avalon Code,” a game that may be far from perfect but is unique enough to warrant a look for all RPG fans.


“Avalon Code” has a lot in common with standard role-playing games but adds enough of its own elements to make it stand out from the pack. The basic structure of the RPG is enhanced by what is essentially a “collecting game” in which your character has to learn as much as possible about the world around him. How? By smacking good guys, bad guys, flowers, weapons, and anything else you can see with a giant book. Don’t ask. Just play.

“Avalon Code” is primarily an action RPG as your character (male or female depending on how you start the game) dives deep into an elaborate and engrossing story that still primarily involves combat. Your character finds a “Book of Prophecy” which only he can control and allows for a lot of unique player interaction.

By recording everything in the world around you, the “Book of Prophecy” can be used as a guide when the world you are in comes to an end. You are essentially both a fighter and a journalist. It’s enough to make someone who makes their living as a writer proud.

Throughout the game, the player slams the “Book of Prophecy” into weapons, creatures, whatever and can not only learn about their properties but adjust them. For example, if you have a sword in your book, you can modify its properties. But you can do it for people and creatures too, adjusting the way they interact with you.

The gameplay allows for an elaborate and immersive user experience unlike a lot of RPGs. Every choice that the player makes changes the storyline of the game. Even the gender assigned at the beginning creates a different experience. Choices make for minor, user-based differences, but “Avalon Code” is essentially a straight-forward RPG with creatures, quests, and dungeons (although the dungeon design creates for a mini-game experience that’s pretty cool, as the player has to complete a time-based task in each room to move on.)

As you play, you’ll have to use both your fighting skills and the codes in the book to proceed. The idea is that each item/person/creature has codes that you learn when you get them in the “Book of Prophecy” and then you can use your magical powers to mix and match. Players need to use the codes to adjust items to complete tasks or even adjust enemy attributes to make them easier to kill.
Avalon Code
Avalon Code
Photo credit: XSeed Games

I love the concept of the codes but the execution is another story. I found myself adjusting codes with no real result and was often unsure of what the heck was going on when I added or subtracted a code. It’s not as friendly or easily playable a user interface as it could have been. And I was never as drawn into the storytelling as I wanted to be, feeling more like I was playing a series of mini-games than a full adventure.

As for the visuals, “Avalon Code” looks great. The range of graphics on the DS is surprisingly large and “Avalon Code” is at the higher end of the spectrum.

“Avalon Code” may not be perfect but it’s creative and very impressive visually - two things you cannot say about a lot of recent RPGs. Gamers not easily attuned to the ups and downs of the genre may not want to start with “Avalon Code,” but people already love the RPG could fall for “Avalon Code” in a big way.